Teaming for Interdisciplinary Research Pre-Seed Program

Graduate teaching assistantships are the primary funding mechanism for many first-year STEM graduate students. These time-intensive roles are known to have a large impact within undergraduate introductory courses; undergraduate students often spend as much “face-time” with graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) as faculty members. At the same time, the experiences of GTAs in these positions are equally formative, yet often de-prioritized in the literature beyond effective training practices. Given that the early years of graduate study are crucial for retention, understanding the graduate student experience during this time, including teaching duties, may lead to improved program satisfaction and ultimately, increased retention.

The goal of this interdisciplinary team of STEM education researchers is then to foster a community of scholars interested in understanding GTA’s experiences at the University of Georgia. Our team plans to study the experiences of GTAs through the participatory action research method of photovoice to examine these experiences. Photovoice studies leverage images gathered by participants in response to a prompt. These images will then be shared and discussed with others (i.e., other GTAs) in a large focus group interview, with the end goal of participants pairing down to 5-10 representative experiences.

Goals of this project are then 1) characterize the positive and negative experiences of GTAs at the University of Georgia in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the College of Engineering, 2) identify areas that educators and graduate program leaders can focus on to promote positive experiences and reduce negative experiences for graduate teaching assistants, and 3) discuss and develop proposals competitive for external funding through programs such as the National Science Foundation’s Improving Undergraduate STEM Education or Research in the Formation of Engineers programs.

Team Lead

Sarah Bork-Young
sjb17852@uga.edu
Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Department of Physics & Astronomy 

Team Members

Nandana Weliweriya Liyanage
nandanaw@uga.edu
Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Department of Physics & Astronomy

Nicholas Bork-Young
nicholas.young@uga.edu
Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Department of Physics & Astronomy

John Morelock
John.Morelock@uga.edu
College of Engineering
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Engineering Education Transformations Institute

Emily Rosenzweig
Emily.Rosenzweig@uga.edu
Mary Frances Early College of Education
Department of Educational Psychology

Craig Wiegert
cwiegert@uga.edu
Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Department of Physics & Astronomy