GTA PROGRAM ENHANCEMENT GRANT PROPOSAL
Academic Year 2003-2004
Department of Sociology
Lisa A. Keister
I. Description of Program Elements
Prior to receiving the GTA Program Enhancement Seed Grant, the Department of Sociology did
devote considerable energy and resources to providing adequate faculty and TA development.
However, we recognized that our efforts might be improved in ways that would ensure that we provide
excellent training and support. During the 2002-03 academic year, we conducted a structured
assessment of the efficacy of our current faculty and TA development and identified several
shortcomings in our current program including: a need for additional training for first time GTAs, a
need to enhance our introduction to department policies that apply to GTAs, and a need for additional
diversity training and resources at all levels.
We required the majority of our incoming masters degree students to serve as teaching assistants for
Sociology 101, and we used to provide them with a department-sponsored orientation. However, in our
internal review of our programming, we repeatedly heard that the training we provide new TAs is
inadequate. The students indicated that they felt they were not adequately prepared to begin serving as
GTAs even after successfully completing department training and GTA training provided by FTAD.
Specifically, students felt they needed additional information on the specifics of leading a recitation,
planning lessons, and explaining basic sociological concepts to undergraduates who are being exposed
to sociology for the first time.
In addition, we used to introduce our new GTAs to university and department policies that govern their
teaching and relationships with students, including grading issues, academic conduct and misconduct,
disability accommodations, and sexual harassment. However, during our internal review of our
programming, we repeatedly heard that the training we provide is, again, inadequate. Students voiced
concern about a brief introduction to these important policies being insufficient.
Finally, our new GTAs used to receive training regarding diversity issues at the new student
orientation, and our department Office of Instructional Development provided ongoing support and
resources on diversity issues. However, during our internal assessment, we learned that both new and
experienced GTAs felt additional training and resources focused on diversity issues would be very
helpful.
In order to rectify these shortcomings, we proposed three improvements to the program:
A. Need for additional training for first-time GTAs
We proposed expanding our department summer orientation to improve the preparation of new GTAs.
Specifically, we proposed beginning the orientation earlier than we have in the past in order to
guarantee that our orientation does not conflict with TA training sponsored by FTAD. We proposed
providing additional training leading a sociology recitation, planning lessons for sociology courses,
and explaining basic sociological concepts to undergraduates. We proposed to expand our orientation
to include a more comprehensive overview of teaching techniques that students learn in our teaching
course, taken later in their tenure in the department. We proposed to invite more department faculty to
assist in training the students in teaching excellence, and we proposed to invite an outside speaker to
further enhance the training program. We proposed to assist the students in preparing lesson plans for
their first GTA experiences. Finally, we proposed to provide brief refresher courses on sociological
concepts that the new GTAs will need to understand in order to be effective instructors.
We argued that enhancing our training and resources for first-time GTAs would ensure that all of our
instructors have undergone excellent teaching preparation. Many of our new students serve as GTAs
for Sociology 101, a course that many undergraduates take to fill a general education course
requirement. Ensuring that our GTAs have received superb training will enhance both the experience
of the GTAs and the experience of the undergraduate students enrolled in our courses. We felt as if the
additional training would also provide a much more solid foundation on which later training can
effectively build.
B. Need to enhance introduction to university and department policies that apply to GTAs
We proposed providing additional training during our department summer orientation to provide a
more comprehensive introduction to our new GTAs on university and department policies that govern
their teaching and relationships with students, including grading issues, academic conduct and
misconduct, disability accommodations, and sexual harassment.
We reasoned that enhancing the introduction we provide to university and department policies would
ensure that our GTAs adhere to critical policies regarding such important issues as academic conduct,
disability issues, and sexual harassment.
C. Need for additional training and resources at all levels on issues of diversity
We propose expanding our department summer orientation for new GTAs to cover issues of diversity
more thoroughly. We propose providing a brief seminar during the 2003-04 academic year for all
faculty and TAs regarding diversity in the classroom. Finally, we propose expanding the resources that
we keep in the Sociology Office of Instructional Development regarding diversity. We propose
purchasing additional written materials and videotapes regarding diversity in the classroom, and we
propose enhancing our efforts to encourage faculty and GTAs to draw on these resources.
Improving the training and resources related to diversity would ensure that our faculty and GTAs are
exposed to as many aspects of crucial issues related to diversity in the classroom as possible.
Enhancing the resources we have available for additional diversity training will ensure that as diversity
issues arise, we are able to meet the needs of our faculty and GTAs.
We successfully implemented each of our objectives:
A. Need for additional training for first-time GTAs
We expanded our summer orientation considerably and received very positive feedback regarding the
expansion. A summary of the new orientation schedule is attached. We began the orientation earlier
than we have in the past and ensured that our GTAs could attend TA training sponsored by FTAD, and
we were able to provide our new students with a small sum of money to offset their expenses during
orientation. We provided additional training leading a sociology recitation, planning lessons for
sociology courses, and explaining basic sociological concepts to undergraduates. We expanded our
orientation to include a more comprehensive overview of teaching techniques that students learn in our
teaching course, taken later in their tenure in the department. We invited additional department faculty
to assist in training the students in teaching excellence, and we invited John Maccionis, the author of a
popular Sociology 101 text, to speak during orientation. Finally, we provided refresher courses on
sociological concepts that the new GTAs will need to understand in order to be effective instructors.
B. Need to enhance introduction to university and department policies that apply to GTAs
We provided additional training during our department summer orientation to provide a more
comprehensive introduction to our new GTAs on university and department policies that govern their
teaching and relationships with students, including grading issues, academic conduct and misconduct,
disability accommodations, and sexual harassment.
C. Need for additional training and resources at all levels on issues of diversity
We expanded our department summer orientation for new GTAs to cover issues of diversity more
thoroughly. We also propose providing a brief seminar during the 2003-04 academic year for all
faculty and TAs regarding diversity in the classroom. Finally, we expanded the resources that we keep
in the Sociology Office of Instructional Development regarding diversity, including purchasing the
PBS film 3-part series on race, "Race: The Power of an Illusion."
We plan to continue to offer the expanded orientation and to cover the additional expense with
department funds. We have been able to successfully use these improvements (including the funds we
now plan to pay new students each year during orientation!) as a tool for recruiting high quality
graduate students.
II. Itemized Budget
We used the seed grant for the following:
Funds for graduate students
$4,500
In order to request that incoming graduate students arrive on campus two weeks early, we proposed
providing them with a modest sum to cover their additional expenses. We had 30 new students and
provided $150 each.
Honorarium for external speaker $200
We provided an honorarium to John Maccionis, author of the best-selling Sociology 101 textbook, for
his participation in the orientation.
Diversity resources
$305
We used the remainder of the funds to expand our holdings of written and A/V materials on diversity.
**We also proposed using $100 for refreshments at orientation, but we decided to reallocate the funds
to permanent resources (films). The department paid for all food at orientation.
II. Assessments
Following orientation, we had students complete evaluations of the program. Their comments were
overwhelmingly positive, but we have studied the constructive criticisms more closely and are in the
process of making appropriate changes to next year’s orientation to incorporation these changes. For
example, the students felt there was significant overlap between our department orientation and a
couple elements of the university orientation. In order to avoid repetition, we are revising our schedule
to cover topics we did not have time to address last year and eliminate the redundant sessions.
We also implemented a follow-up study at the end of the autumn quarter. Again, the responses were
overwhelming positive. Students were thrilled with the thoroughness of the orientation and felt much
more prepared than in the past to begin serving as GTAs. Of course, we are focused on the students
critiques in our efforts to further improve next year’s orientation. The most common critique was that
orientation was a bit too long and there was too much overlap with FTAD orientation. We are revising
the orientation schedule we used when devising next year’s plan. In particular, we plan to spend more
time looking at the FTAD orientation schedule and eliminating overlap. Similarly, the students felt that
the session that Lisa Keister provided on writing for sociologists was much more directly related to
their needs than the session provided by the university writing center. For this reason, we are going to
shorten the writing center session and further develop Keister’s session.
Lisa Keister has also been meeting informally once a month with groups of new graduate students to
discuss their progress through the program. Again, these discussions have convinced me that the
orientation was very successful.
Finally, we are following up with yet another anonymous, written survey regarding orientation at the
end of the spring quarter. Together these evaluations will allow us to continue to improve our
orientation offerings next year and into the future.
Perhaps most exciting: we recently reviewed SEI scores for first-year GTAs for autumn 2003 and
winter 2004. We were thrilled so learn that the modal SEI for overall course effectiveness for
sociology 101 GTAs (including most of our first year cohort) were, on a scale of 1-5 where 5 is
superior:
Autumn 2003: 4.5
Winter 2004: 4.8!
These are great scores for any instructor, and they are perhaps phenomenal for first-time instructors.
While there is no certain evidence that these scores resulted from our expanded orientation, anecdotal
evidence from the students attributes this great success largely to the training we provided prior to the
start of courses.
IV. Reflections on the Future
We are scheduled to continue to use the enhanced orientation schedule that we developed using the
seed grant. We have institutionalized the monetary payments to graduate students and the more
comprehensive orientation schedule. We anticipate that this more detailed, and clearly effective,
schedule will be the department norm from now on. Again, we are revising our orientation schedule to
cover topics we did not have time to address last year and eliminate sessions that are redundant with
university orientation. We also plan to shorten the writing center session and further develop Keister’s
session on writing for sociologists.
Perhaps most important, we have institutionalized the practice of reflecting on and formally/critically
evaluating orientation. This practice alone provides some insurance that our orientation practices will
continue to improve.
V. Lessons Learned
We found the seed grant extremely helpful in reconsidering our orientation practices. We would
definitely recommend that other departments also try reevaluating and possibly expanding their own
orientation schedules. In particular, providing some compensation to graduate students appears to
make them much more serious about the orientation, even though the cost to the department is
minimal. In addition, providing more comprehensive information to graduate students well in advance
of the start of classes appears to calm them before the start of classes and allow them to focus on
classes when they do start. Finally, and this is completely anecdotal, but it appeared that our students
were much more relaxed at the start of classes because they had friends and the tools necessary for
success that other cohorts have lacked.
This has been one of our most successful first-year cohorts ever on all dimensions, and there is reason
to believe that this success is at least partially attributable to their positive initial experiences during
orientation.
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY
GRADUATE STUDENT ORIENTATION SCHEDULE 2003
Wednesday, September 10
8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
SRL Training Session I
Colin Odden, John Crawford, and Matt Moffitt, Room 383 Bricker Hall
9:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Welcome and Introduction
9:00
Professor Bob Kaufman, Department Chair
9:15
Professor Lisa Keister, Director of Graduate Studies (DGS)
9:30
Marty Moffa, Fiscal Officer
Kelly Hopkins, Graduate Program Coordinator
10:00 Jane Wilson, Assistant to the Chair, on office assignments
10:15 Michelle Blackwell, Administrative Assistant, on keys & other details
10:30 Professor Keister
11:30 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
Pizza luncheon with buddies and advisors
1:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
MISCELLANEOUS DEPARTMENT INFORMATION
1:00 – 2:00
Undergraduate Advising Staff
Working with OSU undergraduates
2:30 – 3:00
Alicia Weaver, GTA, Teaching Coordinator
Dealing with the first day of class and other concerns
3:00 – 3:30
Amanda Kennedy, CGS Student Representative
Department resources for success
Thursday, September 11
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
PREPARING TO TEACH
Professor Townsand Price-Spratlen, Diversity Issues
12:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Lunch
1:00p.m. - 3:00p.m.
Stephanie Rohdieck and Kathryn Plank, Faculty and TA Development
Teaching strategies
3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
John Macionis, Kenyon College and author of best-selling Sociology 101 textbook
Teaching Sociology 101
Friday, September 12
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
REVIEW OF BASIC SKILLS
Professor Zhenchao Qian, Math for Sociologists: An Introduction
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Lunch
1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Doctor Paul von Hippel, Department Statistician, Statistics Software Introduction
3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Cat Gubernatis, OSU Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing,
Writing Research Papers
4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Professor Lisa Keister, Writing for Sociologists
Monday September 15
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
EFFECTIVE TEACHING
Professor Tim Curry, Chair, Instructional Development and 101 TA Coordinators
Teaching Overview: Teaching Associates' Requirements and Responsibilities
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Lunch
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Professor Pam Paxton, Being an Effective Teacher