OBSERVATION REFLECTION
Fall 2016:
During this semester not only did I learn about what another UTA experience was like (see “Observation Material” tab) but another UTA learned about what I do as an undergraduate teaching assistant for ENGL393, technical writing. Due to the fact that this course is an all-online course, there was no physical in-person observing session. Instead, the observer, Jeannie, was able to explore our class website to learn about the different resource students have, activities we have put together, and the major projects for the semester. In addition, she conducted a mini interview with me by email where I was able to give her an overview of my weekly responsibilities. The main points she was interested in learning about were my lesson plans, general aspects of the class, the best part of being a teaching assistant for an online class, and the most difficult part of being a teaching assistant for an online class.
​
One aspect that would have enhanced this experiment would have been to follow up with her about her overall impressions of the class. I think she was able to learn a good amount of information about the class through the means of the ELMS course site and emails. As a result, changing the conversation to focus on recommendations and improvements from an outside UTA who has different experiences could be worthwhile to my class’s structure.
Overall, it was interesting to see how although we are all teaching assistants for the English departments at UMD, we all have different experiences and ideals for our classes.
Spring 2017:
This evening I spent some time exploring the ELMS site for ENGL393: Technical Writing, an all-online class with Professor Moses and UTA Tamara Garner. I was interested in completing this assignment because I am also a UTA for an all-online technical writing course. After hearing from Tamara about her duties and reviewing the class materials, I have concluded that the two classes overall seem very similar. Tamara gave me the impression that she is a very prompt and organized UTA. The day our observation assignments were released she emailed me a thorough explanation of what is going on in the class and what her roles are as a UTA. I really appreciated how she reached out and shared the information before I even had the chance to ask. Since observing an online course is different than observing an in person class, and I am observing a course that is the same one that I am a UTA for, the goal of this paper is to explore the structure of the course and compare it to my own as well as understand the roles of the teaching assistant.
Overall the ELMS site for this class seems very straightforward and organized. There are five overview topic modules: ENGL393 technical writing, requirements & expectations, learning process& assessment, how asynchronous online ENGL393 works, using ENGL393 ELMS space. These resources are helpful for understanding the general ideas of the course as well as how to navigate the site. In addition to the overview topics, the class is broken down into eight more specific learning modules: introduction to audience based writing, extended definition, peer review, reflective writings, secondary research, proposal writing, primary research, and the final project. Each module consists of different goals, documents, required readings, videos, and any other relevant and necessary information. The syllabus tab on the ELMS site had all of the assignments clearly marked and dated. It seemed like a very resourceful place to keep track of the assignments and their due dates. The class breakdown in terms of grades is 15% definition, 25% proposal, 30% final project, 15% drafts/peer review, and 15% quiz/other. I think it is important to have an organized website online because that is the students’ primary resource for the class. Also, the professor puts out weekly announcements to inform the students as to what is going on for that week. The professor I work with, Michelle Von Euw, also sends out weekly messages to the students. I think this is a helpful reminder, especially for an online class, because it can be easy to lose track of what is going on when you do not have the in person class meetings. Overall our class structures are very similar.
The main activities that students are completing currently are the Extended Definition Assignment, one-on-one conferences, and meetings with the writing center. In addition, there is a peer review component to the Extended Definition Assignment. One way that our roles as UTAs are very similar is with the peer reviews. In both her class and mine, we have the responsibility of assessing the peer reviews. In addition, I found it interesting that their class requires them to have an appointment with the writing center. I think that could be a worthwhile experience for students to have multiple opinions on their work as well as be exposed to a writing service. I think that this is also a great idea for freshman introductory English classes as well because those students are new on campus and may not be aware of the opportunities they have for help.
One main difference that stuck out to me between the UTA roles for our courses was that Tamara mentioned having an office hour on Friday from 9-11am by the coffee shop in Tawes. I have never held an office hour session before. Although they seem helpful for answer questions, so far email has been an efficient way of communication for the purposes of my course. Most of the students who ask questions are inquiring about assignment details and clarification questions. We have also attempted online group web conference for specific assignments, but I did not find that to be a successful experience.
Overall, comparing this observation experience to my experience last semester, I found that I was able to learn more about the UTA when I observed in an in-person class setting since I physically watched them perform their jobs. When observing the online section, I feel like I understood more of the details/behind the scenes work on the course itself. I was able to relate to a lot of the responsibilities that Tamara has because we are both teaching assistants for the same course. I think in each observation I was able to see English courses from different perspectives.