CHEM40340 Chemistry Graduate Teaching Assistant

Academic Year 2023/2024

For the academic year 2021 - 2022, this module will be offered in both the Autumn and Spring trimesters. However, participants will be expected to have attended demonstrator training and briefing sessions during the 1st trimester if assigned demonstrating in that trimester.

The module will consist of 3 strands, a practical, a theoretical and a professional. The module will be delivered with a mixture of face-to-face and online environment and participants must be in an active teaching role.

The practical component will consist of an initial presentation on the realities of demonstrating and attendance at a presentation to undergraduates on laboratory safety. There will also be preparatory sessions specific to individual experiments. Although these will be for all demonstrators they will constitute contact hours for those taking this module.

In the theoretical strand, the participants, who are in the role of graduate teaching assistant, will engage in a scholarly critique of their teaching performance in supporting student learning in their disciplinary context. Participants will apply some of the basic generic and discipline specific skills in their teaching. They will be expected to engage in a scholarly discussion with their peers on best practices in teaching and learning in their context. They will be encouraged to self-assess based on feedback from their peers and/or their students, i.e. encouraged to take responsibility for judging the quality of their teaching.

The professional strand will require that students display a suitable standard of preparation, punctuality, presentation and safety awareness. Administrative competence will also be expected with regard to timely marks entry and custody of laboratory notebooks, which are effectively examination documents.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

• Demonstrate knowledge and critique of the principles, relevant policies and techniques of teaching and learning in relation to your own practice and subject area
• Critically evaluate your own teaching and learning approaches and their impact on learners and how they learn
• Take responsibility for planning teaching and learning activities to encourage student engagement in learning and the achievement of specified learning outcomes for each session
• Take responsibility for evaluating your own performance based on feedback from a variety of sources (student, peer, laboratory supervisor) and demonstrate willingness to change approach to demonstrating in light of this feedback
• Demonstrate basic administrative competence.
• Understand the relationship between the design of a practical session and the learning outcomes associated with it.
Course is Graded as Pass, Honours or Fail

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

5
Small Group

20
Practical

15
Specified Learning Activities

50
Autonomous Student Learning

20
Total

110
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Active/task-based learning;
Peer and group work;
Lectures;
Critical, and most significantly, reflective writing. 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations
Learning Requirements:

Participants must:
(a) Be, or about to be, registered for PhD/Masters in UCD
(b) Have, or about to have, an active teaching role within UCD

Learning Recommendations:

Those participants who started their post graduate studies in September will be expected to have attended demonstrator training and briefing sessions during the 1st semester.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Incompatibles:
UTL40230 - Intro to Univ T&L for Tutors


 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Portfolio: ‘Improving my performance’ a self relection and analysis of teaching style Week 8 n/a Graded No

33
Portfolio: Planning (thinking about) my teaching sessions Week 4 n/a Graded No

34
Presentation: Curriculum development, using the methodologies discussed in the course to improve teaching Week 12 n/a Graded No

33

Carry forward of passed components
No
 
Remediation Type Remediation Timing
Repeat Within Two Trimesters
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback is directly related to the Assessment

Name Role
Dr Raymond Smith Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
 
Spring
      
Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Mon 13:00 - 13:50