THE ROLE OF CHANGE THEORIES IN DEVELOPING AND IMPLEMENTING A NEW MODEL FOR GRADUATE TEACHING ASSISTANT TRAINING AND DUTIES IN A GEOSCIENCE DEPARTMENT

In Fall of 2023 the Department of Geosciences at Boise State University launched the Geosciences Learning Hub, a physical space for tutoring, student collaboration, and student help hours supported by a 1-credit course for geoscience graduate teaching assistants (TAs). Our goal was to increase student help-seeking by creating a central, open-to-everyone space that was regularly staffed by TAs and instructors who worked together as part of a learning community.

Developing a new model for supporting and deploying the intellectual resources of the department’s TAs took place over approximately two years and was guided by change theories that emphasize: 1) Understanding the system in which the change will take place including potential motivations and reservations of actors involved in the change; 2) Creating and relying on a vision statement for the change; 3) Building a coalition of champions to support the change; and 4) Seeking and communicating early or short-terms gains.

Understanding the system and creating a vision statement were accomplished through graduate student generation of questions related to establishing department-level training for TAs, a graduate readings seminar to explore the literature on TA development, a graduate class on course design that included the development of TA training modules, and piloting a TA training course in which the student-designed training modules were implemented. Building a coalition of champions was accomplished through proposal preparation for an internal college grant through which we partnered with campus leaders running the successful undergraduate learning assistant program. The proposal, which all faculty had the opportunity to review and discuss, provided a clear description of our goals and vision. We received funds to renovate the physical space that became the Learning Hub; financial and rhetorical support from the college added to our coalition of champions. Early gains with respect to student use of the Learning Hub were regularly shared with TAs and faculty; in its first semester of operation, 225 student visits to the Learning Hub were recorded from the 595 students enrolled in undergraduate geoscience courses that semester. Maintenance of the change requires adjustments based on feedback from TAs, faculty, and students. Evaluation of the change’s impact is ongoing.