Master Graduate Teaching Fellows: A Pilot to Improve Science Teaching
3. Design, Data & Analysis
This is an evaluation of the MGTF program during its pilot year of implementation, and its effects on participants, the courses they taught, and the fellow graduate students they mentored. The goals of the pilot were the following: to develop capacity for excellence in teaching for future STEM faculty; to provide peer support and instruction to novice STEM TAs to build increased capacity for future STEM teaching; to pilot and evaluate a TA peer mentoring system for lower-level STEM laboratory courses; and to develop and pilot a set of general professional development workshops for STEM TAs.
Interviews with and surveys of MGTF participants, TAs who were mentored by MGTFs, and supervising course coordinators were central to this analysis. These interview and survey protocols were aligned with the goals of the MGTF program and grounded in the research literature on professional development and mentoring programs. They were also structured to assess the effects of the MGTF program with respect to participant understanding of and experience with inquiry teaching and learning. These data were supplemented with course records, teaching observations, and documents produced by the MGTFs themselves, including journal entries, reflective papers, and final reports. The sources were analyzed and coded by an external evaluator to triangulate findings from the interviews and surveys and to provide additional evidence for program impact on participants, particularly in areas related to the training and professional development of the MGTFs, impact on inquiry teaching and pedagogy, impact on mentoring relationships and interactions with TAs, and spillover effects shaping the climate for STEM teaching and learning in the participating courses and departments. Finally, the evaluation produced findings related to the program's effect on the MGTFs and the TAs they mentored, and the impact on the undergraduate STEM courses they supported.