The Motivation and Identity Development of Graduate Teaching Assistants in First-Year Engineering Programs

Many engineering programs have a common content based first-year curriculum that all engineering students are required to take. These courses tend to be large in size, having multiple sections requiring the use of Teaching Assistants (TAs) who may be graduate students (GTAs) or undergraduate students (UTAs). The roles of TAs in first-year engineering courses vary from instructional staff to lab supervisors to graders, but despite their widespread use, little is known about the TAs' experiences. This study fills a gap in the literature by taking a participant centered approach to GTA motivation to teach and identity development as a teacher specifically in the context of first-year engineering programs (FYEPs). To guide this research, a combined motivation and identity framework was developed based on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and Possible Selves Theory (PST). In the framework, PST serves as the foundation for the SDT constructs of competence, relatedness, and autonomy. The framework supports that the various constructs lead to increased motivation and identity development but that each experience through the process is based on one's own identity and views of themself in the future. This was studied through an exploratory sequential mixed methods design where 12 semi-structured interviews representing five different FYEPs served as the foundation for the development of a national survey completed by 33 GTAs representing seven different FYEPs. Priority was ultimately given to the qualitative strand, but mixing occurred throughout the study. The results indicate that there are seven factors that affect GTA motivation and identity and there are profiles, lenses, and filters can be used to understand GTAs' experiences in FYEPs. While each individual is unique, general trends among experiences were observed. Additionally based on the results, the framework was found to be an appropriate tool but that a slight modification was needed to better align the framework with GTA developmental trends. This research allows future research-based GTA training programs and appointments to be developed that specifically aim towards meeting the motivational and identity developmental needs of GTAs, ultimately improving the quality of higher education.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Engineering Education

Department dc:contributor.department

Engineering Education

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Kajfez, Rachel Louis

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Matusovich, Holly M.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• McNair, Elizabeth D.
• Creamer, Elizabeth G.
• Lo, Jenny L.

• Identity
• Motivation
• Graduate Teaching Assistant

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:1515

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/51258