Developmental Stages of New Graduate Student Instructional Consultants: Implications for Professional Growth

Abstract

Effective consulting is a key skill for educational developers. Although most educational developers are new to the field, there is limited research about how new practitioners develop consulting skills. The key research question this study explores is: How do new graduate teaching consultants develop as practitioners? This study empirically applies several “classic” models of consulting to better understand new consultants’ perceived development of expertise, preferred consulting approaches, and reflection about them. The findings are generally confirmatory of the ways that classic frameworks map onto the development of consultants. They also suggest greater attention to supporting new consultants beyond “getting started,” as well as to preparing new consultants for the differences between intra‐ and interdisciplinary consultations.

Impact of the Lead TA Program on the Perceived Disciplinary Instructional Competence of Graduate Teaching Assistants

“…GTA training programs that employ experienced GTAs as mentors to support instructional development initiatives vary in both their approach and the scope of responsibilities they place on the GTA mentor: while some programs emphasize one-on-one teaching consultations (Wright et al, 2015), others require the GTA mentor to take an active role in developing programming. Thomas and Border (2011) use the term, "graduate student consultant" (GSC) to broadly refer to GTA facilitators who have been hired by centres of teaching and learning (CTLs) to offer a range of "peer mentoring, consultation, workshops, and leadership" professional development activities (p. 37).…”

“…Research on Lead TA-type programs has explored the program from a range of perspectives. Thomas and Border (2011) and Wright et al (2015) have considered components of effective training design when preparing Lead TAs for their role. Thomas and Border (2011) determined GSC programs to be designed effectively in that the program outcomes guide how GSCs are trained and that the GSCs, in turn, enact the types of programming they were trained to do.…”

Peer Teaching Consultants: Design Principles for Instructional Development and Program Alignment

“…TACs also emphasized the importance of ongoing reflection on consulting skills in the CoP, beyond initial training, which Wright et al. (2015) suggest is essential in supporting PTCs. One former TAC described the process this way: “When we [do] consultations, I really enjoy the ability to use…what we've discussed in the TAC program…But when you have a difficult consultation that's challenging…it's absolutely wonderful to come back to the TAC program and say, ‘Hey, this is what happened,’ and having space in the meeting to actually do that is really beneficial.”…”

The Impact of Extra‐Disciplinary Socialization on Graduate Student Educational Developers

“…As outlined by Thacker Thomas and Border (), typical elements include learning how to develop and facilitate workshops, consult with others, and develop their own and support others’ professional development, with a focus on university pedagogy and academic leadership. There are many benefits to this type of training, including the opportunities to work with people in a variety of disciplines, an additional set of interpersonal professional skills, a more holistic understanding of university teaching, and a heightened sense of self‐efficacy (Thacker Thomas and Border ; Wright, Schram, and Gorman ). We will discuss some of these benefits later in our reflections.…”