TA eLearning Series

Learning about how to use technology to engage your students is valuable and vital in the online environment. But as a TA, how do you reveal the human behind the screen? Take this learning module to discover how you can build community online through the way you design formal and informal opportunities for your students to interact with you and with each other. Design strategies to help your students recognize you and each other as human learners, each with unique perspectives and personalities, and all responsible for contributing to a positive online learning environment.

Grading online has the same challenges and principles as grading in a traditional learning environment; we want to be fair and time efficient. In this asynchronous module you will learn some tips that are more specific to grading in the online learning environment, with special focus on OWL, Western's Learning Management System.

Facilitating discussions is a common task for a TA, and one that requires some extra planning and consideration in the online format. Covering topics such as participation rubrics, community agreements, teaching presence, and learning tools to assist with discussion activities, this learning module uses instructional videos, reflective questions, and case study scenarios to help you identify best practices and potential strategies for facilitating productive participation in both synchronous and asynchronous online environments.

This module empowers you as a new or returning TA in the Sciences to embrace your integral role helping your students learn and understand difficult concepts in Science. You will explore strategies for incorporating experiential learning in Science courses, examine ten teaching techniques to promote student understanding of difficult concepts, and develop meaningful questions to help facilitate student learning.

In this module, you will learn how to effectively manage security and privacy concerns in the online environment. Case studies will cover how to mitigate and respond to Zoom-bombing incidents and how to ensure the protection of student privacy when recording online class sessions.

Between bored students, overwhelmed students, and the added unpredictability that comes with teaching in a new environment, disruptions can seem inevitable. This module, however, will guide you through practices for minimizing the likelihood of disruptive behaviour in your virtual classroom and provide you with some strategies for responding in the moment, if and when disruption occurs.

What does it mean to be prepared for class when you’re learning asynchronously? Why do some students excel at learning remotely while others fall behind? This module provides an overview of some of the skills successful online learners possess and guides teaching assistants in planning how to foster those skills in their students. Whether they are teaching asynchronously or synchronously, holding office hours or running tutorial, this module provides strategies you can use to help your students succeed online.

Online learning can be a more accessible option for many of our students, but only if due thought and planning is put in place. This module explores the TAs role in creating an accessible online learning environment and provides strategies for designing lessons and course material that takes learner variability into account.

This asynchronous eLearning module has been adapted from a session created with Indigenous Initiatives Curriculum and Pedagogy Advisor Sara Mai Chitty. This module serves as an introduction to some principles and practices that are present in the pedagogies of many Indigenous nations and asks you, the learner, to explore how those principles and practices can be reflected in an online learning environment.