Developing an Enhanced Feedback Loop for Virtual Learning: Perspectives from Graduate Teaching Assistants

Jin Sook Lee, University of California Santa Barbara

https://doi.org/10.9743/JEO.2023.20.4.1

Abstract

The role of graduate students in undergraduate students’ learning experiences is often overlooked despite the fact graduate students are usually the ones that work most closely with undergraduates in courses. As the world shifted to online education during the COVID-19 pandemic, instructors had to quickly learn to teach via online platforms. This study focuses on the perspectives of graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) as they adapted their pedagogy to meet the demands of remote instruction. Utilizing critical reflections through an enhanced feedback loop model, we found that the success of strategies to promote student engagement with content and other class members were dependent upon our response to students’ psychosocial states such as Zoom fatigue and stress, and the effective integration of students’ feedback to our teaching strategies. Based on the findings, we present implications for teaching assistant training.

Keywords: critical reflections, enhanced feedback loop, undergraduate experiences, COVID-19, online instruction, teaching assistant training