Engineering Models TA | Spring Semester 2016
Faculty Advisor Dr. Kastner
During the fall semester of the 2014 school year, I acquired my first on-campus job: working as a teaching assistant for the University of Cincinnati introductory engineering course, Engineering Models. This course, which spans two semesters and is required for all engineering majors, teaches computer programming concepts via a language called MATLAB. My first semester of teaching was enlightening, and I was excited to work again in the spring semester of 2016. This time around, however, I was able to take the experience further by blending my job with a reflection component in order to create an honors experience. The program was centered on leadership concepts, and allowed me to reflect on which concepts are effective in the context of a college classroom and laboratory setting.
Working as a TA involves helping students understand and develop the use of basic programming techniques. It also requires collaboration with co-workers, which allows for coordinated and effective answers to student inquiries. This experience gave me the opportunity to interact with co-workers, and in doing so to collectively explore which styles of leadership function most effectively in the classroom.
Among all of the theories that we explored, the best fit for teaching (in my opinion) is the path-goal theory of leadership, which says that a leader will adjust his or her leadership style based upon the demands of a particular situation. The adapted style focuses on the strengths of the team, and will helps compensate for any weaknesses there may be. According to this theory, there are four sub-styles that a leader may mix together in order to create the best overall style for the group: directive (leader assigns tasks), achievement-oriented (leader sets goals), participative (leader consults with team for best course of action), and supportive (leader supports needs as they arise).
During reflecting sessions with other TAs engaged in this experience, I identified that the job requires blending all four leadership styles mentioned above. For example, if a student asks how to perform a specific task (calculate the remainder of a division operation, for example), it is ideal to use directive leadership and provide a direct answer, since this function is built into the language. Furthermore, working as a TA requires a fair amount of supportive leadership, as we are required to support student needs as they arise. Finally, TAs often work with groups of students, and may function as a guide for the group without handing out answers. For example, while working on a project at the end of the semester, I spoke with groups who were divided amongst themselves regarding the best way to approach their problem. Here, I favored my leadership towards participative, and talked with the group regarding their problem. Using this method, the group learns how to work through problems on their own, but has the support of the TA to steer them in the right direction.
All of this said, the biggest benefit of this experience was that it required me to take the time and actually reflect on how I saw myself using the leadership styles mentioned above. I analyzed situations that arose throughout the week, and asked whether the leadership style that I used in each instance was the most effective choice. I remained conscious of successes and failures, and used this information to improve leadership in subsequent classes. In the coming school year, when I will again work as a TA, I’ll use the information that I gleamed in this experience to make student-TA interactions as effective and fruitful as possible.
Working as a TA involves helping students understand and develop the use of basic programming techniques. It also requires collaboration with co-workers, which allows for coordinated and effective answers to student inquiries. This experience gave me the opportunity to interact with co-workers, and in doing so to collectively explore which styles of leadership function most effectively in the classroom.
Among all of the theories that we explored, the best fit for teaching (in my opinion) is the path-goal theory of leadership, which says that a leader will adjust his or her leadership style based upon the demands of a particular situation. The adapted style focuses on the strengths of the team, and will helps compensate for any weaknesses there may be. According to this theory, there are four sub-styles that a leader may mix together in order to create the best overall style for the group: directive (leader assigns tasks), achievement-oriented (leader sets goals), participative (leader consults with team for best course of action), and supportive (leader supports needs as they arise).
During reflecting sessions with other TAs engaged in this experience, I identified that the job requires blending all four leadership styles mentioned above. For example, if a student asks how to perform a specific task (calculate the remainder of a division operation, for example), it is ideal to use directive leadership and provide a direct answer, since this function is built into the language. Furthermore, working as a TA requires a fair amount of supportive leadership, as we are required to support student needs as they arise. Finally, TAs often work with groups of students, and may function as a guide for the group without handing out answers. For example, while working on a project at the end of the semester, I spoke with groups who were divided amongst themselves regarding the best way to approach their problem. Here, I favored my leadership towards participative, and talked with the group regarding their problem. Using this method, the group learns how to work through problems on their own, but has the support of the TA to steer them in the right direction.
All of this said, the biggest benefit of this experience was that it required me to take the time and actually reflect on how I saw myself using the leadership styles mentioned above. I analyzed situations that arose throughout the week, and asked whether the leadership style that I used in each instance was the most effective choice. I remained conscious of successes and failures, and used this information to improve leadership in subsequent classes. In the coming school year, when I will again work as a TA, I’ll use the information that I gleamed in this experience to make student-TA interactions as effective and fruitful as possible.
The link below will open the artifact for this experience, which is a proposal for an Engineering Models lab that involves 2D disease modeling. This lab was created based upon my observations during this honors experience.