Sharing Knowledge and Improving Teaching Ability of Teaching Assistants and Student Assistants in Computer Programming Classes

In our department, teaching assistants (TAs) and students assistants (SAs) support various teaching activities in computer programming classes; however, it is difficult to share specific knowledge and improve the teaching abilities of TAs and SAs because most of them are replaced by new students every semester or every year. Further, as teachers we do not typically have a set of fully discussed rigorous evaluation methods for TAs and SAs because their teaching practices are rather diverse. In this article, we investigate the knowledge that TAs and SAs accumulate. We used group interviews as our research method and formed a case-code matrix, which is a qualitative data analysis method. Our results selected 20 cases and were classified into four categories, i.e., identifying and analyzing problems, ingenuity in teaching, cooperating and sharing information with other TAs and SAs, and reflection. Based on our results, we created a guidebook and rubric with self-assessment criteria for TAs and SAs, then used these rubrics in the same class in the next year. From final reports written by participating TAs and SAs, we found that the guidebook helped them (1) when they found something they did not know or understand, (2) to know what and how other TAs and SAs performed their duties in the past, and (3) to relearn programming and information technologies. We also found that the rubric helped to quantify the fullness of their teaching activities, enabling them to reflect on their activities objectively.