Exemplary undergraduate teaching assistant instructional practices as framed by the ARCS Model of Motivation

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2008.Six common themes of the development of the exemplary instructional practices were identified. Four of the themes were common across all three of the best-case undergraduate TAs. The four common themes were course coordinator/orientation, oral and written reflection, modeling of the undergraduate TA that taught the undergraduate TA as a student, and modeling of the undergraduate TA's supervising TA as an LA. Two common themes emerged across two of the best-case undergraduate TAs. The two common themes were socialization and instructional practices that were developed unintentionally.Sixteen instructional practices were identified as exemplary based on evidence gathered in the study. Six of the 16 instructional practices were common themes across ail three of the best-case undergraduate TAs. The six exemplary instructional practices were informing learners of the objectives, applying concepts to academic situations, applying concepts to life outside of school, applying concepts to situations that may be beneficial in the future, walking around the lab to individually guide students, and teaching concepts that are useful. Ten of the 16 instructional practices were common themes across two of the three best-case undergraduate TAs. The 10 instructional practices were using reminders, topics, humor, familiarity of topics, encourage questions, repetition, giving time to practice during and at the end of lab, reviewing at the beginning of each lab session, teaching concepts that students were not previously aware of, and accessibility outside of class.The purpose of this study was to examine undergraduate TAs to determine exemplary instructional practices as framed by the ARCS Model of Motivation and the common themes of the development of the exemplary instructional practices. The researcher used a sequential mixed methods approach (Tashakkori & Teddlie, 1998) to examine the undergraduate TAs. A survey was administered and examined quantitatively to select the best-case participants for the qualitative phase of the study.The researcher identified three best-case undergraduate TAs to study in the qualitative phase. Alter the data were analyzed, a cross-case analysis of the best-case undergraduate TAs was conducted to determine the exemplary instructional practices and the common themes of the development of the exemplary instructional practices.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 184-198).Also available by subscription via World Wide Web189 leaves, bound 29 c