The Teaching Assistant to Faculty Transition Employing the Learner-Centered Teaching Model

Abstract

This paper discusses the classroom experiences of the author during the transition from a Graduate Teaching Assistant to a faculty member. It describes changes in teaching method that were enabled, changes in student attitudes and also in student performance. The classroom experience is compared and contrasted between teaching introductory political science research methods as a teaching assistant and introductory comparative government as a faculty member. Key differences in the method and experience include teaching from a lead faculty member’s perspective, using materials prepared and provided by another to teaching from a learner-centered method in which materials were predetermined by the author but content and direction of the course are negotiated with the students in a learner-centered model. The paper focuses on the actual application of the Learner-Centered model for teaching in the classroom. Observations will include student perceptions, performance, and attitudes as well as the perception, experience and performance of the author/teacher.