[nabs-l] Questions About TA-ing and Teaching

Thu Aug 13 21:32:44 UTC 2015

Hello Cindy ,

I am afraid I do not completely understand all of the technical language in your email. However, it sounds to me like you are trying to figure out the best way to manage being a teacher's assistant for what might be a rather visual class while maintaining your current class load as a graduate student.

You say that you have already posted this question to the blind academics email list. Is this email list different than the blind educators email list? If these are indeed two different email lists, then I would encourage you to post your message on the blind educators email list to see if you might be able to receive more responses to your questions. There might be some blind college professors on the blind educators email list who might be able to give you tips and tricks for working in a college classroom.

Sorry I cannot provide you with any real concrete answers to your questions. However, I hope you are able to find the information necessary to answer your questions about being a teacher's assistant. Based on speeches I have seen you give at various NABS events as well as your passion and dedication to the subject matter, I have no doubt that you would make a great teacher's assistant.

Warm regards,
Elizabeth

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Cindy Bennett via nabs-l
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2015 3:54 PM
To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Cc: Cindy Bennett <clb5590 at gmail.com>
Subject: [nabs-l] Questions About TA-ing and Teaching

Hello,

I have already posted this on the blind academics list that is periodically recommended here. However, I have received few responses thus far and am seeking more advice.

I am excited about my first TA opportunity but am naturally nervous to try something new and have some questions.

To provide background, my department, Human Centered Design and Engineering teaches students a variety of skills that will prepare them to design technologies, interfaces, and do user research. Our program is unique in that many computer science departments have a human computer interaction specialization, but students in our department take usability, computer science, and design courses, and they are heavily influenced by sociology and psychology theory.

I will be TA-ing our new intro course where students will attend lectures and accompanying studios. I am working with another TA, and we will oversee the studios. Students will have topics for each studio and complete relevant tasks to introduce them to broad concepts that they may later take entire courses on. The goal of the course is to introduce students from other departments to HCDE as it can be beneficial in a variety of fields, to market our department, and to let students who are interested in the major learn whether they want to apply for it.

I may also have an opportunity to lead lecture which I am particularly excited about since I plan to teach before I graduate to learn whether I want to pursue teaching as a career.

I am a bit nervous about making sure the workload is equal as one of the studios is about visualizing data sets. In addition, the lab where studio will be held has several computers with a litany of design software’s that are pretty inaccessible. The professors and other TA are very open, and we have talked about various workload divisions such as each of us leading 2 of the 4 studios, but alternating who prepares the studio based on our expertise. For example, the other TA is a designer and would probably prepare a better info vis studio, and I have done a ton of user research and work on interaction design regarding accessible interaction with touchscreens, so I might be able to lend my expertise for planning those studios.

The professors are very interested in me problem solving to make some of the tasks that are inherently visual that don’t have to be more accessible for me. For example, I could figure out a way to ask students to ideate in an accessible manner where they have to explain flow charts, add alt text, or I could even bring in tactile art supplies for them to construct 3d charts. So this is very exciting although a challenge that I will doubtless not get right the first time.

I have the typical questions such as how to best traverse some of the mundane tasks such as  formatting slides and dealing with things in studios such as questions about software’s I cannot use. We will hire a couple of hourly undergrads who can be used to set up the studio space and may help with some of the grading. The professors are open to allocating some of the undergrad’s time to assisting me with tasks that a typical reader would perform.

There is an office where employees with disabilities can request accommodations. So I am trying to balance whether I should try to get my own hourly assistant, or use the undergrads, or what. I have heard of grad students doing both of these things and know the decision will ultimately be my decision. I am just in the middle of bureaucracy right now with that office which is why I would love to keep the accommodations inside the department and use the undergrad’s time.

But if any of you have advice about how to teach and grade visual content, about balancing workload with others and how to traverse the tension of trading tasks if one is visual versus using someone else too much, and about teaching/TA-ing as a blind person in general, I would really love to hear it. Class starts on October 1 since we are on the quarter system, so I have a bit of time, but want to plan ahead as much as possible.

Thank you,

--
Cindy Bennett
1st Year Ph.D. Student, University of Washington Human Centered Design and Engineering

Treasurer of the National Federation of the Blind of Washington an Affiliate of the National Federation of the Blind

clb5590 at gmail.com

--
Cindy Bennett
1st Year Ph.D. Student, University of Washington Human Centered Design and Engineering

Treasurer of the National Federation of the Blind of Washington an Affiliate of the National Federation of the Blind

clb5590 at gmail.com

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