Those Who Teach Can Do: Skill Development Through Undergraduate Teaching

Upon entering the workforce or progressing into a graduate program, undergraduate students are expected to possess a number of both technical and psychological skills, as well as transferable skills, often termed “soft skills” (Appleby, 2003). In addition to coursework, experience through institutional research or undergraduate teaching may provide the necessary opportunities for development of transferable skills. Research presently supports the idea that undergraduate teaching assistants report the acquisition of professional skills through interactions with students and professors (Fingerson & Culley, 2001). These interactions and responsibilities may create similar effects, in terms of professional skill development, to those expected from performing undergraduate research, such as confident communication and leadership (Shalk et al., 2009). Through work as an undergraduate teaching assistant, it is thought that students will develop key knowledge, skills, and characteristics (KSC’s) identified as essential by potential employers through the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Information Network (Appleby, 2019). The aim of the present study is to measure gains in teaching assistants’ perceptions of their transferable skills and professional abilities. The researchers have constructed a survey intended to assess students’ perceived competencies and expectations of competencies following completion of the teaching assistant experience. Over the course of three semesters the researchers have surveyed students enrolled in an undergraduate teaching assistant practicum. Students receive course credit and, in addition to gaining professional experience, engage in reflection intended to encourage self-evaluation and integration of professional abilities and goals. The constructed survey is based on the work of Appleby (2007; 2019) and it measures perceived competency in the following domains: integrity, attention to detail, dependability, initiative, flexibility, persistence, communication, goal setting, analytical thinking, self-control, stress tolerance and cooperation. Individual difference measures were also captured, for example, Need for Cognition (Cacioppo et al., 1984) and Brief Resilience Scale (Smith et al., 2008). The researchers also created additional questions to assess the impact of the global pandemic. We hypothesize that this scale will effectively capture gains in perceptions of transferable skills and professional abilities following a TA practicum course. We also hypothesize that individual differences, such as resilience and need for cognition may be correlated. This survey has potential for use with diverse groups of teaching assistants in various departments and educational institutions

Perceptions of Disabled Instructors

Negative perceptions can lead to social and professional exclusion of disabled individuals. Negative perceptions of disability are especially detrimental to disabled academics (Brown & Ramlackhan, 2022). Research specifically examining the perceptions of disabled instructors is lacking. This study reviews factors influencing student perceptions of people with disabilities and provides insight for promoting the individual and professional development of people with disabilities in instructional roles in higher education. We recruited 109 undergraduate college students to participate in this study. Participants completed the study on-line using the Qualtrics platform, and they were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. For the experimental condition, the video displayed a 12-minute lecture in which the instructor appears to be blind. For the control condition, the video displayed the same lecture presented by the same instructor, without the instructor appearing to be visually impaired. Following the video, participants responded to a brief attention and comprehension check. Then, participants completed measures evaluating professor competence and warmth (Smith & Anderson, 2005; Anderson & Kanner, 2014), as well as affective and cognitive evaluations of the lecture. Finally, participants responded to a measure of overt ableism, the Interactions with Disabled Persons Scale (Gething, 1991; Thomas et al., 2003). Students who observed the disabled instructor (m = 23.79, SD = 4.297) lecture reported significantly higher levels of perceived competence then students who viewed the able-bodied lecture (m = 22.19, SD = 4.67), t (107) = -1.859, p \u3c .05, d = -.356. There was no difference between the two groups on perceived warmth, or evaluations of the lecture. These findings are inconsistent with previous literature showing individuals with physical disabilities being perceived as less competent than their able-bodied counterparts (Minks et al., 2024). These findings could be affected by social desirability bias. Replication of this study should include a measure of social desirability. This study should also be replicated using examining behavioral or developmental disabilities as the literature suggests that the public has more positive perceptions of individuals with physical disabilities

The relationships of working memory, secondary memory, and general fluid intelligence: Working memory is special

Recent efforts have been made to elucidate the commonly observed link between working memory and reasoning ability. The results have been inconsistent, with some work suggesting the emphasis placed on retrieval from secondary memory by working memory tests is the driving force behind this association (Mogle, Lovett, Stawski, & Sliwinski, 2008), while other research suggests retrieval from secondary memory is only partly responsible for the observed link between working memory and reasoning (Unsworth & Engle, 2006, 2007b). The present study investigates the relationship between processing speed, working memory, secondary memory, primary memory, and fluid intelligence. Although our findings show all constructs are significantly correlated with fluid intelligence, working memory, but not secondary memory, accounts for significant unique variance in fluid intelligence. Our data support predictions made by Unsworth and Engle, and suggest that the combined need for maintenance and retrieval processes present in working memory tests makes them “special” in their prediction of higher-order cognition