The list below represents what a group of experienced UVic Teaching Assistants (TAs) have identified as important aspects of what learning is and how TAs can identify that their students are learning. Not all suggestions below may be applicable in all departments on campus. Please use the list as a guide only as this list is not exhaustive but encompasses a diverse array of aspects.
Broadly, learning is a process and involves more than just “knowledge”, it is:
Process-driven
- Accumulation of knowledge and skills
- Integration of new material
- Reflexivity and the ability to reflect on learning
- Reshaping previously understood notions
- Relating concepts together
- Scaffolded series of micro-learning events
- Learning a new idea, skill, or ability through integration
Changes
- Behavioural
- Skills
- Values
- Attitudes
- Preferences
- Abilities
- Thoughts or feelings
- Adapting new learning experiences towards change in many different aspects of their journey
Individualistic
- Questioning perceived truths
- Generalizing an idea based on individual contexts
- Different learning journeys and individual markers throughout the process
- Engaging and applying learning
- Discovery, active, growth
- Engaging with information, ideas, perspectives, and alternatives ways of thinking and doing
This guide was developed during the Teaching Assistant Consultants’ (TACs) seminars for the academic year 2009-2010 and updated in 2020-2021.
