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Teaching Assistant Internship at Leiden University College

Vak
2020-2021

Admission requirements

Required:

  • Student should have good academic standing and at least a second-year status; first-year students cannot sign up

  • Student should submit a brief motivation, please see next section for more information

  • Application deadline for Semester 2 is Sunday 3 January 2021, please see next section for more information

  • Apply via the registration link, which is available in the next section below

Description

The COVID-19 crisis means that the entire academic year at LUC needs to be taught mostly online, where possible with on-campus elements. For the academic staff who teach in the LUC programme, the switch to online or hybrid teaching means a lot of extra work. At the same time, Leiden University has switched to a new Virtual Learning Environment (VLE): Brightspace.

To support the course instructors in their work, LUC has introduced the Teaching Assistant Internship programme. This internship will allow students to gain experience in what it entails to teach a group of students, gain knowledge of online teaching tools, organizational skills and communication skills. For the faculty this will mean that they have support during the development and teaching of online or hybrid courses in a new VLE.

Place in Study Plan:
This activity will be labelled as an internship as the student is gaining practical skills. The Teaching Assistant Internship will be part of the elective space of the student’s study plan, not of the Major. If the student takes the Teaching Assistant Internship, they will still be allowed to also take a regular internship and Research Clinic for credit in their elective space. In other words: the Teaching Assistant Internship does not stop you from using a second (external) internship and/or a Research Clinic within the elective space of your programme.

Tasks:
The tasks of the Teaching Assistant may include the following and other appropriate tasks as determined by the instructor:

  • Assist in effective use of the Brightspace page for the course;

  • Create, monitor and/or facilitate the online sessions in Kaltura or MS Teams;

  • Assist in the preparation of course materials in effective ways, including online components, under the supervision of the course instructor;

  • Contribute to teaching and having contact with the students, for example by monitoring live chats during online classes or coaching groups in break-out rooms;

  • Monitoring closely the student experience of the online course

Please note:

  • The Teaching Assistant will not be involved in the assessment of the courses they support

  • The Teaching Assistant will have to sign a confidentiality statement

  • The Teaching Assistant will be offered a training in VLE Brightspace

Credits and duration:
Students can gain 5 ECTS for the Teaching Assistant Internship. This means 140 hours of work supporting two courses, either in the same block or in the same semester, 70 hours per course. Ideally, students stay with the same instructor but this may not always be possible. The Teaching Assistant Internship is offered at 200-level and graded Pass/Fail (a Pass for the internship will only be registered if for both individual courses a Pass is obtained).

Registration:
Registration is possible for non-first year students. Students should sign up through the following link; please only register if you have genuine interest in doing this internship:

REGISTRATION LINK

The deadline to apply is Sunday 3 January.

Students will be matched by the administration to courses they will support. Matching will be done simultaneously with the course allocation, to create some flexibility to find the best possible matches with courses on the basis of major, experience in courses, motivation and preferences. It cannot be guaranteed that students will get to support the course(s) that are a good fit, as many factors play a role, for example scheduling , demand from teachers, etc. However, if students are matched to a course with which they are not comfortable, they can say so and the internship can be replaced with a regular course.

The Study Advisors will be consulted on the academic standing of the applicants.

Course Objectives

After completion of this internship, students are able to:

  • Effectively facilitate a virtual learning environment

  • Assist with Evaluation of teaching materials and methods

  • Respectfully and effectively monitor student interaction in smaller groups

  • Reflect upon their experience as a teaching assistant with specific on online teaching

Timetable

Timetables for courses offered at Leiden University College in 2020-2021 will be published on this page of the e-Prospectus.

Mode of instruction

See Description, above.

Assessment Method

The course instructor assesses the work of the teaching intern on a Pass/Fail basis. The teaching intern writes a reflection report for each course supported. This includes at least a description of tasks carried out for each course and a reflection on their learning process.

As the internship is considered a course, all regulations for courses apply (e.g. with regard to course withdrawals).

Reading list

N/A

Registration

Courses offered at Leiden University College (LUC) are usually only open to LUC students and LUC exchange students. Leiden University students who participate in one of the university’s Honours tracks or programmes may register for one LUC course, if availability permits. Registration is coordinated by the Education Coordinator, course.administration@luc.leidenuniv.nl.

Contact

Please direct questions to course.administration@luc.leidenuniv.nl.

Remarks

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