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Survey data on student expectations from teaching assistants in engineering education

Wilson, Denise1; Kardam, Neha1

Published Nov 10, 2025 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.47d7wm3s3

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Abstract

Teaching Assistants (TAs) make important contributions to STEM teaching in higher education. While TAs often play both peer and authority figure roles, however, relatively little is known about exactly what students expect from TAs.  To fill this gap, the first major goal of this study was to comprehensively understand these expectations from a large population of undergraduate engineering students. In addition, this study sought to understand how these expectations vary with gender, race/ethnicity, and country of origin within distinct time periods associated with the recent COVID-19 pandemic (pre-COVID, during COVID, and post COVID).  Student expectations were measured via a short-answer survey question in a cross-sectional dataset at a single, large institution comprised of sophomore to senior level students (n = 1,678) enrolled in engineering courses between 2016 and 2023. Thematic analyses were used to analyze student expectations, and statistical, quantitative techniques were used to identify demographic differences. While no single majority theme emerged, many (42.9%) of students overall thought that teaching practice was most important for TAs to emphasize, while 37.6% believed teacher preparation to be most important. A smaller but noteworthy percentage (7.61%) of students expected TAs to be caring and hospitable. Significant differences emerged across time period, race/ethnicity, and country of origin, but gender differences were not significant. The results of this study indicate that students have a wide range of expectations of TAs, that these expectations vary over time, and that their expectations are largely consistent with cognitivism approaches to teaching and learning. While the results of this study can directly inform TA professional development and faculty guidance and supervision of TAs, it is also important that both faculty and TAs introduce other learning theories into their teaching (e.g., constructivist, humanistic, connectivist) to further develop deep learning skills and better prepare engineers for the workforce.