Mitigating teaching anxiety through the use of an adaptable virtual community of practice

Jabdiel Laboy Santana, Cynthia Georges, AJ Sona, Erin Saitta

University of Central Florida

Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) play a critical role in the education of chemistry undergraduate students. It is imperative that GTAs have the resources and support needed to effectively teach especially, when considering GTA mental health.  We created a five-week virtual community of practice (VCP) with chemistry GTAs across three institutions to identify how teaching anxiety can be mitigated through training. The VCP was created to provide GTAs rehearsal opportunities in a mixed-reality teaching simulator and prompt reflection on navigating teaching-related anxiety. This talk follows two students through the training process to draw insight into the adaptability and value of the training.  We will present data from their simulator sessions, interviews, and personal reflections. Findings from this work will help inform how departments can leverage technology and training resources to better support a wider range of graduate students.