La “Laurea Magistrale” in Canada
Ci siamo lasciati un mese fa con un bel papiro sull’organizzazione dell’università Canadese. Per completare il quadro vorrei scrivere un po’ della “graduate school”, ovvero della Laurea Magistrale in Canada.
La “grad school” è un biennio proprio come in Italia, ma probabilmente le similitudini finiscono qui. Premetto che sono uno studente della Laurea Magistrale in Italia ma, essendo al quarto anno dei miei studi (primo di Laurea Magistrale), sono in scambio come studente dell’ultimo anno della “undergraduate school“. Nel seguire corsi del quarto anno ho avuto molti assistenti dei professori (“TA“) giovanissimi, e investigando un pò, ho scoperto che si tratta proprio di studenti del biennio Magistrale. Il ruolo dei TA dipende molto dai professori, e qui mi faccio aiutare da Wikipedia:
Graduate Teaching Assistants
Graduate teaching assistants (often referred to as GTAs or simply TAs) are graduate students employed on a temporary contract by a department at a college or university in teaching-related responsibilities. In New Zealand, Australian, and some Canadian universities, graduate TAs are known as tutors. In North America graduate TA position provides funding for postgraduate research although the main purpose is to provide teaching support, and it often serves as the first career step for an aspiring academic.[4] TA responsibilities vary greatly and may include: tutoring; holding office hours; grading homework or exams; administering tests or exams; and assisting a professor with a large lecture class by teaching students in recitation, laboratory, or discussion sessions. Professors may also use their teaching assistants to help teach discussions during regular class. This gives the graduate student opportunity to use their teaching skills, as many are in pursuit of teaching careers. Some graduate students assist in distance education courses by meeting with the students as professors are not able to. Graduate TAs should not be confused with teaching fellows (TFs) or graduate student instructors (GSIs), who are graduate students who serve as the primary instructor for a course. However, at some universities the TF and TA titles are used interchangeably.
Training in Northern America is provided for GTAs to bring them to an agreed standard of proficiency by practice and instruction. Many universities have developed GTA training programs, or require GTAs to enroll in a University course, teaching graduate students that teaching can be learned, practiced, and continually improved. These programs or courses are usually taught by a full-time professional trainers, such as professors or experienced teachers, to inspire and motivate GTAs as well as educating them. In the training a lot of attention has been focused on the use of active learning strategies such as in-class activities and written assignments. Effective training helps GTAs enhance the learning experience for both teacher and student.[5]
La mia impressione sulla “grad school” è che abbia una fortissima impostazione verso il mondo della ricerca, e sia molto utile come introduzione ad un eventuale dottorato. A conferma di questo, sulla pagina di uno dei professori ci sono diversi articoli accademici pubblicati insieme a studenti della Laurea Magistrale. Se volete saperne di più, sempre su Wikipedia potete trovare una sezione nell’articolo sulla grad school dedicato al Canada.
Cercherò di aggiornare con più frequenza, “assignment” e “midterm” permettendo.
