You Were Selected for Your Lived Experience: A Love-Centered Evaluation from the Perspective of Teaching Assistants in an IPE Course in Higher Education

Introduction. While teaching assistants with diverse backgrounds are subject to biased evaluations and perceptions of capacity due to race and gender, academic perspectives and emotional and psychological impacts of teaching on diverse teaching assistants is lacking. Objective. Applying post-qualitative methods of writing and autoethnography, three PhD level teaching assistants applied a love-centered program evaluation to assess whether they have what they need to facilitate an online asynchronous IPE on allyship. Methods. Over the course of five weeks, the teaching assistants met to discuss a need for this work, designed, and completed the program evaluation. Core evaluation activities included writing a series of self-addressed love letters and meeting for group reflections on the teaching experience and the content of the love letters. What Emerged. Systemic barriers to engaging left the teaching assistants feeling less effective than they had desired. The lack of training and ongoing support systems led to experiences of unanticipated harm. Conclusion. This evaluation aligns with research that suggests that structurally marginalized teaching assistants may require additional support to do their work without harm. Hiring and fairly compensating a small group of teaching assistants to design and deliver a curriculum that aligns with their values and is structured according to realistic learning outcomes may be one way to reduce the harm experienced by teaching assistants facilitating an allyship course.