TA Roles and Support

TAs are absolute heroes of remote instruction. Their role in live lectures enables students to connect with the instructional team while the instructor is delivering the content.

TAs are expected to continue with their contracted work. They should be able to hold office hours and complete grading.

Any TA who will be unable to reliably access the internet needs to contact the Grad Advisor ASAP.

Role in live lectures

Having a TA moderating your live lecture is so helpful. Set clear expectations.

Opportunity - being able to live chat to a TA during lecture lowers the barrier for students asking questions. TAs can respond directly, can consolidate multiple questions, can reformulate questions or can access the chat log and respond later.

TA office hours

Office hours can be held through Canvas Conferences or Zoom

Be sure to clearly name the Zoom meeting (e.g., "Tim's office hours" rather than "PSC001 SQ 2020")

Try different office hours formats e.g., "Quiz Night"

TA led discussion sections

TAs will need Zoom accounts to hold discussion sections. They can create those through the link to Zoom on Canvas.

TA workload concerns

The TA contract prohibits TAs from being asked to work more than 8 hours in one day or more than 40 hours in one week. Be sure to honor this agreement.

If your rapid-remote decisions increase the grading expectation, try to reduce other time commitments.

Training needs

We are scheduling a TA Zoom to go over using the technology

Recruit undergraduate learning assistant (PSC 197T)

Peer Tutors (197T) can be great members of the instructional team.

  • grade quizzes or low-stakes assignments

  • help moderate live lectures

  • hold tutoring hours or facilitate study groups

Peer Tutors are not TAs and may not be used to replace reliance on a graduate TA. They may not be asked to complete high-stakes grading.