Understanding Your Course

Levels of Interaction

Synchronous Course

  • Classes taught on a weekly schedule, where the instructor meets with the students and delivers materials (lectures, activities, labs, etc.). This gives the instructors and TAs opportunity to meet and talk to the students via online conference software like Zoom or Webex.

  • Majority of modern CS synchronous courses focus on Active Learning.

  • As an Active Learning course, collaborative learning is its cornerstone, where activities given in class focus on group interactions.

  • As a result, interactions in these courses will most likely involve group activities, which in an online learning environment will be done in breakout rooms.

Asynchronous Course

  • Compared to synchronous courses, asynchronous classes deliver their material completely online without any meeting times, usually through a website like Canvas. Students study and work on assignments during their own time, and assignments, tests and projects have set dates.

  • Communication, in turn, will be done asynchronous as well. Forums (such as Piazza) are commonly used for communication between students and instructors.

  • Office hours are of utmost importance, as they will be the only time you will be able to meet and speak with the students directly.

  • Aside from office hours, you can create other situations that will help you speak and help the students directly, such as making a tutoring section before a test, or setting a time one day a week to help students with their project works. Coordinating the creation of these extra meeting times with the instructor will help in figuring out what students would need the most in these asynchronous courses.

Roles as a TA

Covered in previous chapters:

Things to keep in mind in an Online Learning setting:

Collaborative Learning

When students work in groups, they will be Students may need help clarifying instructions and using the course’s online resources. TA’s need to know this information to help them in any way they can.


Communication

The medium of communication will be different depending if the course is Synchronous or Asynchronous.

Teaching Assistants act as the intermediary between students and teachers. Very important in online learning since communication is key!

Individual Learning

When grading assignments, give as much feedback as you feel necessary. Students will only know if the are doing well in the class or not based on assignment grades, and knowing what they did wrong will help them a lot. Although office hours are a useful resource for students, not all students are willing to go to them (either because of conflicting times, shyness, or other reasons), so giving them feedback on their progress whenever possible will help them as the course goes on.


References: