Roles of a Teaching Assistant (TA)

Introduction

This chapter presents fundamentals of being a teaching assistant (TA) in the College of Computing and Informatics (CCI) at University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC). The chapter looks to cover why TAs are important and what the types of roles a TA is can fill. Further it dives into the universal roles of grading and holding office hours which almost all TAs find themselves in. Finally, we conclude this chapter by covering common challenges TA tend to face with a specific focus on international TAs.

Understanding the Roles of a TA

Teaching assistants are an important part of the classroom. Universities and schools in the United States and around the world require TA positions in courses as a main part of their educational process. In general, the overall idea of being a TA is to assist instructors of record (usually faculty members) with instructional responsibilities.

CCI in particular has courses in both undergraduate and graduate levels with different learning styles and materials ranging from theoretical to technical and project-based. In addition, some courses have in class activities, while other courses are administered through online platforms. This variety in classes creates several TA roles and responsibilities and provides great opportunities for TAs in CCI to improve their skills and gain experience in teaching.

Preparing and Maximizing Your Office Hours

As a TA one of your most important responsibilities as you will be hosting weekly office hour where students can receive extra help. However, doing so isn't as easy as simply setting a date, time, and place for students to meet you. It turns out, conducting effective and engaging office hours where students come out with more than they came in with is slightly more complicated. Thus, this section aims to help you achieve this by going over how to prepare for your office hours, how to set boundaries between yourself and students, how to get students engaged, and how to properly guide students.

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Grading and Providing Feedback

This chapter of the TA handbook focuses on guiding Teaching Assistants (TAs) with the task of grading and providing feedback. These tasks can be time-consuming and stressful but it has a lot of values for the students. TAs are acknowledging the work of the students and guiding them towards improvement. The following guidelines are for TAs so that they can grade effectively and provide feedback efficiently.

Challenges of Teaching Assistants

It is common that TAs may meet some challenges. Challenges happen in many citations such as being TA for the first time, assisting instructors in big classes, don’t have enough time to complete some TA duties, become sick or enable to work sometimes, meet unexpected issues with students or face general life challenges.

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