Timeline for Is teaching a graduate course with 30 students an unreasonable expectation for a PhD student with a TA contract?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
26 events
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| Apr 24, 2016 at 0:46 | comment | added | Andreas Blass | As far as I know, my university doesn't allow anyone without a Ph.D. (or equivalent in other fields) to teach any course that can be taken for graduate credit. And in my department, teaching assistants (officially called graduate student instructors) are used only in first- and second-year undergraduate classes. So what is being asked of the OP looks very strange to me. | |
| Mar 4, 2016 at 19:56 | comment | added | cs_alumnus | Isn't there a conflict of interest here? Graduate school is a competition for scarce resources. The resources may be job prospects, scholarships or other things. It seems like the OP is being given the ability to fail the op's competitors without oversight. | |
| Sep 10, 2014 at 11:30 | comment | added | user10636 | I agree with Pete L. Clark that this situation sounds highly unusual to me. I also agree with the other poster that it might be a disservice to the OP and her students. However, it might be a very valuable opportunity because it will allow OP to show that she has already led graduate courses when she applies for jobs. It might be a ton of work, but it also might be worth it. | |
| Sep 10, 2014 at 11:12 | history | edited | enthu |
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| Aug 28, 2014 at 6:08 | review | Close votes | |||
| Aug 28, 2014 at 11:03 | |||||
| Aug 28, 2014 at 5:53 | comment | added | Superbest | I don't understand the question. Are you being asked to devote more than 15 hours for this course, in spite of the contract? Are you yourself concerned that the course sounds like it will be more than 15 hours? Is it not more than 15 hours, but you used to get away with 10 hours before and you want to do 10 hours again? | |
| Aug 27, 2014 at 12:38 | comment | added | Pete L. Clark | @Kenny: I certainly agree that lots of people teach courses who are not professors. I was saying that you shouldn't be called a TA if you are the instructor of record: among other things, that's confusing. (But it's not up to me, of course...) About graduate students teaching graduate courses: I wonder what field you're in in which this is relatively common? In my field -- mathematics -- it is rare for a graduate student to teach even an advanced undergraduate course, and unheard of (by me, at least) for them to teach a regularly scheduled graduate course. | |
| Aug 26, 2014 at 21:59 | answer | added | paul garrett | timeline score: 5 | |
| Aug 26, 2014 at 21:35 | answer | added | bfoste01 | timeline score: 2 | |
| Aug 26, 2014 at 6:13 | comment | added | user10885 | @PeteL.Clark: It is not unusual for you to be given an official position (and hence salary and benefits) to be a TA, while being forced to take on many of the teaching duties and responsibilities of a properly-paid professor--this includes teaching a full-load graduate level class on your own! | |
| Aug 25, 2014 at 8:41 | comment | added | Pete L. Clark | @Ben: Fair enough, though the terminology is confusing. By the way, in contrast to a lot of the answers given here, I tend to think that the OP is getting a raw-ish deal: the very first course she is teaching is a graduate course? In my experience graduate students rarely teach graduate courses at all, and certainly not without a lot of seniority and prior teaching experience. I wonder what you think. | |
| Aug 25, 2014 at 3:13 | answer | added | Ben Webster | timeline score: 10 | |
| Aug 25, 2014 at 3:04 | comment | added | Ben Webster | @PeteL.Clark Universities aren't consistent about the use of TA as a job title. For example, at UVA (as you can see here math.virginia.edu/graduate/support), a "teaching assistantship" actually means being the instructor of record for an undergraduate course (and I think similar terminology was used at Northeastern). | |
| Aug 25, 2014 at 1:13 | history | edited | Jeromy Anglim | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Aug 24, 2014 at 19:30 | answer | added | Rex Kerr | timeline score: 14 | |
| Aug 24, 2014 at 4:38 | comment | added | Pete L. Clark | I'm a little confused: in your question you speak of a rule about TA's, and then in the comment you say you are the sole instructor for a (graduate!) course. That's not being a "TA", is it? | |
| Aug 23, 2014 at 11:21 | comment | added | Greg | It sound like happens with everyone. I had 14 hours / a week (just class time, no grading time or preparation) when i was a grad student. It is hard, but I wouldn't say unusual. | |
| Aug 23, 2014 at 9:27 | answer | added | Alexandros | timeline score: 4 | |
| Aug 23, 2014 at 4:43 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/#!/StackAcademia/status/503039823998115840 | ||
| Aug 23, 2014 at 3:56 | comment | added | geekgirl | Yes, I am the sole instructor. I have already put in considerable time designing my syllabus, selecting a text, choosing what to assign, etc. And the class assignment is a double-edged sword. Since it's an intro class, there isn't necessarily depth, but there is breadth, including in topics I am not overly familiar with. | |
| Aug 23, 2014 at 3:51 | answer | added | mako | timeline score: 4 | |
| Aug 23, 2014 at 3:20 | comment | added | Nate Eldredge | Note that graduate courses are not necessarily more or harder work than undergrad courses, just different. You will probably spend more time preparing the material, but if it's close to your research area, you may not mind so much. You may spend less time correcting the students' spelling, or teaching them how citations work, or prosecuting cheating cases. | |
| Aug 23, 2014 at 3:06 | comment | added | Nate Eldredge | Maybe you can clarify exactly what your duties would be. Presumably you're not the sole instructor. Do you grade homework? Lead discussion sections? Give lectures? In any case, your best information will probably come from asking other students their experiences. | |
| Aug 23, 2014 at 3:02 | comment | added | Olorun | Just gonna add that writing "nor what little is remaining of my sanity" sounds more dramatic & interesting. Unfortunately I don't have any experience in this area so I don't feel qualified to give advice. | |
| Aug 23, 2014 at 2:31 | review | First posts | |||
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| Aug 23, 2014 at 2:24 | history | asked | geekgirl | CC BY-SA 3.0 |