As a teaching assistant (TA), how to handle the situation where a student comes to office hours asking to check their homework? I.e. the student hands in their solution to the homework and ask the TA to check for any mistake. Assume homeworks are worth somewhere between 20% and 50% of the grade.
If country-specific, I am interested in the United States. If field specific, I am interested in computer science, linguistics, neuroscience and maths.
Answering from the point of view of a physical scientist, and in keeping with my personal take on what kinds of help are appropriate or inappropriate.
(I haven't been a TA for a long time, but I teach at an all-undergrad department so I have to be my own TA.)
These are great teachable moments if you have the time (and it can take a lot of time).
You don't check their homework, you ask them to explain their solutions to you.
But there is a catch: you don't let them get away with "I used this formula, and I solved for [variable]"; instead, make them explain their logic and the conceptual basis of their work step by step. When they are stuck or are proceeding incorrectly, you probe their understanding of the problem in a Socratic style.
The kind of questions you might ask include:
Conceptual basis
Math basis (where they'll want to spend all their time at first)
Problem solving basis
Most students will find those questions very difficult at first, but as they become more adept at handling the questions they should see their homework and exam scores improve markedly.
If they have the patience they will solve the problem for themselves right there in your office.
Though this is very time consuming most students will not be regulars. Some will simply become frustrated at what they see as your unwillingness to "help" and look elsewhere; and others will get better at the discipline: as the term progresses they'll bring you fewer problems and ask more perceptive questions about them.
In addition to wanting to talk about formulas first, they are going to want to talk about values ("and then I plugged in the 18 from the problem..."). Don't let them do that either. Make they say what quantity it was ("and then inserted the given initial velocity ...").
Beginners are all about numbers and formulas, but learning the discipline is about principles first, problem solving process second, and particular results last.
Philosophical note: As I see it the purpose of homework is to facilitate learning. I wouldn't even grade it except that there is no other way to insure that they will do it. That's why it doesn't bother me that they are getting a lot of support doing the homework for my class: when they come to me I get to make it a learning experience for them. (The first time they come in they may think they are going to get one for free, but they're in for some skull sweat.)
Admittedly, I get to decide that for my own class and when you are a TA, you may have to abide by the professor's opinion about how much and how directly you should help with assignments.
When I was a TA, my preferred approach to this dilemma was to offer to work a problem that was thematically similar to the problem, but different in its specifics. For example, if the problem was working out an application of a particular algorithm to a scenario by hand, then I would make up another scenario with similar properties and we would work the algorithm on that. In those cases where a student tried to then turn us back to the homework problem again, I would say something like: "I'm not going to work on homework problems, but we can work another similar one if you like."
I found this approach valuable because it let us address the skill and content questions and concerns that the student had, yet at the same time made sure I wasn't doing their homework for them.
2x +5 = y, solve for x Then I may instead work out this problem with them. 9 + 6y = 2x
– David Baucum
Sep 24 '15 at 17:34
The answer may very much depend on departmental practice. I've been in departments where the TA's office hours were essentially going over the homework and helping you arrive at an answer, and departments where that's absolutely not the practice.
Assuming it's not the practice, something simple like "I'm sorry, I can't tell you if your answer is right or wrong. If you have a specific question about a step, I'd be happy to go over that with you."
Standard answer around here is "I don't know" or more politely "I won't check your work other than for grading it".
Want to ask about a knotty point? Go ahead. I'll even solve a very similar problem with you. Still outstanding homework is off limits.
This is a good time to teach a student good study practices. E.g. remind them to review their work regularly, do their work on schedule, use course resources such as texts. Tell the student how learn to get the right answer on their own.
Maybe set 3 homework problems, only grade problem C, but tell the students that if they completely understand how to do problem A and B, and then C will be easy for them. Give them as much help as they need on A and B.
Even publish a worked solution for A and B a short time before C has to be handed in.
A TA who holds office hours for students should by all means consider homework assignments "fair game" for discussion during student interactions. Typically, the best approach during those meetings isn't to correct/grade the assignment, but rather to confirm whether the student's approach and methodology was appropriate, and deliver guidance or identify resources that will aid the student.
However, "proofreading" a homework assignment for a student who wants you to catch their "sloppy" is not really why a TA is there.
In a practical point of view, it would be best to teach the student at this stage. Neglecting might affect the interest of the student within the subject. This is the time when the student can learn the most as he/she is readily prepared to accept inputs. Doing so would greatly boost your reputation among eager students since a true teacher grows the interest of her/his students.
As it may not be ethical to solve homework problems of individuals per se as you stated that this makes up as part of the academic score. But it would be better to make the student understand how to solve the problem. If several students have the similar doubt, then it would be best to solve the problem as a group intimating the remaining students of this special solving session. After all, the motive of homework is to make students learn and remember as well as verifying what they have learnt.
I tell my students:
I will mark your assignment any time you like. If you want me to mark it well before it's due, I will be happy to do that. But I will only mark it once. Hand it in, and I'll mark it,
So that rules out "please look this whole thing over and let me know how close it is to being complete." I think that's a real imposition and it interferes with learning too. However, if someone wants to come to me and ask whether one particular thing is headed in the right direction, or if they are stuck and want me to unstick them, I will. I will answer any specific, crisp question that they ask. But I won't just take the whole thing, put energy and effort into looking it over as a whole, and then hand it back for them to improve. That request comes from a desire to get 10/10, not a desire to learn the material of my course.
A lot of these responses seem to be based on the idea that education is somehow a battle between teacher and student, and that they can only learn from suffering. People learn from one on one instruction, and anything else is an expensive waste of time. Denying them that so as to make absolutely sure that they don't benefit unfairly ... I suppose that's a sign of the relationship between students and teachers in the university setting - the student pays but the teacher tries to avoid being responsible for the outcome, acting instead as though he's the point of the whole thing. That none of this is clear to a lot of university staff makes me wonder exactly how much intellectual life goes on at your various institutions.
"Check my homework" is an unreasonable request. This is a teachable moment that can help you teach a student how to ask a question, which is more important than anything going on in an idiot dual class. You need to get the student to ask questions that can inform you where the student is conceptually weak, so you can try to patch the holes.
If each solution counts as a negative score to them, and if you have a solution manual, tell them the problems they got wrong. Students sometimes know the subject and are just trying to get the best grade they can.
If you don't have some sort of solution manual of course it may be difficult to tell them every question they got wrong. However if you don't have other students during office hours who have actual questions about the subject, what's the point in not receiving their request. Office hours are for the student. If you don't have any other student requests, go through the homework with them.
Of course if each question doesn't hurt the student's grade if they get it wrong, then you should expect them to give real questions about how to solve a problem.
Thank you for your interest in this question.
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