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Questions tagged [teaching-assistant]

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Questions concerning the use of graduate students as course instructors, usually under the supervision of a faculty member.

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2
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1answer
161 views

Is it acceptable or normal for professors to ask first semester grad students to teach a class?

I'm currently pursuing a Master's/PhD integrated program at a university in Korea. It's my first semester, and I along with two other first-semester students are TA'ing for our advisor's undergraduate ...
42
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17answers
11k views

Should a TA point out a professor's mistake while attending their lecture?

I faced the following situation a few days back. I am doing my teaching assistance work under a professor. I attended one of his classes as a TA during which he was teaching some technically wrong ...
33
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8answers
8k views

Is TA-ing worth the opportunity cost?

If you already have funding, is TA-ing (i.e. being a teaching assistant) worth the opportunity cost of doing more research? What are the relevant considerations? I've always heard that focusing on ...
1
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2answers
98 views

TA Funding Length in STEM Field in USA [closed]

I understand that depending on the department and the school the duration of the TA funding for a Phd student can vary. However, I’m interested in learning whether it’s common for departments in STEM ...
5
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2answers
566 views

Fired from TA position without cause/notice, what to do next? [closed]

I am a post-doc in the USA and was a teaching assistant in the same university. During my TA appointment, I attended a one-week course outside the city. Prior to leaving, I got permission from the ...
1
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2answers
134 views

help becoming a research assistant

This is probably me overthinking a lot but I really don't want to screw this up. There was a flyer sent to me by my adviser for a research assistant opening for one of the psych professors on campus. ...
61
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11answers
20k views

Is it ethical to tell my teaching assistant that I like him?

I, a twenty-year-old female, have come to admire the graduate teaching assistant for my summer course quite strongly. I'm extremely interested in what he has to say, I always pay attention, never use ...
5
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5answers
2k views

Why do departments hire GTAs instead of more permanent faculty? [closed]

I notice departments often hire graduate students as teaching assistants. I'm curious why departments do this instead of hire a lecturer to do the teaching. I'm sure this is helpful for the GTAs, ...
3
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2answers
1k views

Should marker TA discuss marks with students? [duplicate]

As a marker, there are always some students who will email requesting to meet as they disagree with the marking. According to the professor, the marker should solve students' marking issues but I am ...
0
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1answer
208 views

As a TA, Should I allow students to ask their doubts without schedule? [closed]

In the first or introductory lecture of a course, either associate professors or professors of my university tells to students to clarify doubts with teaching assistants. Faculty do not say to ...
34
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4answers
8k views

My student in one course asks for paid tutoring in another course. Appropriate?

I'm a teaching assistant for an introductory programming course. A student in the course approached me and asked if I would tutor them for a different discrete mathematics course in return for payment....
0
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3answers
408 views

Helping TA's creativity when writing exercise sheets

Teaching assistants (TAs) often have the task to compile exercise sheets for the students and need to come up with new problems for such sheets. Let's assume that in the lecture, two methods for a ...
26
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5answers
5k views

What do I do when my TA workload is more than expected?

Last year I was offered full funding for my PhD program to TA two courses a semester for the duration of my program (education psychology). Key words, Teaching Assistant. I expected this to mean I ...
2
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1answer
83 views

Getting a funding position as a foreign MSc student in Finland [closed]

I got an admission for a master’s programme in data science at the University of Helsinki, Finland. However, because I am from Asia, I don’t get a tuition-fee remission. Is it possible for an ...
36
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4answers
10k views

Should I tutor a student who I know has cheated on their homework?

I am a Ph.D. student and I do private tutoring on the side for extra income. Recently a new student contacted me for help with a class, and I met them for one session, which went well overall. They ...
16
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5answers
4k views

Are student evaluations of teaching assistants read by others in the faculty?

Are student evaluations of teaching assistants read by faculty who assigns teaching duties to TAs or by the primary instructor of the course for which the TA is assisting? I recently met the ...
4
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1answer
289 views

Whether to strike? [closed]

I'm a graduate student teaching assistant; I run discussion sections. Our department has just initiated a strike. I'm half way through the last semester of my PhD. Do I show up and "work" and get paid ...
5
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3answers
401 views

Do I need to report that the professor I have been assigned to TA hasn't assigned any work for me to do?

The professor I have been assigned to TA hasn't assigned any work and has stonewalled me. I have sent three emails to check in and he hasn't responded. How should I respond? Should I bother reporting ...
19
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3answers
9k views

PhD: admitted with TA with 5h a week, is it standard?

it is my first time applying to a (pure math) PhD program and I just received my first admission letter (yay!). It says I'm considered for TA and "Teaching duties consist to up to 5 contact hours a ...
0
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1answer
65 views

For a TA, is a recommendation from his employing university helpful for a PhD?

A friend of mine finished his Master's program a year ago and started working as a Teaching Assistant at a university. He will be granted assistant professorship this year but he is in the process of ...
3
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3answers
385 views

How to politely request payment for extra hours of TA service rendered?

My TA letter indicates 90 hours working. However, I worked for 120 hours due to the volume of the students. Now my work is finished I want to let them know by writing an email to the professor. I want ...
2
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5answers
351 views

What do you call a “practice” class that accompanies a lecture?

In my country it is very common for courses to consist of two types of classes: lectures primarily focus on theoretical aspects of a topic and then after each lecture comes a corresponding “practice” ...
0
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2answers
217 views

TOEFL Score and Teaching Assistantship

How does my TOEFL score affect my odds of being granted a TA in US Universities? I'm an international student BTW.
3
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4answers
248 views

Misconduct report [closed]

I am teaching at the university, and I am giving Calculus 1 for first year engineering students. I am having a problem with some students, their behavior in the class is inappropriate: making noise, ...
4
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2answers
447 views

Professor blatantly taking course material from internet (other schools) [duplicate]

I am TAing for a CS course. The professor I am TAing for, I took the same course with him one year ago. In that semester and this current semester I am TAing, he has been taking lecture slides and ...
1
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2answers
172 views

Most recommended automated way for conduction university exams

In most of the universities of India, conducting exams such as mid terms and end terms for a semester is as follows: 1) Designing question papers and taking print of them 2) Distribute it among ...
12
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6answers
1k views

Professor not giving solutions to exams and assignments that I need to grade

I am a grader for a CS course at the college institution I attend. The professor I am TAing for is a full-time employee at a company. He is teaching this CS course on top of doing that. The first exam ...
4
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3answers
350 views

Is anything wrong with hiring TA as a private tutor?

I'm an undergraduate student and recently I've been trying to find a private tutor to help me further expand my knowledge (outside of a scope of my courses). I've discovered one of the TAs advertises ...
72
votes
7answers
29k views

Dating former student?

Here's the situation: She was an undergrad, I was a grad TA. At that point, our interactions were totally professional and limited to the classroom. However, she and I both since graduated and left ...
94
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19answers
22k views

Professor does not care about cheating, what should TA do?

I am a PhD student, working as a Homework marking TA in a school where cheating is extremely blatant. The university has an extremely strict policy against cheating. Hundreds of students in math ...
1
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1answer
158 views

English requirement for Teaching Assistantship for Ph.D students [on hold]

I am applying to Ph.D programs of universities of America as an international student. I currently have an 8.0 IELTS with 7.0 Speaking, and a TOEFL with lower points: Reading, Listening and Writing:...
1
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1answer
141 views

For each of these cases which is the designation that best describes my role in class

Since I've finished my PhD I've been asked to perform some teaching duties. These duties correspond roughly to the three cases I describe below briefly. 1) So in this one course I was responsible for ...
25
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6answers
4k views

Is it a good practice for teaching assistants to sit in the lectures?

Has anyone tried this technique and how has it worked out for you? Essentially, there are several problems with doing teaching assistant work (TA), You might not even be from the institution where ...
3
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3answers
208 views

Recitation Grades

I'm a Graduate Teaching Assistant in a Mathematics at a large state university. In the fall semester, I will be expected to be a TA for Calculus I, which will be taken by first year students. The ...
4
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3answers
336 views

Should graduate students who are graders help undergraduate students with homework?

In my department, we hire graduate TAs as both graders and teaching assistants. The teaching assistants are assigned to lead discussion sections that meet twice per week. The graders are assigned to ...
0
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2answers
176 views

PhD student working as a substitute teacher | interview tips

Our university is looking for a substitute teacher in Computer Science and I have an interview for the job this week. My academic profile is making me a little bit nervous and makes me think that I ...
4
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3answers
367 views

Would being a teaching assistant influence your research?

I see that a TA position requires 20h every week which almost equals 2.5 days workload. Wouldn't that be too heavy for a Ph.D. student? If I don't do the TA, I could save the time to do high-quality ...
9
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2answers
569 views

What should a TA do if they cannot do all of the assigned homework for a class?

I'm a TA who is assigned to help grade papers for an upper level course. In the first assignment, I realized that I do not know how to do one of the assigned problems. The professor has requested that ...
1
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1answer
188 views

Should PTAs be allowed to mark exam scripts? [closed]

PTA - Postgraduate Teaching Assistant Because I love information (I'm at university, right?), I was looking through some manifestos of my department, and came across a proposal to allow PTAs to mark ...
0
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1answer
778 views

What to write in the followup email to a professor for a graduate teaching assistantship [duplicate]

I will be pursuing masters from UT Austin this fall.I have mailed professors for the position of a teaching assistant. Some of them replied and some did not. What should I write in the followup ...
6
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1answer
184 views

Dealing with mistake in scheduling an extra lecture

I am a TA for an undergraduate class, and I have the following situation: Usually, I give my (one-hour) lectures (which consists of solving exercises and reviewing theory as needed) at Thursdays 12 p....
4
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1answer
83 views

Can I ask a prof (alumni of my college) to recommend me to another prof for a TA position?

I was looking for a TA position and mailed prof A, who is an alumni of my college, for a TA. He replied saying that he would not be taking any courses this year so will not require a TA. Can I ask him ...
1
vote
1answer
171 views

Changing due date for a student suddenly

Today I had two students never working on their assignment but looking at their phones the whole class. I did not warn them that I will collect their work but I told them to put their phones away. ...
3
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3answers
323 views

How do I ask a professor to recommend me to another professor to hire me as a teaching assistant?

I have been admitted into a college in the US for a master's program. I am applying for TA positions under various professors because TAs get tuition benefits. One of the professors who taught me as ...
1
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3answers
166 views

Should I report students that hand in similar reports (up to small permutations) in an assignment?

I am currently correcting assignments (pass/fail) for a Bachelor's course in which I am a TA. Students write some code and then discuss their results and approach in a report (in groups of two). My ...
21
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2answers
3k views

How to write side-note reviews on assignments without sounding testy?

I'm an undergrad teaching assistant of a physic BSc student's lab. My job is reviewing the (usually 8-10 pages long) reports the students make, arriving in electronic format. During the review, I add ...
10
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1answer
1k views

TA for the class versus taking the class?

My Ph.D. advisor and I are trying to decide whether I should take his class this Fall or be the TA for it (I have not had this class before). My question is, shouldn't one have already mastered the ...
4
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2answers
367 views

Does modifying the grades multiple times make me look unprepared/unprofessional?

As a TA, I have to grade students' assignments. The main instructor usually has requirements regarding the minimum average grade for the class. At the same time, it is tricky to predict the class' ...
2
votes
1answer
143 views

Something similar to MBA, but with support?

If someone can't afford to go to school for an MBA, but wants to train to be a manager, is there some compatible Master's, which has a reasonable level of support (teaching assistantships)?
31
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10answers
7k views

What is the best way to motivate teaching assistants?

I am head TA in a 300-student class, with 12 other TAs. Currently I do the following things to motivate my TAs: We have an internal Slack channel called #shoutouts where I mention TAs every time I ...

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