Questions tagged [teaching-assistant]
Questions concerning the use of graduate students as course instructors, usually under the supervision of a faculty member.
294
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Did my instructor somehow pass the buck to me? [closed]
When I was TAing a course, some students came to meet me to talk about marking issues. Earlier, the instructor had said that if students cannot reach an agreement with TAs they should talk to the ...
- 1,797
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4
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Is it common that marker TA make the marking scheme instead of the professor?
I had a course in which the instructor let the markers make the midterm marking scheme and had students ask the TAs to resolve any marking issues instead of talking to him, though the instructor ...
- 1,797
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4
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Must a tutorial TA resolve any questions from the students?
I know it is TA's responsibility to help students understand the course material. But there are always some students don't like to think independently, or maybe just not smart enough. Is it ok for TA ...
- 1,797
17
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3
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How to efficiently use time while preparing for a class?
I am a teaching assistant for multivariable calculus this semester. As an undergraduate, I took the course but we learned few. To add, it has been more than 5 years since I took the class. So, every ...
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What should TAs do if students disrespect them?
TAs are responsible for answering students' questions. But sometimes there are bad-mannered students who don't treat the TA with respect during the interaction. Should TAs just take it and still ...
- 1,797
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718
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Suspected a person had an affair with the professor
I was a TA for a summer course, and a student in the class somehow managed to get nearly perfect score on all the assignments/midterms/final exam.
I am suspecting that the person had an affair with ...
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4
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2
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503
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As a teaching assistant, how to make tutorials more stimulating
In my university, tutorial sessions in physics usually consists in the teaching assistant solving three to six problems in front of the class (less than 30 students per class). Some TAs try to ...
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7
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How to care less about teaching?
Fifth year math grad student as of this Fall. ABD, currently on target for six years in total.
I have very strong feelings about the way courses should be taught, graded, and organized. I have ...
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How to make tutorials more interesting
As a student, and as a tutor, I have found that tutorials for liberal arts subjects (in university) can be a bore. As a student, in large courses you mightn't know anyone in your class, you mightn't ...
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2
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As a tutor, should I encourage exploration at the risk of incorrect information?
I am a junior undergraduate computer science student at a small engineering school. For the last term I have been paid as a teaching assistant for one of the more difficult courses in the CS ...
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What's a good way to prevent students from saying I lost their paper?
As a teacher, I've often had students say that they turned in an assignment, but that because I don't see it, grade it, and return it back to them, that I must have lost their papers/assignments. I ...
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3
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2
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Assignments taken and re-used without consent
I'm a TA at a British university, and as part of this job role I create and write educational material, which also includes creating and marking assignments.
I've recently discovered that several of ...
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2
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0
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411
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Are teaching assistants responsible for grading assignments not in their course? [closed]
I am currently a teaching assistant for a lab course. I've been told to grade part of 1 of the 3 exams for the associated theory course. (There are multiple lab TAs and each is assigned one of the ...
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Should a marker TA handle students' marking issues by email?
I am a university marker TA. The instructor requires TAs to meet students if they have marking issues. But I found most students just come to meet me for better grades, not to ask questions, and some ...
- 1,797
42
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9
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Establishing authority in the classroom
What is the best way to establish your authority as the instructor in a classroom?
I am asking from the perspective of a graduate student who will be TA-ing a large class for the first time. But I ...
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2
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2
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Do some universities employ full-time TA in North America?
In my university, which is in Canada, TAs are part-time positions for graduate students as far as I know. So do full-time TAs exist like other faculty members?
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Can I learn the course material for the first time while I'm teaching it?
If I'm going to give students the course X in next semester. Should I have full understanding of the subject before I teach them or can I learn about the topics before I go to the class and then teach ...
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7
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Can't prepare lesson material. Should I cancel class?
I'm a grad student teaching assistant for a freshmen undergrad non major multivariable calculus class.
What they didn't tell me is that the second half of the semester is not calculus but "finite ...
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2
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1
answer
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Branches of software engineering [closed]
I have to decide on which branch of software engineering to focus my studies. In my institute, the branches are not fixed. Each student has the possibility to propose their branch. For example, I ...
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Does TA application usually have training and interview?
First I thought every university would interview and train their TAs somehow. But I just get to know that my university doesn't have that, at least for marker and lab tutor. Is it the way the most ...
- 1,797
48
votes
9
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What should I do as a TA if the instructor is not teaching properly?
Some background: I’m a TA for a low-level course at a major university on the US east coast. This is my second time TAing this course: the first time, I did it under a professor who has taught this a ...
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34
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4
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As a TA, I had sex with someone who turned out to be one of my students, what do I do?
I'm a grad student and TA.
I was playing pool on campus and met some people who happened to be in a frat. We played together and they invited me to their frat party. Long story short, I got really ...
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58
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How to handle a student who will not accept that he is wrong?
I am a university marker TA, and after midterm exam I met with a student who would not accept that he was wrong. He thought his answers were correct but didn't explain to me why his answers were ...
- 1,797
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Lecturer in a course I'm TA'ing refuses to give feedback on student assignments
I am a teaching assistant in an undergraduate bioinformatics course. A few weeks ago the students in the course handed in the final assignment (which is worth 80% of the final grade), which we (me and ...
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How can undergraduate TA's better lead tutorial sessions?
I'm senior year undergraduate, and I have to say I love to teach. I have assumed the role of a TA for multiple courses uptil now, including courses in economics, physics and mathematics. I have had ...
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4
answers
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How critical is TA experience in grad school if I want to pursue a career in academia?
I got accepted into my dream program at one of the best universities in the US, and I'll be working under an excellent, very well known advisor whose interests align very well with mine. However, ...
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5
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Is it possible for a PhD student to survive in the USA only on TA/RA money?
Suppose, a prospective PhD student doesn't have money to self-finance his PhD in the USA.
Is it possible for a PhD student to survive in the USA only on TA/RA money?
user35971
28
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6
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Is it appropriate to give a gift to a teaching assistant for helping outside of work time?
I am thinking of buying a small gift, like coffee, for a teaching assistant, who helped me solve problems in a particular subject, even outside of work time, to thank for the effort.
Is this ...
user67972
13
votes
2
answers
441
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How to handle communication about the class outside of the official channels, when I am a TA for a class that a friend is taking?
I am an undergraduate student who was asked to TA this semester for a class that I have wanted to TA for for a while. Duties would likely involve basic grading of exams and projects as well as ...
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192
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answers
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What to do with a student coming to class in revealing clothing, to the degree that it disrupts the teaching environment?
Since semester started, a female student has been attending classes scantily clad or wearing clothes that are too revealing, like a sport bra without shirt on top, booty shorts, semitransparent silk ...
user31319
2
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1
answer
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Timeline for notification of teaching duties for Grad TA
As part of the support for my PhD, I teach a class every semester or so. I dual as a research assistant and have outside funding. I receive the same pay whether I teach or not. A few weeks ago, my ...
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3
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How to make programming lectures more effective and stimulating?
I've been assigned the position of Teaching Assistant for the programming part of my university courses in Bayesian Inference, at the MS level. I previously taught a course, a few months ago, in ...
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2
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712
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Is it ethical to TA in another university?
My major field in undergraduate studies was A, whereas my current graduate field has been shifted to B (at a Canadian university).
I'm in trouble to find a TA position, as following:
At our ...
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I have accidentally given students assignment guidelines that conflict with the course coordinator's. How I can rectify my mistake?
I am a tutor and I have given guidelines to students on how to complete the assignment. After three weeks later I found out that the course coordinator expected different requirements than what I have ...
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6
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3
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Should we tell students they need to improve their English?
As an instructor or teaching assistant for a graduate class at a top institution, is it okay to tell students (e.g. in homework feedback) that they need to improve their English? What's the best way ...
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36
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How do you enforce handwriting standards for homework assignments as a TA?
I am a TA who is helping to grade student homework assignments for an undergrad engineering course which involves a lot of mathematics. The homeworks all together count for miserly 5% and is only ...
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3
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TA struggling with how much time grading takes [duplicate]
This semester I was assigned as a TA to a Class that I am not very familiar with.
As a result, grading takes me too much time.
For example, for a class of 74 people, it took me 24 hours to grade their ...
user12109
0
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1
answer
228
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How quickly do masters students and/or PhD students move from being TAs to RAs? [closed]
To support myself while studying, I'd find it ideal to be paid doing work or research that advances my credentials. (TAing is definitely educationally valuable for both a TAer and students, but I feel ...
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16
votes
2
answers
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Professor told me to organize a lecture course
I am a PhD candidate. My advisor told me to make and organize a lecture course, for which he is formally listed as the instructor, but he has little knowledge about what the lecture course will deal ...
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76
votes
12
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My math students consider me a harsh grader. Is my teaching attitude wrong?
I am a math major grad student at a big public school, and we need to do TA every semester.
I got assigned to lower level classes last couple semesters, and it's been quite difficult for me. Even ...
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vote
0
answers
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Do research/teaching assistantships count toward financial requirements of visa applications?
This answer says most PhD students in US universities are funded through research or teaching assistantships.
So research or teaching assistantships count toward any financial requirements in terms ...
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1
answer
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What could count toward financial requirements for UK student visa applications?
Most people who apply for grad studies outside their country of residence are relying on scholarships for their tuition and funding for their cost of living through being research or teaching ...
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12
answers
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Should I tell students that it's my first time teaching the course?
I'm a TA teaching a class this fall for the first time. I've taught before, but never this class, and never felt an obligation to tell my students it's my first time teaching a given class. But, ...
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0
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What is the hourly pay for TA/RA at good math PhD programs in the U.S.?
I'm interested in the first tier (the top six programs e.g. MIT and UCB) and the second tier (the next ten programs e.g. Columbia and Caltech) math PhD programs in the U.S. According to the link, MIT'...
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Does TA experience for wide range of classes improve future job prospective?
If other important factors (e.g. Research quality) are about the same, does an academic job* candidate with TA experience in many different upper division classes (e.g. Abstract algebra, real analysis ...
user22080
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5
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Is my PhD programme a scam? Does my department only want to get PhD students as TAs for their recitation section?
Next month (August) I am supposed to go back to the US to continue my math PhD programme in a Public State University. I hold a TA position as everybody does in my department. Nobody, I say again, ...
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votes
5
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Is it well-received to thank the assignment author at the end of a course?
Institutional Background
I'm currently taking a programming course as part of my computer science studies at a rather small German university.
The course is done by the professor, who's holding the ...
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1
answer
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Asking Professor for teaching assistantship
I am an undergraduate student and have taken a course which interests me a lot details won't matter I guess).
The course is split into lectures and lab sessions. The lab prof had a graduate student ...
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1
answer
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How much teaching is expected on a CV for a graduating PhD student (mathematics)?
In previous comments/discussion (which I cannot find at this moment) a few people from this site noted that PhD students (in math/CS) should make sure they acquire a good amount of teaching experience ...
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5
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2
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374
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Strategies for getting involved in students' work during labs?
As a TA I conduct computer laboratory classes (the lecture is conducted by one of the professors). These are part-time studies, so labs take place during weekends, 3 clock hours each. Some students ...
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