2012 - 2013

• 1. Overview
• 2. FAQ
• 3. TA offer process and criteria
• 4. Teaching Tips
  • 4.1. Early Feedback
  • 4.2. TA Responsibilities
  • 4.3. What do I do if...?
  • 4.4. Suggestions From Other TAs
  • 4.5. Suggestions From Good Teachers
  • 4.6. Useful Department Wikis
  • 4.7. Promoting Student Participation
• 5. Department Rules
• 6. Department Contact Information
• 7. Ethical Issues for TAs
• 8. Department Policy on Cheating by TAs
• 9. Related links

4. Teaching Tips

4.1. Early Feedback

Many instructors find it useful to get feedback from students early in the semester. This helps in suggesting how to improve the course before it is too late to do so.

The following form is an example of an early feedback form for discussion sections. It asks about the overall effective of the discussion section, as well as the TA's teaching effectiveness. If you wish to use it, feel free to modify it as needed.

USING AN EARLY FEEDBACK SURVEY

Handing out the survey

When handing out the survey tell the class the purpose of the survey (usually to improve teaching), and who will see it (usually just you). Encourage the students to submit thoughtful, candid responses. Also tell students how and when you plan on sharing the results of the survey.

Evaluating the feedback

If 20% or more of the students responded negatively on any item, you will probably want to examine it further. You may want to ask a peer, the instructor, or the Center for Teaching and Learning if you need advice on addressing any issues.

It is common for there to be contradictory feedback. This sometimes indicates that your teaching strategies are effective for some student learning styles, but not for others. If there is an item with very contradictory feedback, you may want to ask students for further, more specific, input. One approach would be to have students respond in writing to questions like "The instructor's explanation are clearest when..."

Review student comments to the open-ended questions carefully. First, look over the positive remarks. Then sort the suggestions for change into those you intend to change, those you cannot change or do not think it would be a good idea to change, and those that are negotiable.

Expect to get a mixture of results. Very few people get feedback that is all positive or all negative. Also, do not expect to be able to address everything. Usually focusing on improving a few key items is more effective than trying to address everything at once.

When summarizing the results to the class

Use a positive accepting tone. The manner in which you introduce the evaluation and discuss the results is crucial. Avoid being defensive, angry, preachy, or overly apologetic.

Select a few items that yielded positive responses and a few that you hope to improve. There's no need to go over every item.

If you decide to make changes, state what you intend to do differently and why.

Clarify, if possible, any confusion about major issues like the role of the discussion sections in the course.

Ask for further feedback if needed (e.g., "Several of you felt that the last assignment was confusing, but I need help in understanding why...")

When appropriate, enlist students' assistance in making a change. (e.g., "I'm going to try to speak more loudly, and I'd appreciate it if you signal me when I'm speaking too softly.")

Let students know what THEY can do to remedy the issues you've mentioned (e.g., asking more questions if uncertainty about assignments is an issue).

Thank the students for their input.

Further use of the results

Some people find it useful to look at the surveys again later on in the semester.

EARLY FEEDBACK FORM

The purpose of this survey is to give your TA information about his/her teaching effectiveness. This information will be used by the TA to try to improve the class; it will not be used in personnel decisions. Please be as accurate and as candid as possible.

DD=Strongly Disagree D=Disagree U=Uncertain A=Agree AA=Strongly Agree

What things about this discussion section help you learn best?

How could this discussion section be improved? Please be specific.

4.2. TA Responsibilities

One common concern of TAs is exactly what they are responsible for in TAing a class. Since TAs for different classes and instructors perform different duties, there is no single answer. The purpose of this form is to alert TAs to some of the area where there may be confusion. If you'd like, you might want to sit down with your instructor at the beginning of the class, and clarify any items mentioned here that you are unsure of.

PRIMARY TA RESPONSIBILITIES

What duties will you perform, and roughly how much of your time is each expected to take?

Office hours:

Grading:

Assisting with assignment/quiz/exam preparation:

Attend classes:

Leading discussion sections:

Lecturing:

Holding review sessions:

Administrative:

Creating/maintaining class web page:

Others:

COURSE OVERVIEW

As specifically as possible, what are the course goals and objectives?

What background should students have?

Who are the other TAs assigned to the course?

INITIAL TASKS

What are you expected to do prior to the first class?

Are you expected to attend the first class? Are you expected or encouraged to attend all of the classes?

MEETINGS

How frequently will you meet with the instructor and/or other TAs?

How can you best be contacted?

How can the professor and other TAs be contacted?

How often are you expected to check e-mail, phone, or your mailbox for messages from the instructor, other TAs, or students?

MATERIALS

How familiar are you expected to be with the course material (textbook, material presented in class, computing hardware and software, etc.)?

OFFICE HOURS

When will you hold office hours?

When will the other TAs and instructor hold office hours?

COMPUTING

What hardware and software will the class use?

What are your responsibilities for it?

ASSIGNMENTS, EXAMS, AND QUIZZES

How many assignments are there for the course?

When will these be distributed, and when will they be due?

Are there any special rules for how students submit their assignments?

How soon after assignments are due will you be expected to have them graded and ready to hand back?

What responsibilities will you have? Helping prepare assignments? Giving instructions about how to hand in the assignments? Helping collect and hand back assignments? Grading?

How many exams/quizzes for the course, and when will they be?

Will you be expected to help create quizzes or exams?

Will you be expected to help proctor quizzes or exams? If so, when?

Will you need to do any special planning (such as reserving certain blocks of time) to ensure that exams, assignments, etc. are graded in a timely fashion?

DISCUSSION SECTIONS

What will the discussion sections be used for and how do they relate to the lecture portion of the class?

Will you be expected to lead discussion sections?

If you will, which discussion section or discussion sections will you lead?

If you will, who will be in charge of preparing the discussion section? You? The instructor? Another TA? How far in advance of the actual discussion section will you receive information about what should be in the discussion section?

GRADING

Who keeps the grades for the class?

On assignments and exams where more than one person is grading, what steps will be taken to ensure the grading is consistent?

How much feedback will you be expected to give to students on their work, and what form will it take (corrections on assignments and exams, answer keys, etc.)?

What are the general guidelines for grading?

CLASS WEB PAGE

Will you be expected to create, maintain, or contribute to the class web page?

If so, what information will you be responsible for, and what format should it be in?

UNITE

Is the class on UNITE?

If so, do you have any special duties associated for this (having an evening office hour, delivering material to the UNITE office, etc.)?

4.3. What do I do if...?

If it's course specific, ask the instructor, or other TAs. If it's a general TA question,

• look through the information on the TA web page,
• ask Liz Freppert; if she cannot answer it she will refer it to Dr. Barry, or whomever else might be able to answer it.

Since TA duties differ from class to class and from university to university, exactly what TAs are expected to do is a common question, particularly among new TAs. The best thing to do is to discuss this with the course instructor --- perhaps using the TA Responsibility Form --- and with other TAs. In most large classes that have a number of TAs, at least one TA has TAed the class previously.

Because of the dynamic nature of Computer Science as well as the shortage of qualified TAs for certain classes, TAs sometimes find they are not familiar with all aspects of a course they are assigned. In this case,

• ask other TAs --- often they can tell you what you need to know or point you towards relevant resources,
• discuss the situation with the instructor --- if they know far enough in advance they may be able to distribute the TA work so that each TA is most concerned with areas that he or she is most knowledgeable about,
• budget extra time to learn more about the material.

See the Ethical Issues for TAs page.

If you are not sure what constitutes cheating, discuss this with the instructor and other TAs. Certain activities (such as collaboration on assignments) may or may not be permissible in the class you are TAing. It is your responsibility to know what is normative in general (e.g., all TAs should know what the University of Minnesota considers plagiarism), and the instructor's responsibility to clarify any grey areas or special rules.

If you notice suspicious activity and are not sure if it is cheating or not, gather any relevant evidence and discuss it with the instructor if you think there's a likelihood that it is.

This is a difficult question since there are so many possible situations. For example, students may complain to TAs about specific grading, the class in general, things external to the class, etc.

• Be professional in your communication with students. Talk respectfully to and about students. Do not delay inordinately in answering e-mail. Grade in a timely fashion, etc.
• Listen respectfully to students. Even if you ultimately do not agree with what the student requests, often the student will be satisfied if they feel you have heard their concern and have evaluated it fairly.
• Be honest.
• If you and a student have a disagreement, try to resolve it satisfactorily between yourselves before asking the instructor to intervene. However, if you and the student absolutely cannot resolve the issue, or if you're unsure about how to handle a situation with a difficult student, ask other TAs or the instructor for advice.
• If a student voices a concern about another TA or the instructor, be realistic about what you can and cannot do. For example, unless you are the head TA for a class, you probably should not arbitrate disagreements between the student and another TA.
• If there are any recurrent or widespread complaints, judge whether additional or alternative action is useful. If, for example, half the class questions the grading on an exam, it might be more efficient to have the instructor address this in class than to deal with each complaint individually.
• The Center for Teaching and Learning is available for consultations on any TA-related topic.

Students sometime bring up serious out-of-class problems. If a student comes to you with such a problem you can contact University Counseling and Consulting Services.

This is another difficult one. Here are a few scattered thoughts on this topic:

• Many disagreements are the result of poor planning, differing expectations, or poor communication. For this reason it's a good idea for the instructor and TAs to have a clear understanding of what each person's responsibility is, and to communicate with each other regularly. A number of classes, particularly those with a number of TAs, hold weekly meetings.
• If you have a disagreement with an instructor or other TA, try to discuss it with them. Most instructors and TAs are amenable to discussing disagreements if the disagreement is reasonable and presented in a professional way.
• The Center for Teaching and Learning is available for consultations on any TA-related topic.
• If there is a serious problem that you are unable to resolve by any other means, contact Dr. Barry.

Poor performance and/or evaluations can be disheartening, especially if you've worked particularly hard. Some steps to take:

• If you are not doing so already, take active steps to improve your TAing --- read articles on what makes a good TA, ask students who are known to be good TAs for advice, etc.
• If you feel comfortable doing so, ask the instructor how you could improve.
• If you are not too far along in the course, and if you think it would be useful, use the Early Feedback Forms to get input from students,
• If you have past student evaluations, look at the detailed sections and choose a few specific items to work on,
• Check with the Center for Teaching and Learning. They are available for individual consultations, and hold various workshops throughout the year.

4.4. Suggestions From Other TAs

Most of these tips are based on suggestions from previous or current TAs:

1. Meet with the instructor at least a week before the beginning of classes. This gives you a chance to learn what your responsibilities will be, and gives you time to do any preliminary work you need to do before the start of class.
2. Be professional. Don't be late for office hours or meeting; answer e-mail and phone messages in a timely manner; etc.
3. Talk with other TAs. Other TAs often can provide suggestions on what works best in a course, or answer general questions about TAing.
4. Provide ample feedback to students in a timely manner. One complaint sometimes heard from students is they get too little feedback on assignments and exams.
5. Know what resources are available so that you avoid spending time on nonproductive items. Examples of resources:
   • Class lists (including pictures of the students in the class) are available on UM Reports.
   • Class web pages: You can find information for both current and old classes, plus general instructions at the CSE Labs Course Resources page. In particular, if you have to develop a class web page, you can copy and modify an existing one, rather than develop a new one from scratch.
   • Previous TAs: we try to pair new TAs with TAs who have TAed the course before; however, this is not always possible. If you need advice from a TA who has taught the course previously, and do not know who the TA(s) are, contact Liz Freppert (freppert@cs.umn.edu) and she will be able to give you the names of any TAs who might be able to help.
   • Training Sessions: the Center for Teaching and Learning holds a number of training sessions in Fall for new and continuing TAs. The Center also holds seminars on a variety of topics throughout the year. Moreover, Center staff are available for individual consultations on specific issues you might be facing.

4.5. Suggestions From Good Teachers

Tips to TAs from Good Teachers

1. Be professional. TAing a course is a professional job, and is an important part of the university's and department's mission. It is not just a way to earn money or something that might look good on a resume.
2. Treat all students with respect and strive to help all of them to learn. All the students registered for the course have a right to be there -- not just the smartest or the most forthcoming or those whom you get along with best.
3. Be enthusiastic! Let the students know you want to be there, and you want to work with them. Let them know that they're important and that you care about what they have to say and how they do in the class.
4. Draw energy and enthusiasm from students who are engaged in the subject and then try to give back some of that to other students who are less engaged.
5. Be realistic about how quickly students can pick up new material. You know more about the material than the students, so realize that even though it may be simple for you, it may not be easy for students learning it for the first time.
6. Listen to what you're saying from the students' points of view and adjust accordingly. Because they have a very different experience and knowledge to draw on, what you say is not always what students hear.
7. Prepare for class! It's not enough to be expert on a subject. You have to be able to teach the subject to others who are less interested, motivated, knowledgeable than you. That means you must carefully think through not only what you'll do in class but HOW you'll do it.
8. Encourage questioning, both verbally and non-verbally. Help students ask the right questions. Model good questioning and answering.
9. Get feedback from students to gauge whether what you are doing is effective or not.
10. Don't rush to fill in the next segment of the class or move on to the next point. When you ask questions in class, wait several seconds for a response.
11. If you don't know something, don't bluff. Admit you don't know and find out for the next class.

4.6. Useful Department Wikis

Additional useful information is on the department wiki page. Two links may be particularly helpful. The first is a Teaching Assistant FAQ. This contains information and links to some tools that previous TAs have found very useful. The second is the new graduate student help sheet. While this help sheet is not directly concerned with TA duties, it contains information students may find generally helpful in doing their TA work.

Both these sites are wikis, and so, like all wikis, the accuracy and quality of the information depends on the quality of the contributions and on information being updated as needed. Note that because these are wikis, the department does not guarantee the accuracy of the information the sites contain. TAs are encouraged to contribute anything they think others will find helpful, and to update or correct any inaccuracies.

4.7. Promoting Student Participation

Using Writing as a Tool for Promoting Student Participation

Two questions TAs often have are:

1. How to figure out (quickly) what students know and what they need help with?
2. How to get students to participate in class, especially in class discussions?

There are a number of techniques for addressing these concerns. Here are a few possibilities. These are most useful for TAs who lead discussion sections, but can also be adapted by other TAs for use during office hours, review sessions, etc.

• Use between class writing as a starting point for a discussion. Have students work problems or write about assigned reading, and then start by asking students to share the most important idea(s) from their writing.
• Use beginning of class unstructured writing to generate thoughts on a topic. At the beginning of a new topic ask students to brainstorm about a problem, list words associated with a concept, draw a graph that shows how certain concepts fit together, etc. Have students first write down their ideas, then ask the entire class for input. This will help you understand what students' background on a topic is, where possible misconceptions or conceptual gaps may be, etc.
• Use beginning of class writing to generate topics for a class. For example, ask students at the beginning of class to write down and submit the questions they are most interested in. Then gather the questions, and select ones to answer. In selecting questions, answer the ones that you think are most important and of interest to the most students; you can also invite students whose questions were not answered to see you in office hours if your wish, or you can post answers to the class web page.
• Use short writing as a means for students to gather thoughts before a discussion. Some students are hesitant to participate in class discussion until they have had time to reflect. Pose a discussion question, have students write on it informally and on their own for a minute, and then ask for responses.
• Have people discuss a problem as a group and then write a succinct answer that everyone in the group understands and agrees with. You can collect the answers if you wish to assess peoples' understanding.
• Use short writing as an end of class quick summary. This is an often-used technique and has a number of variants. One asks students to list the most important concepts they learned in class that day, as well as any questions they have. Another variant is to have students identify the "murkiest" point from the class. You can address these areas of confusion outside of class, e.g., on the class web page, or in a future class.