GRADUATE TEACHING ASSISTANT BEST PRACTICES

Adopted in Fall 2023

Graduate Teaching Assistants (hereafter, GTAs) are valuable members of the department’s instruction staff, and are often the first point of contact for undergraduates. They are committed to providing the best pedagogical experience for their students (in addition to receiving training themselves as an instructor). The following best practices have been designed to allow GTAs to provide the best instruction, mentorship, and assessment to their students as possible within the given time constraints. This document is also meant to serve as a compass for faculty regarding what is and is not appropriate use of GTA labor.

This document only applies to courses which are administered by at least one History faculty member, including cross-listed courses; and (2) Spring/Fall semester TA assignments.

Definitions and basic responsibilities

TAships where the student serves as a section leader for a lecture course in the History department are defined as “qualified graduate assistantships” under University policy PROV001, Graduate Assistantships. According to PROV-001, “Graduate assistantships provide a supervised opportunity for graduate students to gain experience in teaching or research while receiving wages. The University views graduate students serving in assistantships first and foremost as students. Consequently, the goal of any assistantship must be to aid the student in the successful completion of the graduate degree.”

GTAships are salaried assignments, not hourly wage assignments. However, a single GTA assignment is not expected to exceed an average of 10 hours per week over a 20 week period (200 hours over the semester). Although the appointment lasts 20 weeks, the majority of the work occurs during the 15.5 weeks of a given semester; because the pay period (20 weeks) is longer than the semester, TAs can expect to work closer to an average of 14 hours per week during the semester. The hours will vary from low/none (e.g., before/after end of classes) to medium (e.g. over the course of the semester) and high (e.g., exam week, midterms). Time commitments will also vary depending on a variety of factors such as GTA experience as well as the course structure (e.g., more frequent smaller assignments vs. a smaller number of bigger exams). Overall, faculty should plan courses such that the work matches, as closely as is possible and allowing for expected variation, the expectation that the GTAs work 200 hours over the course of the semester.

We urge faculty and students to keep in mind that this is not an hourly assignment, which means that students do not enter weekly hours worked on a timecard, and that work is highly variable across the duration of the appointment. We encourage GTAs and faculty to discuss workload distribution at the first meeting of the semester, along with course structure, grading expectations, this description, mentoring opportunities, and all other matters related to building a constructive working relationship. To that end, we encourage faculty and GTAs to adhere as closely as possible to the following best practices.

Best Practices

As learning teachers, TAs should expect the support and direction of their supervising instructors.

To that end, instructors ought to:

• Meet with GTAs before classes begin to give an overview of the course, provide GTAs with access to the syllabus and readings, and clarify the instructor’s expectations of GTAs for the particular course

• Order desk copies for GTAs in a timely manner (i.e., before the start of classes)

• Make available any readings to be placed on reserve

• Meet with GTAs on a weekly or bi-weekly basis to ensure a consistent learning experience across sections and rigorous discussion of class materials and to communicate the logic and design of courses so that graduate students learn to develop and teach their own classes.

• Discuss grading criteria and desired grade distribution with GTAs

• Decide whether/how exams are to be proctored

• Have the final say in matters regarding grades, exam content, and course content

• Mentor GTAs on how to conduct a midterm course evaluation

• Observe each TA at least once at some point during the first ten weeks of the semester to provide usable feedback on the GTA’s performance. The instructor should always let the GTA know in advance they will be observing a particular section.

An instructor will always decide whether/how exams are to be proctored, and will have the final say in matters regarding grades, exam content, and course content.

Because the courses to which GTAs are assigned vary, GTA duties can vary considerably. However, in most courses, GTAs are typically expected to:

• Prepare for and lead up to three (3) weekly 50-minute discussion sections

• Schedule and hold at least two (2) office hours per week

• Attend up to two (2) lectures per week

• Meet with the instructor and other GTAs on a weekly or bi-weekly basis for up to one (1) hour

• Grade assignments, exams and papers for up to three (3) hours per week

• Proctor midterm and final exams

In addition, instructors sometimes ask that GTAs perform some of the following tasks that add to the quality of courses and/or help GTAs to develop teaching skills:

• Give input on or help create student assignments

• Help develop exams for the course

• Give all or part of one lecture to gain experience

• Schedule exam review sessions (and do so in lieu of office hours)

• Set up and/or maintain Collab sites for the GTA’s sections

• Enter grades in SIS and save them for final review and approval by the course instructor

A course instructor should not ask or expect TAs to have sole responsibility for performing duties that clearly are the instructor’s own, such as syllabus preparation, exam writing, or lecturing. While GTAs may support exam writing (craft a few questions, take practice exams, give feedback), they cannot be responsible for writing entire exams. Nor should instructors expect TAs to do personal errands not related to the course or other work not related to the course (including work for other courses taught by the instructor)