Questions tagged [teaching-assistant]
Questions concerning the use of graduate students as course instructors, usually under the supervision of a faculty member.
59
questions
35
votes
7
answers
11k
views
Is TA-ing worth the opportunity cost (of having more time for research)?
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 ...
- 725
90
votes
12
answers
19k
views
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, ...
- 1,113
34
votes
2
answers
1k
views
What are some ways to increase grading speed?
I sometimes spend too much time on grading students' homework in the class I am a TA for. I am asking if there are some ways to improve grading speed? I hope that I can learn some useful tips from ...
- 1,729
31
votes
4
answers
10k
views
How to deal with students asking very incremental questions?
I'm a TA/grader for an online course in introductory programming. We have students ask us questions related to homework/labs/etc. on Piazza where we can have quick back-and-forth with questions and ...
- 413
96
votes
11
answers
40k
views
"You are paid to answer my questions!" - how to handle silly questions?
How do I handle silly questions? By silly, I mean questions that are unrelated to the material of the course.
First, I am a TA. Recently, a student asked me a very silly question at the end of a lab ...
- 3,488
47
votes
14
answers
12k
views
What are some good ways to keep students coming to lectures?
Having taught calculus for several semesters, I've noticed that the number of students attending lectures are gradually declining (especially for the 9am session). I would not be worried if they have ...
- 720
44
votes
5
answers
12k
views
Is it ethical to give (paid) private tutorials for a student in a module I am TA'ing?
My TAing mostly involves helping students working on their programming assignments during classes.
A student asked me to give him private, paid, tutorials for the module, being concerned that all '...
- 4,069
22
votes
10
answers
12k
views
I've developed a close relationship with my past graduate teaching assistant, and I'm very interested in her: is it appropriate to pursue this?
The graduate teaching assistant I'm interested in taught one of my introductory courses. She needed research assistants, so I decided to join her lab. From all this we became very close. Ever since ...
user139545
21
votes
3
answers
68k
views
Can you teach at a community college with a master's degree?
I'm interested in teaching a class at the community college level. I'm not interested in it as a career, but rather because I like teaching people about computer science. How likely is it that I ...
- 403
4
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Is it realistic to apply to a Master at MIT, Harvard, Yale, Berkeley, Stanford with a Bachelor of a German Fachhochschule? [closed]
I am a 31 year old German Bachelor-student in his 5th semester in a University of Applied Sciences, studying in Business Information Systems. The total time for receiving the Bachelor is 7 semesters.
...
- 157
103
votes
20
answers
30k
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 ...
- 857
62
votes
6
answers
16k
views
How to toughen up against hostile students as a TA?
I did not have a good experience when I TA'ed the first time. I faced a hostile student who refused to accept that he was wrong and didn't give me a good reason why he should deserve more marks. He ...
- 1,789
4
votes
1
answer
2k
views
What to do in recitation?
Forgive me if this is not the right place to ask pedagogical questions, but it seemed the most appropriate.
I am a TA for a programming/CS course. This is my first time teaching recitation and I'm ...
- 140
91
votes
10
answers
38k
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 ...
- 971
58
votes
5
answers
20k
views
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 ...
- 1,789