TA Expectations

Here is a list of expectations for TAs and Faculty working with TAs.

For TAs:

1. Grading Time: Educational research indicates that prompt feedback helps students learn better. A reasonable expectation is that assignments, exams, etc. be graded and returned within one week of the due date. There will, of course, be times when this is not possible, but these should be the exception rather than the rule.
    
2. Response to Email, etc.: Respond to all student requests in a reasonable amount of time. As a general rule, try to respond within one “business” day. Again, this is a general rule, and there will be occasional exceptions. However, these should be rare exceptions rather than regular occurrences. Also respond to the course instructor’s email in a timely manner as well, especially urgent email. Professors greatly appreciate prompt responses.
    
3. Office Hours: TAs are expected to hold regular office hours (minimally 2 hours per week for a 50% appointment, and 1 hour per week for a 25% appointment; however, instructors may ask TAs to have additional hours if needed). One complaint we sometimes hear is TAs missing office hours, arriving late, or leaving early. See the department rules page for procedures on occasions when you absolutely cannot make it to scheduled office hours. 
   
   If many students show up to office hours, many TAs will stay later than scheduled. This is encouraged, but not required. If office hours regularly run long or if substantial number of students are left at the end of your office hours you should talk with your professor about alternatives.
    
4. Time Spent On TA Work: A 50% TA appointment is for 20 hours per week, a 25% for 10 hours per week. The actual workload will of course vary, with more work in some weeks and less in others.
    
5. Continued Appointments: TAs who are TAs for more than a year will be expected to take on more substantial TA roles. These may include being the “head” or “lead” TA for a class; mentoring other, newer, TAs they are working with; being able and willing to TA a wide variety of classes, including some advanced classes; and doing split appointments, if necessary.
    
6. Term of Appointment: You are expected to be available from the start of the term (usually a week before the start of the class) until all the class work is done. In the past some classes have had problems with students arriving late for their TA duties, leaving before the semester has ended, or travelling in the middle of the semester. If you do need to travel at any time during the semester, you should clear it with your instructor in advance to ensure that it will not interfere with your TA duties.
    
7. Official Procedures, etc.: TAs should be familiar with, and follow, department and University rules. See the TA Handbook and University Graduate Assistant sites for additional information.
    
8. Professionalism: Act professionally in your TA work: be on time, answer inquiries in a timely fashion, treat students, other TAs, department staff and others with courtesy, etc.
    

9. Communication with the Instructor and Other TAs: Many courses have regular weekly meetings between the instructor and all the TAs. If you must, on rare occasion, miss such a meeting you should contact the instructor, in advance if possible. TAs often discover problems, student concerns, etc. before the instructor. Therefore, one of your jobs is to communicate to the instructor what’s working well and what isn’t.

   Clarify anything about the course that is unclear. If there is something you are confused about, students are probably also confused about it.
   
   TAs need to be reasonably available and to communicate with the course instructor and other TAs regularly. The biggest complaint from faculty about TAs is when a TA is not available when they should be, or not responding to e-mail.

For Professors

1. Do not expect too much (or too little) work from TAs. A 50% TA position should be for an average of 20 hours of week; a 25% for 10 hours.
    
2. Clearly communicate duties and expectations to TAs.
    
3. Communicate regularly with TAs. If you do not have regular meetings with TAs, let them know when and how you are best contacted.
    
4. Have expectations of TAs commensurate with their skill and experience level. For example, new TAs will need more guidance than experienced TAs.
    
5. Provide constructive feedback to TAs on their work.
    
6. Set up course procedures so that TAs can perform their work well and efficiently.
    
7. Respond in a timely manner to mail, etc. from TAs.
    
8. Provide sufficient guidance to TAs. Areas TAs often have questions on include what should be covered in any course recitations, grading practices (what to give points for, how strictly to grade, how much feedback to give students), and how to handle student requests for exceptions to class rules.
    
9. Mentor TAs, and model good teaching, so TAs become more skilled through their work.
    
10. Facilitate interaction between the class and the TA. For example, many students do not know the TA(s) for the class. Introduce the TA(s) during the first class, have them assist in class occasionally, etc. so students know who they are.