This term, I was a teaching assistant for APSC 160, a first year engineering class where they teach introduction to programming in C. I applied via the department of computer science in the summer, where we were asked to pick our top 3 choices, and write a statement about why we wanted to TA that class. Because they always consider returning teaching assistants first (because of the teaching union) before any new applicants, I was really excited when I received an offer. I think it was because nobody wanted to TA an online semester. Let’s get into the details!
My main responsibilities were to invigilate labs over zoom, and help out in lectures, totaling 8 hours a week. Labs for this course were assessments, so we’d usually record attendance first, pass on the assessment password to the students, and then answer any questions not related to their code (we cannot help them with the assessment). The technical aspect of monitoring through zoom made this 10x more stressful than needed, since we had to move people to breakout rooms and chat with them privately to answer their questions.
The lecture aspect consisted of helping students in breakout rooms where they’d do the lecture worksheet. Finally, I also did some marking, which was mostly evaluating code style, since there was an autograder to mark output. But if the students’ code didn’t get full autograder marks, we had to basically debug their code, and take off marks accordingly for each mistake they made.
Overall, TA-ing was a super fun experience albeit being online. Except for one week, where I did 12 hours of marking on top of 8 hours of usual lecture/labs, it was mostly a consistent 8 hour/week time commitment, so I was able to take the regular course load (5 courses) this term. The pay was $20.30 per hour, which is pretty decent, until you realize minimum wage is $15 next year.
Favorite TA work?
Probably answering students’ questions, either in lecture or office hours.
Least favorite work?
Visiting breakout rooms. Even when I’m not a TA, I feel like breakout rooms with random students are very awkward. As a lecture TA, we basically visit all the breakout rooms, and see if any students need help. Most of the breakout rooms are totally silent and everyone has their mics and cameras off. The convo usually goes like this when nobody needs help:
Me: “How’s the worksheet going?”
After a pause, someone unmutes themselves
A student: Good
Me: “Okay, feel free to ask any questions!”
A student: Thanks
…
Other times, students have lots of questions and it’s much more fun.
Any funny moments?
I remember when I accidentally muted the professor during class (sorry!)… And then later someone else muted the professor again in the same lecture. I guess this is more embarrassing than funny. Because the “admit students to room” button is right above the professors “mute” button, and someone else clicked the admit student to room button the same time as I, so the prompt disappeared, and my mouse unfortunately landed right on top of the “mute” button.
How well should a TA know the class material?
Even as a third year student whose Ta-ing a first year class, sometimes (very often) I have to google things. I think it’s definitely good to be 1+ years ahead of the class you’re TAing, otherwise it might be hard to build confidence in teaching the material you just learned last term. Then, with the assistance of google, there is usually no problem answering most questions. The other important aspect is to leave some time to look over the worksheets/labs and prepare (which I didn’t do super well this time). And then if I really didn’t know the answer, I would either ask the professor or another TA, or ask the student to post on Piazza if it was more complicated.
What if you gave a wrong answer?
I think this happens more often than we think. We’d like to believe that the professors know everything (and never ever make mistakes), and so being a TA, sometimes one feels like they too have to know everything and be correct. Some professors even like to say “I love people that challenge my ideas, so feel free to prove me wrong” but I’ve never seen it happen.
This time, in one of my lecture TA sessions, I heard the professor apologize for a mistake they made in the previous lecture, and explain the correct way. Though I was super surprised, I realized I admired the professor way more for their sincerity, and cared much less about them making the mistake itself.
Were you suprised at anything?
The ton of work that goes into preparing for exams and marking. As a student, it seems like we’re the ones that has to study really hard and prepare for exams, but on the other hand the professors are also working to put together the exam. And don’t get me started at how long it takes to mark. Having to get through ~150 students’ labs in a week, students’ submissions become just numbers, and I really have to keep telling myself to be detailed in my feedback, and that each and every submission belongs to a student, who will (hopefully) read the comments and learn something.
Will you TA again, and do you recommend it?
Yes and yes! Though I may be biased since I’ve always enjoyed teaching/tutoring.
