Teaching Assistant Appointments in AAE
The department has two Teaching Assistantships available per year to teach discussion sections associated with undergraduate courses.
Hiring Criteria
All graduate students are eligible for Teaching Assistantships. Selection will be carried out by the Director of Graduate Studies and the supervising professors and will be based on the student possessing sufficient expertise in the subject area of the course and the ability to communicate effectively to undergraduate students. Students must be making satisfactory progress, as defined in the department’s graduate student handbook. International students must demonstrate adequate proficiency in English.
Workload
The instructor for the course will provide a workload sheet before the beginning of the appointment. This will be signed by the TA and the instructor and retained by the two parties. The workload sheet is advisory. See attached for a template.
Training
New Teaching Assistants are required to participate in one of the TA training sessions offered by the College of Letters and Science (see http://www.ls.wisc.edu/TAresources.htm for details).
New TAs are required to participate in one of the TA training sessions offered by the Office of Equity and Diversity (see http://www.oed.wisc.edu/workshop.html for details). A signed agenda or other proof that this training has been taken should be given to the Academic Programs Coordinator and retained in the student’s file.
TAs will receive additional pedagogical training in meetings with the faculty instructor for the course throughout the semester.
Supervision
Teaching Assistants will be supervised by the professor teaching the course. Problem areas that cannot be resolved between the TA and the professor are handled by the Graduate Committee.
Evaluation
New TAs will be given an early evaluation (in about the 6th week of class) via the normal departmental vehicle (web-based evaluation administered by Testing and Evaluation Services), and the results will be given to the TA and faculty instructor. This is meant to help new TAs improve their teaching. Experienced TAs may also receive this type of evaluation at their request or the department’s discretion. Forty-eight hours’ notice will be given in advance of the distribution of these evaluations.
All TAs will receive evaluation by the faculty instructor in the form of classroom observation. Ideally, this will be scheduled at the mutual convenience of the TA and the instructor, but 24 hours’ notice will be given to the TA for the first such classroom visit. (Subsequent visits require no notice.) The instructor will produce a written evaluation that will be given to the TA and placed in their student file. The instructor will also give verbal feedback following the classroom visit.
Resources for Teaching Assistants
UW Resources and Training
Resources for TAs, College of Letters and Science
Letters and Science TA Training
Graduate Assistant Training by the UW Office of Equity and Diversity
Resources from Other Universities
Teaching Assistant Instructional Consultaton: A high caliber of instuctional consultation in matters of design, delivery and evaluation.
Teaching Tips Index - Honolulu Community College
TAs and Professors as a Teaching Team - University of North Carolina
Resources for TAs - Stanford University
Center for Instructional Development and Research - University of Washington
Economics Teaching Resources - collection of information & web links showing activities to use in economics classe; also sites of other teachers of economics