TA responsibilities for Prof. Reed's Courses
(See current copy of this document at http://logos.cs.uic.edu/reed/CLASSES/TA%20Duties2.doc)

Here is a list of things I would like TA's for my courses to do. Some of these

things will not apply in all cases, as the course requirements vary.

1.  Grade student lab quizzes. Quiz grades should be graded out of 10 points.

2.  Programs Grading:

·  Programs should be graded out of 100 points using the guidelines given in the course syllabus and the criteria we will have discussed ahead of time. If a program is written well, don't be afraid to give a score of 100.

·  When you are grading programs, first grade 3 or 4 of them and bring them by my office so that I can give you feedback in regards to what I am looking for in each assignment.

·  In grading programs you must compile and run the executable from the course account, and write any comments on the paper copy turned in by the students, explaining why points were taken off.

·  When grading programs you must also run programs through Moss, the cheating detection system.

3.  Programs and quizzes must be graded, handed back (during lab), and grades recorded in the spreadsheet within 1 week of getting them.

  1. Grades information will be kept in a spreadsheet which we will email back and forth. Once you email me your new grades for some particular assignment, I will copy them into the master spreadsheet, which I will keep. I will then periodically email you an updated copy of the spreadsheet.

5.  Keep 4 office hours / week & appointments with students. Have two hours on the day of your lab (sometime after your lab if possible), and two hours some other day. As much as possible, these hours should be on different days and times than those held by the Professor or by other TAs for the same course.

  1. Attend a weekly half-hour meeting with the professor and other TA's in the course. At this meeting we will discuss grading criteria for programs, as well as quizzes and topics for the following week.

7.  Attend midterm and final exams to help monitor the class. This is not necessary for classes smaller than 50 students.

8.  For introductory programming classes, be willing to give a lot of help, even suggesting specific code. Some students need more than just general suggestions in their first couple of programming classes.

9.  Monitor the discussion board on Blackboard, answering student questions.

Pedagogical Approach for Instructional Labs

There are two “modes” in lab:

1. Lecture: only 1 person talking at a time. Sign of success: it is quiet & students are listening

2. Lab: everyone talking at once, students divided into groups of 2 or 3. Sign of success: it is noisy and students are all working on the task at hand.

For hands-on teaching labs, each lab should have the following components:

1. A brief explanation (3-7 min)

2. A complete on-line example

3. A partially-completed on-line example for students to download and complete

4. An on-line problem substantially incomplete for students to do

Some lab sessions will look a little different if you end up spending a lot of time reviewing homework problem solutions.

The examples given in lab must already be accessible for students to download in order to save time in lab. At the beginning of lab you should make all of the above components available to students. This way students who are more advanced can quickly finish it, get checked off by you, and leave early. You should verify all students complete item #3 in the list above. Many students may not get to step #4 above.

Labs are graded out of 3 points as follows:

0: Did not show up

1: Participated in lab, but did not substantially complete assigned example (step #3 above)

2: Participated and substantially completed assigned example (step #3 above)

3: Participated, completed step #4 above.

Labs should be designed so that almost everyone can complete step #3, but only a few can complete step #4 above.