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We chose to limit the focus of the Handbook to TAs in our department. As TAs are subject to regulation by the University and by the Graduate School . A general discussions of the university regulations that apply to TAs can be found in the Graduate Catalog . There is also a Teaching Assistant Handbook for 2000-2001 in the "Publications" section of the Graduate School web site. We encourage you to become familiar with the contents of the Graduate School web site as it contains a great deal of important and useful information, pertaining not only to your TA, but to your degree in general.
We would like to thank Dr. Hartley for making this possible and for discussions and editing. We would also list to thank Dr. Pontelli, Dr. Pfeiffer, Reina Clark, Machele Raglin, and Ivan Strnad for discussions and review of the Handbook.
Melanie Martin and Nemecio Chavez
August 21, 2002
Note: Throughout the document the terms professor and instructor are used interchangeably.
Basics
You will normally be assigned a either a full (20 hours) or a half
(10 hours) TA, for a specific class or classes. The basic expectation is
that your workload will average out to that many hours per week over the
semester. Your work will most likely consist of running laboratory sessions,
office hours, and grading. It may also include proctoring exams, consulting
with the professor, teaching, attending class, maintaining a web site, or
other duties to be determined by the professor.
Professor
Ideally you and the professor(s) you work for will work as a team to
provide an optimal learning environment for the students. As soon as you
receive you TA assignment you should contact you professor(s) to get a clear
understanding of your duties and the professor's expectations. A key to a
good relationship is timely, open and honest communication.
Timeliness
Whatever duties you are assigned should be performed on a timely basis.
For example:
How to Help Students without Doing it for Them
Teaching students while helping them with their homework/labs is an
art form. It may take time and lots of practice to get good at, here are some
things that might be of use. Please remember, that at all times you should
be patient and courteous with all students.
Where to Refer Students for More Help
Sometimes students without adequate preparation need more help than
you can possibly give them. In this case, you may want to refer them to some
of the services that are available:
If the problem appears to be wide-spread, for example, many students come to you with the same problem, you should discuss this with the professor. It might be appropriate to set up a problem session or tutorial on the issues of concern. You may also want to research web resources, so you can refer students to helpful online tutorials or readings.
Helpful Links
Over the years TAs in our department have created web pages on a variety
of subjects. We hope to catalog them and make them available on the CSGSO
web site, in the near future.
Grading Templates
Over the years TAs in our department have created a variety of grading
templates. We hope to catalog them and make them available on the CSGSO
web site, in the near future. Be sure to check with your professor about
the appropriate format for the course.
Keeping Records
In general, all records from the course should be turned over to the
professor at the end of the semester. They will know the departmental policies
on what should be kept and where it should be kept.
Policies
The following is the universities policy on posting grades and handing
out assignments:
Tools That Might Help
Here are a list of tools that might help avoid any issues that arise
from posting grads or handing out graded assignments:
Payroll
Hiring paperwork and contracts are handled by Machele Raglin, in the
front office (SH 123). Checks are usually available in the front office
on the last day of the month.
Office Space
As a TA you will be assigned to share an office in the department.
There should be a computer or terminal for each person in the office. There
will be a phone in the office (dial 8 to get an outside line). Offices are
intended for use by the people assigned to them, please do not allow others
to work in your office. Be respectful of your office mates. Office assignments
are currently handled by Dr. Hartley and Reina Clark. Check in with Reina
Clark to find out your office assignment.
Contact Information
When you move into your office, place a sign on the door with your
name, your office hours and email address. This will enable your students
and colleagues to locate you.
Office Problems
Report any physical problems with your office and anything that needs
to be brought to the attention of the custodial staff to Reina Clark. While
spills will happen, it is much better to report them right away so that
they can be cleaned up.
Courtesy
Courtesy towards everyone in the department is always expected of you.
In particular, courtesy toward the office staff and the custodial staff
makes the working atmosphere better for everyone and will go a long way
towards getting what you want.
Keys
Keys are dispensed by Machele Raglin, who also handles the hiring paperwork.
You will be given a key to you office, a key to the outside doors of Science
Hall and a swipe card to get into the graduate lab (SH 169). There
will be a deposit of $10.00 for each key and a $2.00 deposit for the swipe
card.
Security
When the outside doors are locked it is important not to let unauthorized
people into the building, as this may endanger people and property. Never
give any of your keys to anyone else. Campus police can be reached at 911
in an emergency, or at 646-3311 for non emergency calls. Any university (or
department) property that is stolen should be reported to the police immediately
and to the department office as soon as possible. The department is not responsible
for personal items stolen. It is generally advisable that valuable electronic
equipment (laptops, digital cameras, etc.) be locked inside of a desk or
cabinet when not in use. The department has had several items stolen recently.
You have been warned!
Mailbox
You will have a mailbox in the department office. This may be used
for official notices, so please check and remove mail from you box on a
regular basis (at least once a week). Some instructors use the boxes to
leave homework for you to grade.
Textbooks
If you need a copy of the text book for the course you are TAing, see
Reina Clark. Be sure to return any books at the end of the semester.
Copies and Fax
The department photocopier and fax machine are available to department
business free of charge: see Machele Raglin for your copier code and ask
any of the office staff for help using the fax machine. Personal photocopies
can be made for $0.05 each and personal faxes cost $0.50 per page (not counting
cover sheet).
Printers
There is a printer available for graduate student use in the Grad Lab
(SH 169). There is also a printer in the Undergrad Lab (SH 118), which you
can use. More information about printers and how to use them is available
in the "Hardware" section of the Intranet site. Please keep in mind that
printers are resources that we all share, so treat them gently, report problems
promptly to COG. If a printer is out of paper, more can be obtained from the
Department Office, be sure to have someone who knows show you how to put
the paper in the first time.
Paper and, particularly, toner costs money, so please do not print complete books or manuals and more generally THINK BEFORE YOU PRINT. Consider printing two, or four, pages on each side of a piece of paper using the "maple" command (more info can be found by typing "man mpage"). This command can also be very useful for printing text files.
Recycling: There is a blue garbage can next to the printer for recycling. Virtually all paper can be recycled at NMSU, please do your part. There are also large garbage cans for recycling in the south entry way. Boxes can also be placed in the south entry way for recycling. Aluminum cans can be placed in any garbage can and the custodial staff will pull them out and recycle them.
Grad Lab (SH 169): The Department provides a computer lab for graduate students with card access in SH 169. There are approximately 85 graduate students in our department and only a limited number of them have offices, so the lab is primarily intended for those without office space. Since there are a large number of people sharing the lab, please be courteous: work quietly, do not bring in food or drink , do not lock machines and leave for extended periods of time. Please treat the equipment and furnishings with respect: the chairs were purchased jointly by the department and the grad students; do not turn off any of the computers (many are servers and turning them off could result in serious problems for many people); report any problems as soon as possible (preferably using the problem system on the intranet). Please do not prop the doors open with chairs; report any temperature problems promptly.
People caught violating polices, particularly bringing food or drink into the lab or turning off machines, may be required to clean the grad and undergrad labs for a week; repeated violations may result in loss of account privileges.
CS Computer Account: You will be automatically given
an email account on the department domain. You can get your login and password
from COG or from any of your course instructors, if you have registered.
Otherwise, ask your advisor for an account. Your email address will be your_login@cs.nmsu.edu.
Department's computer use policy is available at:
For new accounts, the passwords are initially set to be the same for your cs account and your intranet account. The passwords are actually independent and your intranet password by following the link on the "Welcome" page.
SunRay Cards
Cards for the Sun Rays may be purchased from Ivan Strnad (SH 137) for
$2.00, these enable you to transfer your desktop settings between machines.
NMSU Computer Account
You will also be automatically give a student account through Information
and Computing Technologies. Their web site is:
Food Facilities
There is a refrigerator in SH 124 that is available for use, as long
as you clean up after yourself. There is a microwave oven in the Department
Office and one in SH 134. Please be careful and clean up.
End of the Semester or Graduating (or Leaving the Department)
Here are some things you should do:
What to do
On the rare occasions where problems arise in your dealings with faculty,
staff, or students, we encourage you to take appropriate steps to resolve
them on a timely basis. The Gradrep and CSGSO officers are always available
to talk to you and help you figure out what steps you should take.
Recognizing Misconduct
Misconduct takes two forms:
Non-Academic MisconductThe basic rule of thumb: academic misconduct is a direct violation of University policy or of the class policy set forth by the instructor of the course in the syllabus (see the Student Code of Conduct); Examples directly related to the computer science department include but are not limited to the following:
- two or more people turning in similar computer programs, handwritten assignments, tests, quizzes, essays, etc. when they are instructed to work alone;
- people within the class discussing homework assignments if the were asked not to;
- a student indirectly or directly guiding another student on a class assignment (e.g., a student typing in a program for another program or a student telling another student exactly what to type in);
Professionalism with students
Being a TA is an important job and you should treat it as such. If
you can't do something for all of the students, don't show favoritism to
one student by doing it for them only. If you say you will do something to
the student, be sure you follow through on it. This is all commonsense to
most of us but keep in mind that you should treat the students in your class
the way you would like a TA in a class you a taking to treat you.
Don't date students you are grading
You are allowed to date students of the university. However, you
are NOT allowed to date students in your class. Any relationship with a
student in your class should never extend beyond the teacher-student relationship.
It is understood that you cannot control how you feel for another person
so if you ever have feelings towards a student beyond this, please inform
the instructor so that they may handle all issues related to the student from
that point on.
Grading graduate students and colleagues
Technically, graduate students should never grade graduate students.
This is a university policy. However, you will most likely be asked to grade
other graduate students. This isn't bad but you should inform the instructor
if there are any possible conflicts such as you are good friends with one
of the students or you have had trouble with one of the students in another
class, etc.
Professionalism with faculty
The instructor of the course is essentially your boss (i.e. he or
she is the supervisor of your employment). You should treat them with respect
like you would any other person you are working for. This doesn't mean that
you have to do every little thing they ask you for. But it does mean that
you should try and do the best work that you can for them.
Confidentiality
A students confidentiality is probably the most important thing to
them. You should do your upmost to preserve it. Don't share any information
about any student to anyone, excluding the instructor, without the student's
expressed written consent.
When students offer to pay for tutoring
You cannot tutor any student that is in your class for money. This
can be viewed as a conflict of interest and questions might be raised about
your motives (someone might wonder if you aren't being paid for inside information
- e.g., they might think they are paying you to see test or quiz question
in advance).
TA Evaluations
Twice a semester, around mid-term and the end of the semester, you
will be evaluated by the instructor that you are working with. The evaluation
process will consist of a general set of questions which each instructor
will be asked to answer about their TA. Each instructor will answer the same
questions and will be invited to sit down with their TA to discuss the evaluation.
This will give you an opportunity to discuss any issues that you may with
the instructor and also a chance to get feedback on how you are doing.
Last modified: August 21, 2002.
gradrep@cs.nmsu.edu