In our first colloquium next week, our course coordinator Megan Bingham will host a discussion about the TA experience in our department. At the end of 2023, we learned that filling TA positions, particularly Head TA positions, has been challenging. There are, of course, many different reasons why this is the case, including the need for TAs to focus on research and finishing their theses. However, there could be other issues that have to do with what being a TA actually entails and so an open discussion could be helpful. We therefore want to encourage our grad students to participate in the discussion and tell us about their good and not so good experiences. An important question in this context is how the department and instructors can support TAs better. (Think of it as a start/stop/keep survey). We invite instructors to listen and contribute productive ideas, but the bulk of the contributions should come from TAs.
The overall goal of the discussion will be to collect ideas that could lead to more enjoyable TA experiences; in turn, benefiting the students. To help us organize the discussion around common themes. we invite our grad students to provide input via an anonymous one-question survey on Qualtrics or an email to Megan (megan.bingham@ubc.ca) that will be treated confidentially. You will find the link here.
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2024-01-25T16:00:002024-01-25T17:00:00Discussion: The TA Experience in our DepartmentEvent Information:
Abstract:
In our first colloquium next week, our course coordinator Megan Bingham will host a discussion about the TA experience in our department. At the end of 2023, we learned that filling TA positions, particularly Head TA positions, has been challenging. There are, of course, many different reasons why this is the case, including the need for TAs to focus on research and finishing their theses. However, there could be other issues that have to do with what being a TA actually entails and so an open discussion could be helpful. We therefore want to encourage our grad students to participate in the discussion and tell us about their good and not so good experiences. An important question in this context is how the department and instructors can support TAs better. (Think of it as a start/stop/keep survey). We invite instructors to listen and contribute productive ideas, but the bulk of the contributions should come from TAs.
The overall goal of the discussion will be to collect ideas that could lead to more enjoyable TA experiences; in turn, benefiting the students. To help us organize the discussion around common themes. we invite our grad students to provide input via an anonymous one-question survey on Qualtrics or an email to Megan (megan.bingham@ubc.ca) that will be treated confidentially. You will find the link here.
Event Location:
HENN 202