Practical advice on being a TA - Stanford Computer Science

Practical advice on being a TA

Jessica Su

About me•Have been a TA nine times for six different professors

•CS 161 (Design and Analysis of Algorithms), five times

•CS 246 (Mining Massive Data Sets), twice

•CS 224W (Social and Information Network Analysis)

•MS&E 111 (Intro to Optimization)

•Taught CS 161 in the summer of 2016

•Was head TA for CS 161 and CS 246

•Won the CS department's outstanding TA bonus in Winter 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, and Winter 2018

About teachingFront-end work Back-end work

Office hours

Piazza

Lecturing

Homework design

Lecture design

Grading

About teachingFront-end work Back-end work

Office hours

Piazza

Lecturing

Homework design

Lecture design

Grading

Prepare for office hours

Prepare for office hours

Read the solution set

Prepare for office hours

Read the solution setWatch the lectures

Prepare for office hours

Read the solution setWatch the lectures

Ask if you don't understand something (the solution set might be wrong)

Common problemsToo many people in office hours

Common problemsToo many people in office hours

Use QueueStatus

Common problemsToo many people in office hours

Use QueueStatusStudents should only get in the queue once every two hours

Common problemsToo many people in office hours

Use QueueStatusStudents should only get in the queue once every two hoursStudents in the queue get priority over students not in the queue

Common problemsToo many people in office hours

Use QueueStatusStudents should only get in the queue once every two hoursStudents in the queue get priority over students not in the queueLimit students to 10 minutes each (when the queue is too long)

Common problemsToo many people in office hours

Have several people staff the same office hours

Common problemsToo many people in office hours

Have several people staff the same office hoursSeveral people = 1 TA per 15 students

Common problemsToo many people in office hours

Have several people staff the same office hoursSeveral people = 1 TA per 15 students

DO NOT: Hold additional office hours slots

Common problemsToo many people in office hours

Have several people staff the same office hoursSeveral people = 1 TA per 15 students

DO NOT: Hold additional office hours slots(the same students will come to each one)

Common problemsToo many people in office hours

Have several people staff the same office hoursSeveral people = 1 TA per 15 students

DO NOT: Hold additional office hours slots(the same students will come to each one)

DO NOT: Hold group office hours

Common problemsToo many people in office hours

Have several people staff the same office hoursSeveral people = 1 TA per 15 students

DO NOT: Hold additional office hours slots(the same students will come to each one)

DO NOT: Hold group office hours(you will give away the answer)

Common problemsDon't know how to answer a question

Common problemsDon't know how to answer a question

Say "I don't know, but I'll check with people and get back to you"

Common problemsDon't know how to answer a question

Say "I don't know, but I'll check with people and get back to you"

Email them no later than 1 hour after office hours

Common problemsDon't know how to answer a question

Say "I don't know, but I'll check with people and get back to you"

Email them no later than 1 hour after office hours

If the solution sets are wrong or incomplete, update the solution sets

Common problemsAccidentally misinformed a student

Common problemsAccidentally misinformed a student

Email the student and correct yourself

Common problemsAccidentally misinformed a student

Email the student and correct yourself

If it was a large group of students, you can post on Piazza

About teachingFront-end work Back-end work

Office hours

Piazza

Lecturing

Homework design

Lecture design

Grading

1) Be nice

Piazza

1) Be nice2) Answer quickly

All posts should be answered within 24 hoursMost posts should be answered within 15 minutes

Piazza

1) Be nice2) Answer quickly

All posts should be answered within 24 hoursMost posts should be answered within 15 minutes

3) Try to be on Piazza duty the day after your office hours

That way, you'll already know how to answer all the questions

Piazza

About teachingFront-end work Back-end work

Office hours

Piazza

Lecturing

Homework design

Lecture design

Grading

GradingGrading should be fair and consistent

GradingGrading should be fair and consistent

Ideally, students understand why they lost points and agree that the deduction was fair

GradingGrading should be fair and consistent

Ideally, students understand why they lost points and agree that the deduction was fair

Best practices:Say what the student had to do to receive full credit

GradingGrading should be fair and consistent

Ideally, students understand why they lost points and agree that the deduction was fair

Best practices:Say what the student had to do to receive full credit

Always leave a comment when taking off points

Regrade requestsBest practices:

Regrade requestsBest practices:

Only give back points if there was an error in your grading

Regrade requestsBest practices:

Only give back points if there was an error in your grading

If you give points to one person, you have to give back points to everyone else who had the same answer

About teachingFront-end work Back-end work

Office hours

Piazza

Lecturing

Homework design

Lecture design

Grading

Homework design

1) Design the problem

2) Peer review

3) Preflighting

Homework design

1) Design the problem

2) Peer review

3) Preflighting

Problem should have exactly one interpretation

Homework design

1) Design the problem

2) Peer review

3) Preflighting

Problem should have exactly one interpretationIdeally, there is only one right answer

Homework design

1) Design the problem

2) Peer review

3) Preflighting

Problem should have exactly one interpretationIdeally, there is only one right answer

Is this a good/educational problem?

Homework design

1) Design the problem

2) Peer review

3) Preflighting

Problem should have exactly one interpretationIdeally, there is only one right answer

Is this a good/educational problem?Are there any errors?

Homework design

1) Design the problem

2) Peer review

3) Preflighting

Problem should have exactly one interpretationIdeally, there is only one right answer

Is this a good/educational problem?Are there any errors?

Have three TAs solve the problem to make sure there are no errors or ambiguities

What if there is an error in a problem set?

Have a bug bounty policy

What if there is an error in a problem set?

Have a bug bounty policyStudents get extra credit for reporting errors

What if there is an error in a problem set?

Have a bug bounty policyStudents get extra credit for reporting errors

Rewards good students

What if there is an error in a problem set?

Have a bug bounty policyStudents get extra credit for reporting errors

Rewards good students

Makes people less mad when they find errors

What if there is an error in a problem set?

Have a bug bounty policyStudents get extra credit for reporting errors

Rewards good students

Makes people less mad when they find errors

Errors get corrected fast

About teachingFront-end work Back-end work

Office hours

Piazza

Lecturing

Homework design

Lecture design

Grading

Improving the student experience

Improving the student experience

Have weekly feedback forms

Have weekly feedback formsStudents get extra credit for filling them out

Improving the student experience

Have weekly feedback formsStudents get extra credit for filling them outImprove your course based on the feedback forms

Improving the student experience

Help students find study partners

Improving the student experience

Help students find study partnersAt the beginning of the quarter, students fill out a Google Form with their name, email, and location

Improving the student experience

Help students find study partnersAt the beginning of the quarter, students fill out a Google Form with their name, email, and location

Match them randomly with other students

Improving the student experience

Help students find study partnersAt the beginning of the quarter, students fill out a Google Form with their name, email, and location

Match them randomly with other students

This helps students who have no friends in the class

Improving the student experience

Help students find study partnersAt the beginning of the quarter, students fill out a Google Form with their name, email, and location

Match them randomly with other students

This helps students who have no friends in the class

Form is optional: this quarter, 15 out of 316 students took advantage of it

Improving the student experience

Be fair to SCPD (remote) students

Improving the student experience

Be fair to SCPD (remote) studentsAll office hours should be accessible through Zoom

Improving the student experience

Be fair to SCPD (remote) studentsAll office hours should be accessible through Zoom

Hold some office hours on evenings and weekends

Improving the student experience

Be fair to SCPD (remote) studentsAll office hours should be accessible through Zoom

Hold some office hours on evenings and weekends

All recitation sections should be recorded

Improving the student experience