practical advice on being a ta - stanford computer science
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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