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Teaching Assistants

Teaching Assistants (TAs) are required to:

  • attend all lectures;
  • meet with discussion section(s), if applicable.
  • hold two office hours/week. The offices available for this will be the graduate student's own office or, for UGIA (PSYC 195) students, 1503 Mandler Hall;
  • duplicate appropriate course work as needed (see Copying Policies);
  • proctor quizzes, exams, and finals (Instructor must remain present);
  • grade as requested, and
  • perform any pertinent teaching duties; full-time TAs within their first four years are responsible for one lecture. Instructor must remain present.

Make contact with your TAs prior to the beginning of the quarter. More specific information on the duties of TAs are listed in "A Guide for Teaching Assistants."

TA Training and Supervision

When a TA is assigned to a course, the faculty member in charge of that course is expected to provide TA training and supervision. At the beginning of the quarter, the faculty member should meet with the TA to explain his/her duties and responsibilities. After the initial meeting, regular weekly meetings with the TA are highly recommended. (First time TAs are also provided a Mentor TA who will work with them through the quarter.) The professors must evaluate TAs at the end of each quarter as a stipulation of the TA union contract.

Readers

Readers are typically undergraduates hired to assist in upper division classes. 195s, where available, fulfill the same function for lower division courses. Undergraduate readers are only allowed to grade objective questions and scantrons. They are paid on an hourly basis for the number of hours they spend performing work.

If an instructor wishes to request a reader for a course (usually upper division), s/he has to approach the MSO to check on the availability of funds. (Student eligibility requirements: at least 90.0 units completed; grade point average of 3.0 or consent of instructor, and a grade of A in the course.)

Duties for Readers and 195s:

  • Meet with instructor prior to course to establish organizational guidelines for the course;
  • Meet regularly with the course instructor to ensure ongoing communication regarding progress of students and course;
  • Attend all class meetings;
  • Master course material to enable themselves to hold discussions or office hours;
  • Assist with course preparation (e.g. library research for articles, questions for exams, contacting Soft Reserves, etc.);
  • Copy course materials such as exams, syllabi, handouts;
  • Assist with proctoring examinations;
  • Grade only scantrons and objective questions, and
  • Hold office hours/sections a minimum of 2 hours per week.

Psychology 195 - Undergraduate Instructional Apprentice (195s/UGIAs)

Undergraduate Instructional Apprentice Regulations

Instructors can offer 195s - "Undergraduate Instructional Apprentice" for which students earn four units of upper division credit with P/NP grading. (The Department of Psychology does count a PSYC 195 one time as part of the minimum of 12 upper division courses towards the major.) The PSYC 195 is intended to give students the opportunity to learn about teaching, i.e., attend classes, hold sections, assist with office hours, assist with course preparation, and proctor exams. Like Readers, PSYC 195s are only allowed to grade objective questions and scantrons. Duties are the same as those for Readers.

Faculty should advertise and screen for PSYC 195's. In those cases where one faculty member does not regularly teach a particular course, faculty may advertise for the next instructor's course opportunities (such as PSYC 60). Applications for PSYC 195s must be completed no later than week 8 of the previous quarter.

To be eligible, the student must be a Psychology major or minor, either of junior or senior standing with an overall GPA of 3.0. The student must have taken the course and have earned a grade of A-.