Suggested TA Roles and Duties

Teaching assistants (GTAs) can be invaluable to the success of your course. Learning the best way to utilize these people is vital. The most critical duty of a TA is to know the material in the class they are assigned. Graduate TAs will start their assignment 1-4 weeks before the beginning of the term so it is imperative that the GTA has access to the syllabus so they can determine any deficiencies and learn the material. NOTE: Much of this document is taken from, or adapted from, the EECS Graduate Handbook.

Duties of a GTA may include:

  • Holding “office hours” via Teams
  • Testing and grading both written and programming assignments. (TAs will need to learn any software used to grade programming assignments.)
  • Preparing solutions to homework assignments
  • Grading quizzes and exams
  • Providing meaningful feedback to students
  • Entering grades into Canvas gradebook
  • Promptly answering students’ questions on grading via email or other communication platforms
  • Monitoring Ed Discussions and verifying correctness of student responses
  • Testing midterm and final exams
  • Holding help and review sessions

A more experienced GTA may be given more advanced duties for the course, such as…

  • Designing or testing new quizzes and homework assignments
  • Generating or testing grading rubrics
  • Creating a supplementary video
  • Updating the course website
  • Meeting with small groups of students to review projects
  • Creating active learning modules

For large classes with many GTAs, a lead GTA may be identified who will primarily manage the other TAs for a course and may have duties such as:

  • Manage GTAs.
    • Ensure grading is done on time and correctly.
    • Organize office hours/meetings.
    • Handle grading rubric standardization (for consistency).
  • Filter/Handle extension requests before they get to the faculty.
  • Filter/Handle grading disputes before they get to the faculty.
  • Assist faculty with collecting evidence for academic misconduct cases. Resource

Regardless of the nature of duty, the duties of a TA for any given course should be given in written form before the first day of class along with the due dates for grading and exams, with the understanding that adjustments may need to occur as the course progresses.