There are multiple ways to view the relationship between the instructor and the Teaching Assistant (TA). One is to view the TA as a ‘do this’ type of helper; someone to simply help with predefined labs, tutorials, working with students, and marking. This is what most instructors seem to do with TAs. Another way to view this relationship is to leverage the added-value a TA can bring to the equation and what added-value the TA can obtain. This seems to be rarely done. There are other views as well, but we are interested in this added-value model: essentially realizing the potential of the relationship.

An undergraduate TA will bring a different set of opportunities compared to a graduate student TA, but the concept is the same. What experiences, knowledge and perspective does the student bring to the equation and how can this help improve the course? The TA can become an active component of the course design and delivery and contribute to the continuous improvement. The undergraduate TA will have less experience and academic knowledge but will be closer to the students taking the course. They should have the ability to understand the students' expectations and anticipate their reactions. The graduate student will hopefully have more maturity, and ability to work independently, but will still be closer to the student mindset than the instructor is. The TAs can take the first stab at rubrics and even assessments. The TAs can help design, in whole or in part, the tutorials and labs.

As a professional, the instructor has an implicit responsibility to help develop junior members in their field; such as helping the TAs understand the choice of teaching methods, the subtleties of the methods, strengths and weaknesses, assumptions, choice of assessment methods, and the specific details of the assessments. The instructor can share insights about how to review and adjust course delivery. The instructor can help the TAs become self-aware of nuances others take for granted.

These added-value activities require the instructor to be open about feedback made by the TAs, be willing to spend time with the TAs on the tasks, have a degree of trust, and have back-up plans in case things go south. Not all TAs are good and not all TAs will be interested in learning anything from the TA experience. For some, it will be strictly about doing the least amount of work possible for the TA funding provided. Unfortunately, you might have to write them off and give up on them; using them for the simple "do this" tasks.

The added-value approach at first glance looks as if the instructor does not save as much time compared to the ‘do this’ model. The instructor does have to think more and spend a bit more time with the TAs. However, major gains can come from indirect benefits; a better course and a better experience for the students. By engaging the TAs as collaborators and active participants, it is highly likely that new ideas will be developed for the course and these are invaluable. The instructor can become blind to what is happening and what could happen in the course and a great TA situation can help the instructor to see what is actually happening and new possibilities. This of course assumes that the instructor has a growth mindset and does not have a closed mind.

Thoughts...

• Understand what your TA’s experiences have been and what their objectives are for the TA position. You need to know if they are interested in just doing the minimum job, or truly contributing and learning from the TA experience. You should ask specific questions about what they have done, what they have had a proactive role in, what level of responsibility and accountability they worked at, etc. You should also ask what the TA expects to do as a TA in your course, how much time they expect to spend, how they expect to find time for marking, office hours, how they will balance grad studies and activities with being a TA, how they expect to interact with students, etc.
• Discuss the potential activities for the term and how the process might work. See if the TA wants to engage or not. The “how” is as important as the “what”. A TA can be liability or an asset!
• Plan out a few early activities and deliverables for the TA to do and assess them. This will help you early on to determine their work ethic, creativity, and possible contributions the TA can make. It is best to know early in the term if there will be a problem or not with the TA.
• In most cases, the instructor should do the ‘first’ one (marking, labs, tutorials).The TA should know the instructor’s standards for marking rigor and feedback which is best understood from “leading by example”. For marking, the instructor can pull exemplars from the files; the good, bad, and ugly – what is expected, what is acceptable, and what is not. A quality TA experience for the students should not be left to accident or hope.
• When marking/reviewing the first assessments in the term, the instructor and TAs can use a quality control technique: both quickly review the submissions and identify several examples of A’s, B-C’s, and D-E’s, and the feedback they would give to the students. This assumes that the marking is not a simple case of the right numeric answer to three decimal places; that there is an element of process assessment, and some degree of testing for comprehension, application, and analysis. After comparing and adjusting the process and marking rubric, the TAs can do a better assessment of the student submissions on their own.
• When a TA is engaged and helping with the course (beyond simple marking), it is helpful to have regular discussions and review points during the term about what is going well and not going well. Discuss what the students are understanding, learning and why, what are the students struggling with and why.
• If you have a good relationship with the TAs, the TAs could sit in on several lectures in order to provide candid and constructive feedback to the instructor who should be willing to listen. This feedback can be on things like going too fast, ability to read the board work from the back of the classroom, etc. The TAs should feel that they can give feedback and suggestions to the instructor and the instructor should be willing to listen and want this feedback. This will not work in all cases; especially if there is a trust and retribution situation.

• An end of term reflection should be done by the TAs and discussed with the instructor; what can be done to improve the course and what the TA learned from TA’ing the course.

Co-dependencies & The Necessary and Hopefully Sufficient...

• Both the TA and instructor should probably be required to attend workshops on how to be a TA and how to work with a TA. We should not assume that instructors know what they are doing in all cases; just because they were a student once, or a TA once.
• Both instructor and TA must see this as a value-added activity and understand the potential values each role can bring to the table.
• The instructor must test the TA early to understand what the TA can do, and will do. This includes marking and classroom delivery (labs and tutorials).
• The instructor must provide the TA will clear examples and definitions for any assessment and feedback work. The instructor must validate and verify that the TA is delivering the quality expected and it is aligned with the instructor’s. The instructor should not assume that a TA knows how to mark, give feedback, or run a help session; even if they have TA’d for others. Give them something to mark. Have them run a help session that you observe.
• The instructor must look at this as both a ‘help’ situation and an educational opportunity; not leveraging the TAs time as a way to spend more time on research.
• The instructor must have a growth mindset and be open to suggestions and ideas from the TA. While not every suggestion will be worthy, the instructor has to be able to explain the strengths and weaknesses of the suggestion and rationalize the adoption or rejection.
• The TA must be mature enough to understand that not all of their ideas will be good enough to be adopted.
• The TA must also have a growth mindset and be willing to listen to and accept constructive criticism with respect to their marking, classroom presence, etc.
• If you have a great TA, you can use them to enhance the course. Ask for their advice, assign them creative tasks.
• It might be necessary to have two course designs that can be executed; one with really great TAs where added value can be provided, and a second where the TAs provide mechanical help and that is all. It is not wise to assume that you will have great TAs every year.
• You should consciously look for ways to help your TA learn and grow, learn from being a TA; do not view them as a simple employee, hired to do a task and then rotated out without any investment on your part.

Further reading

• Teaching Assistant Checklist: Questions to Ask. Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo. https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/planning-courses/tips-teaching-assistants/teaching-assistant