III.10 TEACHING ASSISTANTSHIPS

Teaching assistants are an integral part of the instructional effort in the College of Letters and Science where each semester over 1,000 graduate students are appointed to serve as teaching assistants. These teaching assistants fill many different types of instructional roles depending on the department in which they serve and the course to which they are assigned. Questions in this area should be addressed to Associate Dean Nancy Westphal-Johnson or Brian Bubenzer.

Please note: College policy requires that all new teaching assistants must be evaluated early in the semester for the purpose of teaching improvement.

APPOINTMENTS AND APPOINTMENT LETTERS : Appointment letter formats for teaching assistant appointments are sent to departments in advance of each academic year or semester. A sample of the most recent format is available, together with the "Terms" sheet that accompanies it. If the department elects to use the format we provide, we do not need to see drafts of the letters in advance of their being sent. As indicated above, departments must take care that enrollment demand will support a planned appointment before sending out an appointment letter because such letters establish a commitment that the department and College are bound to honor.

BUDGETS: Normally, teaching assistant budgets are set in the spring semester of each academic year for the following year.  Budgets are based on FTE (not dollars), and reflect anticipated enrollment demand as well as budgetary limits. Departments must take care that actual enrollment demand will support the appointment of a teaching assistant BEFORE going ahead with the appointment. Our overall budgetary constraints mean that savings from the budgeted level must generally be returned to the College rather than retained at the department level unless otherwise specified in the departmental budget notification sheet.

EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP: The employment relationship governing teaching assistants (and project assistants) is based upon a collective bargaining agreement with the Teaching Assistants' Association. Copies of the agreement are to be distributed to all new teaching assistants with their appointment letter. Those faculty and staff supervising or otherwise working with teaching assistants should also receive a copy, and become familiar with the various aspects of TA appointments as they are covered in the agreement. Copies of the collective bargaining agreement are available from the Academic Personnel Office (3-2511).

FACULTY ASSISTANTS, UNDERGRADUATE ASSISTANTS: Faculty assistants (who are not registered students) and undergraduate assistants may be appointed to do the sort of work a teaching assistant would do. Each such situation requires approval in South Hall; we ask the department to send us a note explaining why the particular person is needed for the position (generally because no qualified graduate student is available) and a description of the person's qualifications. For undergraduate assistants, we pay particular attention to the academic record, and will normally expect the student to have attained at least junior (preferably senior) standing and to have a GPA of at least 3.00. Faculty assistants are academic staff appointments and are covered by recruitment and posting requirements described in the section on Academic Staff. Standard rates for faculty assistants are determined by the College for each academic year; undergraduate assistant appointments are paid at the same rates as inexperienced teaching assistant appointments. Questions about faculty assistant appointments may be directed to Nancy Westphal-Johnson (3-2506) or James Hovland (3-7221). Questions about undergraduate assistants should be directed to Brian Bubenzer.

REGISTRATION AND RELATED REQUIREMENTS: 

The minimum number of credits for which a teaching assistant must register is determined by each department's Criteria for Satisfactory Progress as a Graduate Student. (See information in preceding section "Student Employment:  Student Hourly & Graduate Assistant Appointments" for more information.) Teaching assistant appointments at a level of at least one-third time typically convey eligibility for health insurance coverage and nonresident tuition remission. (For more information about remission of tuition and/or fees, please consult the Bursar's "Tuition Remission Policy" at http://didit.bussvc.wisc.edu/bursar/remis1.html).  While special permission for offering teaching assistant appointments to graduate students who are beyond the sixth year of graduate work is no longer required (see the section on Graduate Assistant Appointments for Students Beyond the Sixth Year of Graduate Work in section III.9), departments are urged to develop such policies in order to assure that students' timely progress to degree is not impeded by departmental staffing needs. 

Continuing graduate students appointed as teaching assistants in the Summer Sessions need not register during the Summer Session (except as registration is required of any student using University facilities or consulting regularly with her/his advisor) although they must either have been graduate students during the preceding semester or have been admitted for the fall semester.  New international graduate students admitted in the Summer Session and appointed as teaching assistants are required to register.

TAs as Tutors

TAs may also be engaged as private tutors either independently or with one or more academic enrichment or tutoring programs across campus. Because TAs engaged in these activities face a conflict of interest, it is College policy that it is inappropriate for a TA to work as a private tutor with any student who is enrolled in a course to which that TA is assigned, whether or not the student is enrolled in that TA's section.

SELECTION, TRAINING, AND EVALUATION OF TEACHING ASSISTANTS:

In late 1991, the UW System adopted policy 91-13, on the "Selection, Training, and Evaluation of Teaching Assistants. " Campus and College policy in this area, some of which is a response to the System policy, is detailed here. The complete Policy on Selection, Training, and Evaluation of Teaching Assistants can be found at the bottom of this page. Departments are expected to keep up-to-date information on their own policies and procedures in this area on file in the Dean's Office.

Selection

Departments employing teaching assistants are expected to establish appointment criteria for such positions. This is a requirement both of College, campus, and UW System policy and of the collective bargaining agreement. At the time this contract clause took effect, all departments were asked to send a copy of their criteria to the College to be forwarded to the campus. Changes to these criteria must be reported to the Academic Personnel Office (Michael Rothstein) as part of the collective bargaining agreement with the Teaching Assistants' Association; copies of the criteria should also be sent to Brian Bubenzer, who should be contacted if you have questions in this area.

Non-Native English Speakers

UW System policy also requires that non-native English speakers demonstrate proficiency in spoken English before they are assigned classroom duties as teaching assistants. Each department is required to have procedures in place for ensuring that teaching assistants have demonstrated such proficiency. Departments may elect to have potential teaching assistants complete the SPEAK test and/or may establish other mechanisms (extensive interviews, panels, delivery of a lecture, etc.) for assessing such proficiency. The offer of a guarantee of long-term support (see section on that topic) to a non-native English speaking student should be made contingent on demonstration of the requisite level of spoken English proficiency.  

IF YOUR DEPARTMENT DOES NOT USE THE SPEAK TEST SCORING GUIDELINES TO DETERMINE ELIGIBILITY FOR TEACHING ASSISTANT ASSIGNMENTS, YOU WILL BE ASKED TO SUBMIT DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT THE ENGLISH PROFICIENCY OF EACH NON-NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKING TA. THIS IS A NEW REQUIREMENT THAT WILL BE IN EFFECT STARTING FALL, 2007. GRADUATE STUDENTS WHO ARE NOT QUALIFIED IN ENGLISH WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO SERVE AS TEACHING ASSISTANTS. (See Associate Dean Nancy Westphal Johnson's August 20, 2007 memorandum on this topic.)

The Program in English as a Second Language offers three special services for international teaching assistants. In addition to regular ESL courses, the ESL Program conducts a modular training course for potential and current international TAs which complements departmental and College ITA training efforts. This course focuses on both language improvement and teaching skills, with four videotaped presentations. The ESL Program also provides ITA Support Services for non-native English speaking TAs interested in improving their teaching performance. This service includes classroom visits by an expert observer; private and confidential analysis with strategies for improvement; and individualized follow-up. The ESL Program also administers the SPEAK Test on a regular basis. Contact the ESL Program at 263-3780 or consult the web site at http://mendota.english.wisc.edu/~ESL/ESLindex.htm for further information.

Training

The training of teaching assistants has become an increasing priority for the College in recent years:  eight hours of pedagogical training for new teaching assistants (two hours of which must be provided after the beginning of the semester) is now a contractual requirement.  Departments identify the training program components, which may take place in the departments or at college and campus levels. The L&S TA Resource Center can help departments and their TAs with any aspect of TA training; information on the Center can be found below.

L&S Teaching Assistant Training: The College sponsors workshops for teaching assistants held before the beginning of the fall and spring semesters. These workshops, which can account for up to four hours of a training program (or three hours for the Spring program), are led by teaching assistants who have been selected as "Teaching Fellows" in a college-wide competition based upon departmental nominations. In addition, many departments (or groups of departments) have well-developed training programs. System policy requires that non-native English speaking teaching assistants receive training in educational and cultural expectations for students and teaching assistants as well as training on curricular expectations for students.  Such training opportunities are provided by the College level workshops and are also a component of many departmental programs. The Program in English as a Second Language also provides assistance (see above).

Training in the areas of affirmative action and dealing with harassment is provided jointly by the Equity and Diversity Resource Center and the Academic Personnel Office; comparable training programs may also be offered at the departmental level.  Under the collective bargaining agreement, completion of this training is required for teaching assistants to progress to the "experienced" pay rate (though not for progression to the "senior TA" rate).

Evaluation

All new teaching assistants must be evaluated early in the semester for the purpose of teaching improvement. This may mean a visit by a supervising faculty or staff member, providing the opportunity for early and informal feedback; it does not require a complete course evaluation. Some form of evaluation of each teaching assistant must take place each semester. The form of evaluation need not be the same each semester, but each department must provide a mechanism for students to evaluate teaching assistants and consider these evaluations as well as faculty/staff evaluation in making appointments and assignments. For example, departments may routinely use course evaluation forms and/or provide for faculty visitation each semester or each year. 

STUDENT COMPLAINTS

UW System policy also requires that departments must establish procedures for receiving and addressing student complaints and concerns about teaching assistants and publicize this to students. It is recommended that each department or program identify one or more persons by name and office address, to whom students can take such complaints and concerns. Departmental procedures in this area must be reported to the Dean.

Teaching Assistant Resource Center :  

The College of Letters and Science Teaching Assistant Resource Center was established to provide training and support to the over 1,000 teaching assistants employed by the College. The Resource Center :

• produces training materials for use by L&S departments and individual TAs;
• maintains a library of materials devoted to teaching including books, periodicals, and videos;
• offers a variety of programs that highlight and encourage effective teaching techniques;
• keeps TAs informed of professional development opportunities on campus; and
• assists L&S departments in the development or expansion of their TA training programs.

Revised: August 10, 2007 per BB & NWJ.