Teaching assistant
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
A teaching assistant (TA) is a junior scholar employed on a temporary contract by a college or university for the purpose of assisting a professor by teaching students in recitation or discussion sessions, holding office hours, grading homework or exams, supervising labs (in science and engineering courses), and other duties.
Depending on the institution or department, a TA can be either a graduate or undergraduate student. Typically undergraduate TAs have taken the course they are TAing for, often with the same professor, and performed well in it. This case is rarer for graduate students since many would have been undergraduates at other institutions. Unlike professors, TAs generally do not have a fixed salary but are either paid by the hour, earn credit hours, or volunteer their time.
The term Visiting Lecturer is also applied in the UK.
See also
External links
- Teaching Assistant Resources (http://www.utdallas.edu/dept/ta/tahandbook2002.htm)
- International Teaching Assistant Handbook (http://www.oic.id.ucsb.edu/TA/ITA/title.html)
- TA Program at Syracuse University (http://gradschpdprograms.syr.edu/programs/tap.php)
- Reading list on 'Training and Working With TAs' (http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/resources/res_trainTAs.html)
