Waitlist / enrollment

CSE 599 (and some other classes in the CSE department) require authorization to enroll. If you joined the waitlist for the class before the authorization was given, try dropping from the waitlist in webreg and then re-adding the class.

Reach out to the instructor you'll be working with

[[Here's a sample email you could use]]

Hello Professor _____ ,

I’m _____, and I’m looking forward to TAing CSE NNN this quarter. I wanted to say hello, and ask about any coordination or tasks that I can help with before the quarter starts. In particular, I had some questions about the following:

Who are the other teaching staff in this course? It would be great to get familiar with my teammates and coordinate communications with them.
Do you have resources from past teaching staff members for this class (e.g. rubrics, grading spreadsheets, sample projects) that I and other teaching staff this quarter can use as reference materials?
It would be helpful to see the syllabus for this class, when it’s ready, so that I can prepare to implement the policies you plan to have. In particular, have you decided on a GenAI policy and how you'd like it to be communicated to students? I’d also be happy to do some research on how other instructors are handling GenAI policy–let me know if that would be helpful. I’m taking CSE 599 this quarter, and this will be one of the topics discussed.

I’d be happy to talk about these either via email or find a time to meet–let me know what would work best for you.

Thank you,

Get in a TA mindset

Next time you’re walking to the CSE building, think back to courses that worked well for you.

Is there a specific action or habit you can adopt that your students will find helpful? How might what your students want be different from what you wanted?

Set yourself up for success by not reinventing the wheel.

Are course materials or a syllabus already posted? Do you know who else will be working with you on this course?

Helpful questions to answer with your team before the course starts

Your instructor might have already set up the syllabus and course website, or maybe will ask for your help. Here are some things to consider.

How well-attended are office hours usually? Would encouraging one-on-one appointment slots for students to sign up for with teaching staff be helpful?
How involved are teaching staff members in deciding grading policies (e.g. rubrics)?
How are regrade requests handled for assignments and exams? What is the role of teaching staff in these requests? How are accommodations for students with disabilities handled? Is this course registered through the Triton Testing Center, or are there other protocols?
Is academic integrity violation a common issue in your course, and what is the usual role of teaching staff in handling it?
How should I respond if a student shows me work that appears to violate the academic integrity policy?
For each assignment in this class, what is an ideal set of resources that a student could effectively access to complete the work, and what resources would you like them not to use? Does this vary by assignment?
Are there any changes in skills or knowledge you think that students should gain from this class now that GenAI has become more widespread? If so, what are these changes?
If students ask for supplemental practice problems, are there additional resources you usually recommend? Many students use GenAI to generate practice problems or study materials–do you think this is a good fit for your course, and should teaching staff encourage/discourage this as a learning strategy?

As you gain experience as a TA and with this course, here are some more things to consider and discuss with the rest of your course's teaching team

Approach and goals for student learning, including collaboration

What are the main skills and knowledge that you want students to take away from this course?
How/how much do you expect students to collaborate on assignments in your class?
For each assignment in this class, what is an ideal set of resources that a student could effectively access to complete the work, and what resources would you like them not to use? Does this vary by assignment?
Are there any changes in skills or knowledge you think that students should gain from this class now that GenAI has become more widespread? If so, what are these changes?

Course-specific student learning

What are usually the hardest parts of this course for students? What types of explanations or resources do they usually find most helpful for mastering this content?
In what ways are teaching staff usually the most helpful for these difficult parts of the course?
What strategies have successful students used to master this difficult content? Can we share these strategies with our students at the beginning of the course, and again as these difficult concepts come up? Would it be helpful to encourage students to share their own strategies with each other?
What are skills or behaviors that you think are important for students to be practicing or employing throughout this course? What can teaching staff do to encourage these behaviors?
Are there particular behaviors you notice in students that are warning signs for their success in their course? For example, if a student mentions re-watching lecture videos as their primary study strategy rather than working on practice problems, are there recommendations we should make to them?
If students ask for supplemental practice problems, are there additional resources you usually recommend? Many students use GenAI to generate practice problems or study materials–do you think this is a good fit for your course, and should teaching staff encourage/discourage this as a learning strategy?

Grading and assessment

How involved are teaching staff members in deciding grading policies (e.g. rubrics)?
What are effective strategies for ensuring consistent, high-quality, and timely feedback for students?
How are regrade requests handled for assignments and exams? What is the role of teaching staff in these requests?
Do you allow for make-up work or resubmitting if a student misses or fails an assignment? What is the role of teaching staff in these cases?

Teaching staff preparedness

Do teaching staff members have access to all course materials that students will be referencing (e.g. textbooks, any required software)?
How are responsibilities between staff members redistributed if an unexpected situation arises and a staff member is unable to complete their tasks for a particular period of time?

Student interpersonal interactions, including groupwork and collaboration

Are there any parts of the course that you think are important for students to work on independently without collaborating with each other, and why?
How are groupwork/teammate conflicts generally handled, and what is the role of teaching staff in these conflicts? Are there certain conflicts that it is better for the instructor to handle versus having other members of the teaching staff handle?
How are bullying, harassment and discrimination issues that take place during the course handled, and what is the role of teaching staff if they see any of these occur?

Academic integrity and GenAI for students and teaching staff

Are there any parts of the course that we think are important for students to work on independently without accessing online resources such as StackOverflow, Chegg, or GenAI tools, and why?
Is academic integrity violation a common issue in this course, and what is the usual role of teaching staff in handling it?
How should I respond if a student shows me work that appears to violate the academic integrity policy?
How can I encourage students to be honest about the use of online resources such as StackOverflow, Chegg, GenAI tools, or collaborating with other students while adhering to our course’s policy? Are course policies (inadvertently) creating an environment where students are afraid to admit when they have used online resources.

If they mention that they have used an online resource including GenAI in a way that violates our course policy, is there leeway in how the team handles this (e.g. encouraging and showing the student how to work on course content in ways that follow our academic integrity expectations)?

Are teaching staff members permitted to use GenAI for creating course content? If so, are they permitted to upload course materials (e.g. slides, lecture notes) as references to generate material such as homework questions? What best practices does the course team want to agree on?

Providing students with non-course support

How should teaching staff respond to students voicing struggles with mental health issues?
How should teaching staff respond to students voicing struggles with basic needs?