Teaching Assistant (TA)
The term “TA” refers to Teaching Assistants or Assistant Instructors serving as assistants rather than as instructors of record.  “1-TA” means one TA appointed to work 20 hours per week, including preparation time.  The responsibilities for TAs vary, depending upon the course.  TA duties for the different kinds of classes are described under “Course Organization” below.  The duties listed represent the typical ones for the courses specified, although these may undergo slight modification by agreement between the TA and the instructor – so long as approximately the same number of hours are worked.  There is one caveat in this regard: TAs should not be expected to grade, on average over the course of a semester, more than half of the problems on tests and final exams.  Moreover, in order to maintain quality control over the grading, it is incumbent on the instructor to supply a TA with a solution key for test problems being graded, a key that furnishes directions for the assignments of partial credit whenever such is to be given.  TAs are expected to be present for the full semester's work, from first class day until final grades are turned in.  Questions regarding TA duties should be addressed to the Graduate Advisor or Nancy Lamm.

Paper Grader
Students, mostly undergraduate students (but including some graduate students who did not get a Teaching Assistant job), are hired to assist with the grading of homework papers – THEY SHOULD NOT BE GRADING EXAMS OR FINAL EXAMS; however, if a faculty member gives homework quizzes in lieu of homework, the grader is allowed to grade these quizzes.   Graders are not expected to prepare solution sheets for posting or distribution.  Graders may add and average homework totals only; they are not to assign final homework grades.  In the “Course Organization” below, the description “Paper Grader for s students at n students/hour” means that paper graders will be hired to provide about s/n hours of grading each week.  Please note that often the total number of hours of paper grading provided is insufficient to allow all assigned homework problems to be graded; instructors must take care to guarantee that graders work the proper number of hours.  Questions regarding grader duties should be addressed to Ben Garcia.

Distribution of Duties
In many courses, the grading of homework is divided among two or more people – sometimes evenly, sometimes unevenly.  In these cases, it is good procedure to have a given homework problem graded by the same person for all students.  This can be accomplished by having all papers in any particular assignment graded by one person (i.e., Tuesday’s papers  = Dick, Thursday’s papers = Jane).  A more complicated approach is to require the students in your class to divide each assignment into separate pieces, each piece going to a different grader.  It is the instructor’s responsibility to arrange an equitable distribution of the workload.

Instructors are urged always to bear in mind that TAs and graders are students, with their own responsibilities as such.  Be realistic about what you expect them to accomplish in their allotted work time.

Course Organization

The following outline shows the normal use of TAs and paper graders for various courses.  Here a large section has approximately 120 students, a medium section has around 80 students, and a normal section has 40 or fewer students.

ACF 329
1 TA responsible for the following weekly duties for 2 sections of the course:
    2 - office hours per section
    Homework grading
    Helping to grade exams, including the final exam
    Proctoring exams, including the final exam

M302, M303D, M316 – Large Sections
1 TA responsible for the following weekly duties for 2 sections of each course:
    3 – 1 hour class attendings (alternate sections and keep in touch with instructors)
    4 – office hours per section
    Supervise homework grading
    Helping to grade exams, including the final exam
    Proctoring exams, including the final exam
Paper Grader for 8 hours per week

M305G, M316K/L – Normal/Medium sections
No TA
Paper Grader for all students at 5 students per hour.

M408C/D* - Large Sections
1 TA responsible for the following weekly duties:
    6 – 1 hour discussion section leadings
    3 – 1 hour class attendings
    3 – office hours
    Supervise homework grading
    Helping to grade exams, including the final exam
    Proctoring exams, including the final exam
Paper Grader for 8 hours per week
(Special sections of M408C/D with less that 50 students do not have paper grader.  AP classes will have a grader.)

M408K - Large Sections
1 TA responsible for the following weekly duties:
    6 – 1 hour discussion section leadings
    3 – 1 hour class attendings
    3 – office hours
Present two-hour review session for each exam.
Proctoring exams, including the final exam
No Paper Grader – Online Grading

M408L - Large Sections
1 TA responsible for the following weekly duties:
    6 – 1 hour discussion section leadings
    3 – 1 hour class attendings
    3 – office hours
Present two-hour review session for each exam.
Proctoring exams, including the final exam
No Paper Grader – Online Grading

M408M* - Large Sections
1 TA responsible for the following weekly duties:
    6 – 1 hour discussion section leadings
    3 – 1 hour class attendings
    3 – office hours
    Supervise homework grading
    Helping to grade exams, including the final exam
    Proctoring exams, including the final exam
Paper Grader for 8 hours per week

M325K – Normal Sections
No TA
Paper Grader for 8 hours per week

M333L – Normal Sections
No TA
Paper Grader for all students at 3 students per hour

M427K/L* - Large Sections
1 TA responsible for the following weekly duties:
    2 – 1 hour discussion section leadings
    3 – 1 hour class attendings
    5 – office hours
Supervise homework grading
    Helping to grade exams, including the final exam
    Proctoring exams, including the final exam
Paper Grader for 8 hours per week

* SPECIAL SECTIONS OF M408M and M427K/L with fewer than 50 students will not be assigned a grader.  The TA will be responsible for all grading in these sections.  SPECIAL AP classes will be assigned a grader.

M339U/M389U
No TA
Paper Grader for 8 hours per week per section

M340L – Large Sections
1 TA responsible for the following weekly duties for 2 sections of each course:
    3 – 1 hour class attendings (alternate sections and keep in touch with instructors)
    4 – office hours per section
    Supervise homework grading
    Helping to grade exams, including the final exam
    Proctoring exams, including the final exam
Paper Grader for 10 hours per week

M328K, M341, M343K/L, M346, M348, M358K, M360M, M361, M361K, M362K/L/M, M364 K/L, M365C/D, M367K/L, M368K, M372, M372K, M373K/L, M374, M374G, M374K, M375 Special Sections, M384C, M384G
TA Grader up to 10 hours per week based on enrollment to grade homework and assist with   grading tests (but not the Final Exam). 

M310T special sections, M375T special sections
Please check with the faculty member for duties.

M378K, M380C/D, M381C/D, M382C/D, M383C/D/G, M384C, M385C, M398T
TA Grader up to 20 hours per week based on enrollment. 

Other Courses
In general, TAs and graders will not be assigned for courses other than those listed above.  Graders for honors and writing sections of courses will be assigned upon request if qualified graders are available.  Please contact Ben Garcia for more information.

Graduate Courses
Graduate prelim courses will be assigned a TA/AI to grade for approximately 20 hours per week.  Graders for other graduate courses will be assigned only if the enrollment is high and the departmental budget allows for it.

A Teaching Assistant is not released from duty for the semester until all work is completed, including the submission of grades by the Instructor.  Do not leave Austin until your work is completed.

Teaching Assistant/Grader Policy
Department of Mathematics
Summer 2008

IMPORTANT NOTE:  The following policy applies to TA assignments in the summer only.  Please pay particular attention to summer responsibilities, as there are significant differences between these and TA duties in the Fall and Spring semesters.

TA   The term “TA” is used to refer to Teaching Assistants and Assistant Instructors serving as Teaching Assistants rather than as Instructors of Record.  “1 TA” means one TA appointed and paid to work 20 hours per week during the whole session, 30 hours a week during the nine-week session, or 40 hours per week during the six-week sessions.  The responsibilities of the TA, described under “Course Organization” below, are the standard ones for most sections of that course.  These may be modified by agreement between the TA and the course instructor, so long as approximately the specified number of hours are worked.  Questions regarding TA duties should be addressed to Lorenzo Sadun or Nancy Lamm.

Course Organization   Outlined below are the normal responsibilities and duties of TAs in various courses.  A large section has approximately 80-120 students and a normal section has 40 or fewer students.

Mf302, Mf316, Mf340L/Ms340L

1 TA, hired for 40 hours per week and responsible for the following weekly duties:
5    class attendings
       5         office hours
Grading homework for all students
Helping to proctor and grade tests, including the final exam

Mw302
 
1 TA, hired for 20 hours per week, and responsible for the following weekly duties:
4    class attendings
5         office hours
Grading homework for all students
Helping to proctor and grade tests, including the final exam

Mf316K, Ms316L, Ms305G  (specific sections)

½ TA, hired for 20 hours per week to serve as a homework grader.
No office hours required.

Mf305G, Ms305G

½ TA, hired for 20 hours per week to serve as homework grader.
No office hours required.

Mw305G (normal sections of 40)  (specific sections)

½ TA, hired for 10 hours per week to serve as a homework grader.
No office hours required. 

Mw408C, Mw408D, Mw408K, Mw408L, Mw427K, Mw427L

1 TA per unique number, hired for 20 hours per week, each responsible for the following weekly duties:
2    discussion class leadings
4       class attendings  (can be shared by all TAs assigned to the same lecture section)
5      Office hours
Grading homework for all students
Helping to proctor and grade tests, including the final exam

M408M

1 TA per unique number, hired for 20 hours per week, each responsible for the following weekly duties:

2    discussion class leadings
4    class attendings (can be shared by all TAs assigned to the same lecture section)
2    office hours
Grading homework for all students
Helping to proctor and grade tests, including the final exam

Mf325K, Ms325K, Mf328K, Ms328K, Mf333L, Mf341, Mf343K, Ms343K, Mf358K, Mf361K, Mf362K, Ms362K, Mf365C, Mf373K, Mf374/f393C, Mf378K, Ms378K – Normal Sections

½ TA for 20 hours per week.  Homework grading only, no office hours required.

Mf396C, Ms396C

Please check with the instructor for specific duties.

Other Courses
As a general rule, TAs/Graders will not be assigned, even upon demand, to courses other than those indicated.

Grading Responsibility

A Teaching Assistant must maintain a complete record of grades as required by the Instructor.

Completion of Duties

A Teaching Assistant is not released from duty for the semester until all work is completed, including the submission of grades by the Instructor.  Do not leave Austin until your work is completed to the satisfaction of the Instructor.