Teaching assistantships are an important aspect of graduate education because they provide invaluable practice for developing teaching skills, such as clearly formulating concepts and conveying ideas engagingly, as well as mentoring skills.
The School of Psychology provides teaching assistantships (TA) for our graduate students. Common TA duties involve consultation with students, marking assignments and exams, preparing examples, or assisting with tutorial sessions. The amount of work varies somewhat from course to course, but the duties of one full TA involve an average of 10 hours per week for the term. In the Faculty of Arts, a full TA is 140 hours per term.
Continuation of TA support for Psychology graduate students beyond the first year is contingent on satisfactory performance of previous TA assignments.
TA pointers
Please consult at the very start of the term with the instructor of the course to which you assigned as a TA. The following questions may provide a framework for your discussion with the course instructor:
- What is structure of the course – lectures, labs, tutorials?
- What is grading structure and timetable?
- Are there reference materials – such as a textbook, course notes, etc. – that I should have for course?
- What office hours should I provide each week?
- What are the assignment submission dates? How will marking be distributed to TAs?
- What is the turn-around time for returning marked papers and how is this done?
- How are marks recorded?
- Are extensions allowed? How are they approved and recorded?
- Will the instructor provide marking keys or schemes?
- How much feedback should be provided on tests and assignments? What form should it take?
Important notes
-
You and the course instructor will meet to discuss and complete the Assignment of Duties (AoD) form, which outlines your TA responsibilities and must comply with the Collective Agreement.
-
A TA appointment is an employment contract with both the School of Psychology and the University of Waterloo. To hold this position, you must remain enrolled as a full-time graduate student for the entire duration of the contract. If you expect to complete your degree before the contract ends, you will not be eligible to serve as a TA.
-
You are also required to remain available to fulfill all TA duties until the end of your contract. These duties may include grading final assignments and participating in final exam proctoring. The School of Psychology assigns proctoring duties, and you may be asked to supervise an exam for a course other than the one to which you are assigned as a TA.
-
Because most TAs are scheduled for exam proctoring during the examination period, you should not make plans to leave campus before the end of that period.
- If you require further advice regarding any TA issue or have an unresolved problem, please contact the Psychology Program Manager for confidential consultation.