Teaching assistantships are an important aspect of university 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 department may offer one full teaching assistantship (TA) per student who is successfully accepted from the applicant pool. For students who are not selected for an assistantship, they may re-apply the following term for consideration.
Students in their third year will normally be considered for first year undergraduate courses, and fourth year students will normally be considered for second year undergraduate courses. Graduate students will normally be considered for third or fourth year undergraduate courses. Applicants may indicate a preference for the course they would like to TA, however the candidate is considered for all courses requiring a TA, and there is no guarantee that preferences indicated will be assigned.
TA duties involve consultation with students, marking assignments and exams, preparing examples, supervising classes, assisting with in-class activities, or assisting with tutorial sessions, as well as other course requirements depending on the nature of the class. 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 Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business, a full TA is 120 hours per term.
Continuation of TA support is contingent on satisfactory performance of previous TA assignments and acceptable references from the assigned instructor regarding work completed.
Important notes for applicants to review:
- Use the Teaching Assistant Handbook as your reference guide. It contains well-researched ideas, advice, and guidance regarding University of Waterloo policies and legal obligations. Become familiar with the relevant ethics, human rights, and discipline policies.
- Your TA assignment is an employment contract with the School and the University of Waterloo. It is your responsibility to read and know the information contained in the TA Handbook.
- Your TA contract requires that you are available to assist with TA responsibilities until the end of the term examination period. You are expected to participate in final exam proctoring assignments provided by the School, and your course instructor will likely require grading of final papers. Do not plan to leave campus before the end of the examination period.
- Students applying for TA positions must be available at the start of the term through to the end of the exam period. Please do not apply if you will be arriving to campus late.
- Final exam proctoring is a serious responsibility with legal implications that are outlined in Academic Regulations Related to Assignments, Tests, and Final Exams
- If you require further questions regarding any TA issue, please contact the TA Coordinator for the Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business for additional consultation.
*Successful applicants must be eligible to work in Canada, and are required to have proof of vaccination as per https://uwaterloo.ca/coronavirus/return/vaccination-requirement
Questions about TA applications? Contact Lennart Nacke
To complete the application you must login.
Trouble logging in?
Try clearing your browser cache, and reloading this page. If you still are experiencing challenges logging in contact Greg McIntyre.