College TA's

[dismom2]

Just curious--

My niece, who goes to a state university, told me that in most of her classes the TA's do all the grading. She knows this for a fact, as she has spoken to the TA's about it, and has heard the professors ask the TA's if they "have finished grading the papers". The TA's get paid to do the grading.

I'm just curious-- shouldn't a professor grade his students' papers? One of her TA's is a very young foreign exchange student that doesn't speak English well, and does not understand the language and words fully. I would feel more comfortable knowing that the actual professor was doing the grading. After-all, isn't that part of his or her job? I'm just confused. How does this work, exactly?
How do others feel about this?

 

[dngnb8]

Just curious--

My niece, who goes to a state university, told me that in most of her classes the TA's do all the grading. She knows this for a fact, as she has spoken to the TA's about it, and has heard the professors ask the TA's if they "have finished grading the papers". The TA's get paid to do the grading.

I'm just curious-- shouldn't a professor grade his students' papers? One of her TA's is a very young foreign exchange student that doesn't speak English well, and does not understand the language and words fully. I would feel more comfortable knowing that the actual professor was doing the grading. After-all, isn't that part of his or her job? I'm just confused. How does this work, exactly?
How do others feel about this?

depends on what is being graded. Some grades have a fixed response. Those TA's can grade. If the assignment requires a more "perception" decision, then the teacher should grade it.

 

[kamik86]

I am in grad school now and the TA's do most of the grading. This can be annoying somestimes espeically since they split tests and each do 1 or 2 questions so if you have multiple questions on your grade you may need to see 2 or 3 people to get them all answered. Since I'm a DEN student this isn't so bad but for on campus students that must be a pain.

When I was an undergrad the teachers did most of the grading but did sometimes have graders for homework, espeically for math classes. I was a grader for a few classes.

In both cases though if you and your teacher disagreed on something that was graded you can go to the instructor to have them look at it. The downside of this is to discorage students from doing this all the time most professors will regrade the entire assignement or test and have been known to decide the TA was too generous and take off points, so this was only to be done when you really thought the TA messed up.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

I hate to say it, but that's just SOP at most universities. There's not a lot you can do about it, except go to a small private school that doesn't use TA's.

 

[Hannathy]

This is nothing new. TA's were doing the grading when I was in school in the 80s. Now a lot of the grading is done by computer also.

I actually think talking to my DD who is in school now the the Profs are more hands on now that the were 30 years ago.

 

[asta]

Mother of a TA here. I think that grading by TA's is standard at most schools. They have a grading day in her department where all of the TA's in her area gather in one place and grade. She has mentioned that only one of the professors ever shows up to help grade. I don't see anything wrong with it. It makes better use of the professors time. If you have any problems with the way something is graded, you can then schedule a time to discuss it with the professor. And besides, my daughter is a fantastic TA. She is young and very understanding with her students. She is willing and has the time to go that extra step when asked. A small group of her students who share a ethnicity that is not proficient in English arranged to have her set up special office hours so that could get extra help. I'm not sure you would get a professor to agree to that.

 

[bdcp]

I attended college in the late 70's into early 80's and that was absolutely common, especially in classes that had large lectures with smaller labs/discussions classes taught by TA's. The professor did the lecturing and syllabus as well as wrote the tests, but that was it. I had some lectures that had 500 students and multiple sections that met separately and even those numbered in the 40's sometimes. No one professor could ever keep up with all the grading. A lot had a thousand a semester at least. Unless you go to a small or private school or one with no gradate program, TA's do a lot since it's part of their graduate work also.

 

[castleview]

That was standard at my school. Though I wouldn't have minded them grading since they were the ones I dealt with regarding questions, labs, etc. Honestly, in some classes it was like the professor would make a speaking appearance but the TAs did the actual teaching. I was pretty fortunate that most of mine were good. The engineering students on the hand were having a heck of a time since most of the TAs were foreign, didn't have the best command of English, and in some cases had an elitist or sexist attitude.

 

[dismom2]

I'm just wondering if they are all as qualified as the professor. Can anybody be a TA? My niece told me that one dingbat in one of her classes told her that she was going to be the TA for a certain professor next semester, and she doesn't trust this girl to grade anything because she has witnessed how this girl works in the class they are in together now. She said the girl is unreliable, does poor work, is not serious. That would make me nervous knowing she was doing the grading. I'm sure a lot of TA's are wonderful, but are they all qualified? Why don't professors do the grading? I am a college grad, but I kept to myself and really just assumed that the professors were doing the grading. I had no idea. How does one know if the professor likes their work, or if it it is up to the professors standards? Do they even look at their students' work?

 

[castleview]

I'm just wondering if they are all as qualified as the professor. Can anybody be a TA? My niece told me that one dingbat in one of her classes told her that she was going to be the TA for a certain professor next semester, and she doesn't trust this girl to grade anything because she has witnessed how this girl works in the class they are in together now. She said the girl is unreliable, does poor work, is not serious. That would make me nervous knowing she was doing the grading. I'm sure a lot of TA's are wonderful, but are they all qualified? Why don't professors do the grading? I am a college grad, but I kept to myself and really just assumed that the professors were doing the grading. I had no idea. How does one know if the professor likes their work, or if it it is up to the professors standards? Do they even look at their students' work?

In my experience, they were normally grad students. I can't remember if evaluations applied to TAs, though.

 

[dismom2]

That was standard at my school. Though I wouldn't have minded them grading since they were the ones I dealt with regarding questions, labs, etc. Honestly, in some classes it was like the professor would make a speaking appearance but the TAs did the actual teaching. I was pretty fortunate that most of mine were good. The engineering students on the hand were having a heck of a time since most of the TAs were foreign, didn't have the best command of English, and in some cases had an elitist or sexist attitude.

That is a concern.

Also, when you choose a professor, one might assume that he or she is doing the teaching and/or grading.

It's been a while since I graduated, but from what I was hearing, the professors (or TA's??) are sending out an outline, ahead of time, of what will be discussed in class, then the professor just reads the same thing--sometimes word for word-- in class (seems useless). He or she is not doing the grading, so what is a professor's responsibility exactly? If questions must be directed to the TA, what is the professor there for?

 

[Kitzka]

My FIL was a chemistyr professor at a small college for about 30 years. he always had grad students do the grading, writing of the syllibi, writing of the tests, that kind of thing. he taught the lectures, looked over the grading on the major papers, did the grading for the small 2 or 3 person classes, worked with the TA as he was their 'advisor or mentor', did research on his current works, etc.

i think of it like a VP at a company and their asst or staff. the VP is the mouth piece, bringing in the clients (students, money from donors), and over seeing things. those under him/her are doing the actual work.

Lara

 

[bdcp]

TA's were always grad students in the subject when I was in school. That was my son's experience too a few years ago.

 

[daughter_of_amid_chaos]

This is one of the reasons I chose to only go to small, private colleges. The percentage of classes taught by TAs had a huge impact on where I chose to apply.

For my undergrad, my masters, and now my PhD, I have never been taught by a TA. If I am paying that much money, I want to be taught by the professor.

 

[Disney Daniel]

I was a TA during both my bachelors degree and masters degree (and I graduated in 2010 so this is pretty recent). In many cases, especially in courses that are mandatory for the degree it is simply not practical for the professor to correct all of the tests and assignments. One of the courses I worked with involved about 500 students and six TA's so if one person tried to correct 500 essays they would do nothing else with their time. Having TA's also ensures that the students get their work back to them faster.

Given that many universities make professor based research a major priority (as research funding can take in millions for the school), the school would much rather see an upper level undergrad or graduate student correcting assignments and the professor devoting their time to research when they are not teaching.

In some cases TA's only grade papers/tests, in some cases TA's may teach lab sessions or in some cases the TA may split the course with the professor (for instance, in a three hour per week lecture, the professor may teach for 1.5 hours and the TA may teach for 1.5 hours, although normally if this is the case, the TA would be in graduate school).

In the event a student was not happy with the grade I assigned, they always had the option of bringing it to me for discussion during my office hours (I also always made comments on the papers so they knew where they went wrong) and if they still were not pleased they could bring it to the professor themselves for further review. However, I will note that if a student decides to do this, ensure they are very prepared and know what sections of the paper they want addressed specifically when seeing the professor as some students will just say "I don't feel I deserved a C on this paper" and they have no justification for it.

As far as qualifications, more often than not TA's are graduate students who are going for their masters or PhD or are upper level undergraduate students who may have done exceptionally well in that professor's class. Before I TA'ed for any professor I was always interviewed by them and they were aware of my academic background and my knowledge of the subject matter.

As said, teaching assistants are very common both at large schools and smaller ones, and it is something that is very difficult to get around. However, as I said, TA's seldom are the final authority and if the student is unhappy they can generally either see the TA for further review or the professor themselves.

Hope this was of some help.

 

[gillep]

I was a TA during both my bachelors degree and masters degree (and I graduated in 2010 so this is pretty recent). In many cases, especially in courses that are mandatory for the degree it is simply not practical for the professor to correct all of the tests and assignments. One of the courses I worked with involved about 500 students and six TA's so if one person tried to correct 500 essays they would do nothing else with their time. Having TA's also ensures that the students get their work back to them faster.

Given that many universities make professor based research a major priority (as research funding can take in millions for the school), the school would much rather see an upper level undergrad or graduate student correcting assignments and the professor devoting their time to research when they are not teaching.

In some cases TA's only grade papers/tests, in some cases TA's may teach lab sessions or in some cases the TA may split the course with the professor (for instance, in a three hour per week lecture, the professor may teach for 1.5 hours and the TA may teach for 1.5 hours, although normally if this is the case, the TA would be in graduate school).

In the event a student was not happy with the grade I assigned, they always had the option of bringing it to me for discussion during my office hours (I also always made comments on the papers so they knew where they went wrong) and if they still were not pleased they could bring it to the professor themselves for further review. However, I will note that if a student decides to do this, ensure they are very prepared and know what sections of the paper they want addressed specifically when seeing the professor as some students will just say "I don't feel I deserved a C on this paper" and they have no justification for it.

As far as qualifications, more often than not TA's are graduate students who are going for their masters or PhD or are upper level undergraduate students who may have done exceptionally well in that professor's class. Before I TA'ed for any professor I was always interviewed by them and they were aware of my academic background and my knowledge of the subject matter.

As said, teaching assistants are very common both at large schools and smaller ones, and it is something that is very difficult to get around. However, as I said, TA's seldom are the final authority and if the student is unhappy they can generally either see the TA for further review or the professor themselves.

Hope this was of some help.

This exactly except I graduated in 2009. I was a TA for Microbiology class/lab. I was a researcher in the lab of the professor who taught the class so she knew me well and I had taken the class earlier so I obviously knew the material. I would sit in on her lectures and then I taught the lab component and graded all tests and quizzes. I would try to also go over information from the lectures in the lab, if we had time, if I felt like the professor wasn't clear when she taught it. I liked having the TAs to go to especially when I was in undergrad. They always had office hours and review sessions, and our TAs were required to attend lectures so they were really accessible. They would know ahead of time if it seemed like students were having a hard time with a concept in the class, so they would make sure that they were comfortable with a lot of people coming to them about something. I went to an engineering school and took a lot of physics, math, chem etc. so sometimes the TAs would be a little difficult to understand in the beginning but after a couple weeks you got used to it.

 

[englishteacha]

I went to a small public college and never had a TA teach or grade in my classes. UMaine-Farmington didn't offer any grad classes at the time, and the few TA positions on campus were upperclassmen helping freshmen. I was a TA for a freshman composition class when I was a junior (it was a requirement for my teaching of writing course, so I wasn't paid). I went to a class and introduced myself, gave the students my contact info, and met with any student who asked for help. I didn't do any grading. The only time I had a TA in any of my classes was for a theater class on stage makeup. Our professor was ill and they had a recent theater program graduate come in and help. Upperclassmen also had workstudy jobs in the learning assistance center, and the math and writing clinics, so if you needed help academically you could see someone there. It was more like a tutor than like a TA.

I'm in grad school now, at a small private college (doing a hybrid program-some online, some on campus) and have not had a TA at all there. Part of why I chose both schools was because I would be working with the actual professors and not TAs.

 

[collegejunkie]

at my school, the graduate TAs usually grade exams and big papers. undergrad TAs hold discussion sections or grade homework problem sets. the things that are worth a larger percentage of our grade are graded by the grad students.

 

[beatlesblonde]

Just curious--

My niece, who goes to a state university, told me that in most of her classes the TA's do all the grading. She knows this for a fact, as she has spoken to the TA's about it, and has heard the professors ask the TA's if they "have finished grading the papers". The TA's get paid to do the grading.

I'm just curious-- shouldn't a professor grade his students' papers? One of her TA's is a very young foreign exchange student that doesn't speak English well, and does not understand the language and words fully. I would feel more comfortable knowing that the actual professor was doing the grading. After-all, isn't that part of his or her job? I'm just confused. How does this work, exactly?
How do others feel about this?

I'm just wondering if they are all as qualified as the professor. Can anybody be a TA? My niece told me that one dingbat in one of her classes told her that she was going to be the TA for a certain professor next semester, and she doesn't trust this girl to grade anything because she has witnessed how this girl works in the class they are in together now. She said the girl is unreliable, does poor work, is not serious. That would make me nervous knowing she was doing the grading. I'm sure a lot of TA's are wonderful, but are they all qualified? Why don't professors do the grading? I am a college grad, but I kept to myself and really just assumed that the professors were doing the grading. I had no idea. How does one know if the professor likes their work, or if it it is up to the professors standards? Do they even look at their students' work?

I can only speak for my own university, but all of the TAs are higher level students (ie graduate students working in an undergraduate class) and are usually former students of the classes and/or program they are working in. I'm currently a graduate student and am a TA in two classes this semester (I did two last semester as well). One of the classes has 40 students and the other has 80, so to expect the professor to have time to grade assignments every week or so on top of their other responsibilities is why they have me. When I grade I am given a strict list of what the professor is looking for with the assignment so that I know how to grade or I work with the professor and we grade at the same time. If they have any concerns with my grading they are welcome to double check my work and they always have the last say on the grades, I don't put them into the gradebook, the professor always does.

Hope that helps!

 

[MoonFaerie]

depends on what is being graded. Some grades have a fixed response. Those TA's can grade. If the assignment requires a more "perception" decision, then the teacher should grade it.

That.

In my bio classes, for lecture anyway, on the exams the TAs grade the multiple choice & short answer. The prof grades the essay questions. There are about 200 students in the class, so it would be really hard for 1 person to grade all of it & get the tests back in a timely manner. In lab, the quizzes & assignments are all created & graded by the TA teaching the lab.

In physics, all the assignments including tests are done on the computer, so there's no grading to be done. Again the TAs in lab create the quizzes & homework assignments & grade themselves.