Teaching, even for a single semester, is a valuable experience for graduate and undergraduate students. Departments often require graduate students to teach one semester, including responsibilities that range from grading a few exams to overseeing a course. Sometimes these same teaching opportunities are offered to undergraduate students. Assistant teaching as a student, whether at the graduate or undergraduate level, is a great way to build a resume and gain first-hand professional experience teaching in higher education. When setting up a new course, or taking over the teaching responsibilities of an existing class, consider how you as the instructor will enlist the assistance of one or more TAs. Will these TAs be graduate students, undergraduate students, or a combination of both? Table 8.1 summarizes a few critical differences between undergraduate and graduate student TAs.
Table 8.1 Some observed differences between undergraduate and graduate TAs.
Undergraduate TAs Graduate TAs
Unethical for undergraduates to grade the work of peers.
Able to grade undergraduate work, but may be unable to grade work of fellow graduate students.
Close in age to students. Likely a few years older than students.
May be friends with students or know
them personally. Likely not close to students, but may have had one or two classes with a few.
They have taken the course recently, usually in the past 1-2 years.
Possibly has not taken the course to be taught or lacks experience in the course topic.
May not be allowed or trusted to
supervise students alone. Can supervise students.
May not be allowed to drive school
vehicles for a field trip. Can drive school vehicles for field trips.
Your department or university may have certain stipulations in place regarding TAs. For example, it is likely that undergraduate students at your university are not allowed to grade the work of their peers. Another possible 156 | Oversee a Laboratory Course
concern is that undergraduate TAs are often not allowed to drive school vehicles, although this is department- and university-specific. Not having enough drivers for field trips might lead to the need for volunteer staff and graduate students to help. You may work at a small college with no graduate students at all, so the only students eligible to be TAs are undergraduates.
On the other hand, your department may need to find more teaching assignment positions for graduate students with assistantships, and you may only have the option of having graduate TAs.
The Student Age Gap
The gap in age and experience between a professor and their students widens every semester; with each passing year, the professor gains more knowledge by attending conferences, conducting research, and giving talks on their area of expertise. With each passing semester, the students’
experiences in and out of the classroom have changed. It is essential to recognize the impact of these differences in age, experience, and culture and adapt your teaching accordingly so that all students feel like they are on the same base-level understanding of the course material and feel included in the conversation. The age gap is usually smaller between students and TAs than between students and professors, and may even be zero between an undergraduate TA and undergraduate students. The smaller difference in age between TAs and students can be helpful. For example, if the professor is having difficulty connecting with the students, they can ask for input from the TA, who may better relate to the students. If there is a small age gap between the students and TA, the students may feel more comfortable going to their TA with issues than to their professor who might appear much older and too far removed from his or her own undergraduate experience.
On the other hand, a TA might be very close in age with the students and may unintentionally become too friendly in a way that compromises their professional image as an educator. If either a professor or a TA becomes too familiar with one or more of the students, it may be difficult to remain unbiased and objective while grading. The instructor should give guidance to TAs on how to maintain a professional relationship with students, for example, by limiting socializing outside of class time for the duration of the
course. Undergraduates who are potential TAs may even know students in the class personally and should be discouraged from becoming TAs until they are less likely to have their friends as students.
Considerations for Assigning TAs to Lab Sections
It would be inaccurate for us to make broad generalizations about undergraduate students versus graduate students. Undergraduate students can be ”traditional” (aged 18–22) or ”non-traditional.“ Likewise, graduate students may have recently completed their undergraduate or master’s degree, or they may be continuing their education after being in the workforce for years in the same or a similar field. Thus, experience and age levels may differ quite a bit. However, the roles and responsibilities of undergraduate and graduate students are easier to generalize.
Undergraduate students typically take several courses in one semester, with 14–20 credit hours per week of coursework before factoring in homework assignments and class projects. Many students have a part-time or full- time job on top of their schoolwork. With these additional responsibilities, it is crucial to determine how much time you would require from an undergraduate TA and whether the time required to be an undergraduate TA would realistically fit into their weekly schedule. Ideally, an undergraduate TA would be either paid as a student worker or given independent study course credit, but this is not always possible, so be sure to check with your department. In contrast, graduate students often have assistantship contracts that factor in their time as TAs, so be sure to work with your department’s Graduate Program Director or other person who works directly with graduate student contracts and the assignment of TAs.
Depending on the student and their contract, there may be only 10–20 hours of teaching assigned per week. All of these details must be understood well before TAs are assigned to lab sections and certainly before the semester starts, as some students may only be able to teach one lab section based on their semester course load or graduate contract. Additionally, undergraduate students (due to their class schedule and experience level with the course material) will likely need to serve as a “lab assistant” who is paid hourly to help with laboratory set-up, clean-up and some in-lab activities under the supervision of a graduate TA.
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