Getting Started as a CS310 TA

Before Individual Lab

It is generally a good idea to take the individual lab quiz either before you get the lab or as one of the first things you do at the lab. That way, you'll make sure you know the material and you'll be able to answer questions.

Email course coordinator if there are any problems.

During Individual Lab

1. Set the quiz password.
2. Briefly review the solution to the previous Team Lab
3. Answer questions about the previous Team Lab.
4. Write notes on the board.
5. Remind students to save their answers frequently.

If there are problems with quiz

Call the Course Coordinator (Deb: 265-9452) and or email them (Deb: deppeler@cs.wisc.edu) for help. Try and resolve it on your own while you wait for help.

Encourage students to ask questions before starting quiz..

If Learn@UW goes down during quiz

Print out paper copies (if possible) and have student write their answers (and their name and lab number) on them and hand those in.

Write reminders and notes on the board

• Sit at front of class and write your name on the board
• Have students open Matlab/Maple before starting the quiz.
• Follow instructions for answers to each question (if it says copy & paste, then do that, etc.).
• Students may use any material during the quiz including solutions to the team labs. They may NOT work on it with anyone else.
• Homework #___ is due today|next week.
• Exam #___ is on ________________.
• Remind students to read the team lab before getting to team lab (but don't complete it).

If a student complains about something or has some wierd situation

1. make sure that they have saved all answers
2. make sure yjey have submitted their quiz or you get a paper copy of their answers.
3. It's generally a good idea to then refer them to the Course Coordinator, and make no promises about what will happen. Then send the coordinator an email describing what happened and telling her or him to expect the student.

Office Hours

• Be friendly.
• Write announcements on the board.
• Write your name on the board, CS310 office hours, the hours you will be there, and the computer you'll be sitting at Sit at the "TA" computer if possible to avoid students sending email to the course coordinator indicating that you were not there).
• The students are mostly going to be asking about the homework. It is a lot easier to answer the questions if you have done the homework yourself. When a homework is assigned, I would do the homework during your individual labs. It usually takes me less than an hour, and it makes answering questions in office hours a lot easier.

Grading Homework:

• Mark exactly what you are taking off for and how many points (e.g. put "-2 no output included"). When you write the totals for each problem on the cover page of the homework, put the score and the amount the problem was worth (e.g. if they got 13 on a problem worth 15, put 13/15).
• Do a good job of grading both the homework and the exam. For the homework, do not automatically give full credit just because they got the right output. You need to consider each thing that they could get points off for, and make sure they have gotten it right. Both for the homework and for the exams, do not take off just because they are doing the problem different than the model solution. Take time to examine the homework/exam until you understand what they are trying to do.
• If you notice something that doesn't make sense, it may be that the student has used a solution from a previous semester or is using someone else's output. If you can't make sense of it or are suspicious, set it aside. Do not put a grade on it, and make a note to remember what was suspicious. Then bring it to the instructor in charge of the homework grading to look at.
• There will usually be two different people grading the same problem. We want to be as consistent as possible. If you notice a grading scenario that has not been discussed on the grading standards, email the other person grading that problem to ensure consistency.
• Expect to spend more time grading at the beginning of the semester than at the end of the semester. My first semester, the first few homeworks might have taken me about 20 hours to grade. The last few homeworks were taking me closer to 5 hours to grade.
• If a student has a problem with how something was graded, refer them to one of the people that graded that problem. One of those people can then decide what if anything to do about it. That person can then make any changes necessary on that persons homework and make the change to the grade on the website.

Team lab

• The team lab will be discussed at the weekly TA/Instructor meeting.
• It is a good idea to read through the team lab and the team lab solution (or work out the solution for yourself) before you get to the team lab. That way, you'll be able to answer questions well.
• If you aren't sure how to answer a question, then get the instructor to answer it or look at it.
• It's generally a good idea to be looking at groups' computer screens to see how they are doing. If you notice something they're doing wrong, you can point it out to them. Or sometimes you will just let them keep going, and let them discover the problem. It's a judgement call. You can notice how the instructor does it, and follow their lead.
• Team lab solution is posted to the students usually Wednesday afternoon. If they're really confused during the lab, they should definitely look at it and understand it before taking the individual lab quiz.

Exams (grading)

• We all get together and grade the exams together. When the exams happen, we'll work out a time to do it at the weekly meeting. The grading usually takes about 5 hours.
• We also do this for the final exam. This means that you'll need to be around after the final exam to grade. We'll work out a time that works for everyone, but it is usually the same or the next day.
• TAs are also responsible for proctoring the exams.

CS server:

All the various files for CS 310 are in: /p/course/cs310-common/

Some subdirectories of note:

.../private/TeamLabNotes/   contains the team lab notes that are
                            handed out in the weekly meetings

.../private/homeworsk       contains homeworks (as they are created)
                            as well as solutions and grading standards
                            and archives of past semesters (archives
                            are in folders for each semester)

.../public/html/            contains copies of (most of) the files also
                            on Learn@UW (everything except exam and
                            homework stuff)

.../public/html/tas/        contains this document and the Maple and Matlab tips page,
                            Jeff's TA notes, and other stuff that TAs
                            have created.

You all have write permission in the /public/html/tas/ directory, so you can add to the Maple and Matlab tips, or if there's something you'd like to create and make available to other TAs or to students (like examples from the Matlab review sessions), you can put them here.

In the other directories listed above you have read permission.

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For TAs

Initially written by Jeff Kinne, August 29, 2004
 added information about /p/... Sept 1, 2004
 added information about grading Nov 17, 2004
 added information about hw Dec 7, 2004
 added information about I.L. Dec 8, 2004
 revised and formatted by Deb on Feb 9, 2010
 minor revisions by Deb on Sept 8, 2010
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