School of Computer Science Wiki

The allocation of Teaching Assistants to courses can be guided, but not dictated, by formula and rules.

1. estimate enrollments based on:
   • Past enrollments
   • Emerging trends
   • Advice from Academic Counsellor.
2. Apply the SoCS allocation formula to enrollment estimate to get base numbers
   • < 30 = 0 TAs
   • 30-49 = 0.5 TA
   • 50-99 = 1 TA
   • 100-199 = 2 TAs
   • 200-249 = 3 TAs
   • 250-399 = 4 TAs
   • > 400 = 5 TAs
3. adjust as needed taking into consideration:
   • Brand new course
   • Instructor teaching the course for the first time,
   • Novice instructor
   • Late assignment of course to instructor
   • Heavy lab component / 0.75 credit course
   • Other extraordinary requirements
   • Service course (fewer TAs)

Allocation of TAs based solely on the number of students and scheduled lab time results in some courses being over-resourced (those that have fewer graded item or that do not use all tutorials/labs for example) and some being under-resourced (i.e. those with more graded items and heavy lab components).

The School of Computer Science TA allocation guidelines are designed to provide adequate TA support and to ensure that the support is greatest where it is most needed, as well as to ensure job similarity for students employed as Teaching Assistants by SOCS. The focus is on providing TA support for grading and labs/tutorials (virtual or real).

1. TA estimates are calculated based on:
   • the number of students enrolled in the course after the add period
   • the course description document that is created by the course instructor (See Grading Procedures, Resolution 4, Part A of the undergraduate calendar)
2. TA time requirements are based on the following (from the course description document)
   • The number of graded assignments
   • The number of graded labs
   • Midterms that must be graded by TAs
   • Grading of the final exam
   • The number of lab/tutorial sections and their length (assume labs for 11 weeks)
   • Student projects
   • Weekly meetings and consultation time
3. Our working estimates are:
   • Assignments take 10 minutes to grade for first and second year course, 15 minutes for 3rd and 4th
   • Midterms take 10 minutes/student of TA time to grade
   • Final exams take 15 minutes/student of TA time to grade
   • The estimates for grading times are based on reports from TAs for different courses and estimates provided by faculty members.
   • Instructors are encouraged to provide details about the marking of labs, assignments and exams when the course description is submitted. Those details can be used to improve the estimates for the course.
4. Consideration is given to the following
   • First and second year courses may need more TA support than upper year courses. Upper year students are usually more self sufficient.
   • Sessional instructors, especially new ones, may need additional TA support.
   • Instructors who are teaching a course for the first time may need additional TA support.
   • Service courses require fewer TAs
   • Courses with enrollment lower than 30 are unlikely to require TA support
5. As stated in the calendar, instructors must provide the course description by the start of the course selection period. The course selection period for Winter semester is usually the beginning of August. The course selection period for Fall semester is usually the beginning of March. TAs may not be allocated for courses unless the course description is provided on time. In the case of courses that are taught by sessional lecturers, or that are assigned late to an instructor, the most recent course outline for the course will be used to create the course description.