Undergraduate Instructional Assistants – Appropriate Roles and Training

Undergraduate students can play important roles in classroom/laboratory/help desk/tutoring session instruction, but their function is different from that of a Graduate Teaching Assistant. They should be distinguished from Graduate Teaching Assistants not only by their duties, responsibilities for student oversight, training, and on-going support, but also by their titles. Undergraduate students who formally provide instructional assistance may go by titles including Peer Instructor, Instructional Assistant, Undergraduate Instructional Assistant, Peer Assistant, or Peer Leader. Undergraduates cannot serve as or be referred to as Teaching Assistants (TAs).

Undergraduate Instructional Assistants may fill the following roles: Serve at Help Desks, computer labs, the MathSkellar, the Study, Learning Services Center, or similar resource functions; serve as Peer Instructors for workshop sessions such as Chem Excel, Math Excel, and similar peer teaching models that do not include direct involvement in student grade assignments; and serve to assist TAs and faculty in teaching situations that do not involve direct supervision of students. They may, for example, assist a TA or faculty member in a laboratory by providing assistance in monitoring procedures and materials, assisting students on laboratory procedure and lab write-ups, and distributing and sorting materials. Other duties might include: tutoring, sorting, filing, collating, and designing classroom materials; setting up and operating equipment for classroom instruction; taking attendance in large classes; assisting a TA or faculty member in preparing review materials; holding extra review sessions; facilitating study groups; preparing and managing a course web page, bulletin board, or discussion site; managing and responding to routine course-related e-mail; and leading sessions on study skills in the discipline.

Undergraduate Instructional Assistants are not allowed to provide direct supervision of undergraduate students; be responsible for assigning letter grades on any work; be responsible for correcting or assigning points to assignments that influence worth more than 10% of a final course grade; or have primary responsibility for supervising a laboratory session.

Training for Undergraduate Instructional Assistants should include, at minimum, the following: University policies on sexual harassment and racial harassment; providing a safe instructional environment; student rights and responsibilities; and the roles and responsibilities of Undergraduate Instructional Assistants, including appropriate professional behavior with peers. Undergraduate Instructional Assistants may complete the University New TA Orientation, offered before the beginning of the semester each Fall and Spring, in order to meet these requirements. Home departments or programs must train them in their specific duties and provide ongoing support.

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Last updated June 2008