TA/Reader/Mentor Guidelines

A general list of blanket course policies that every TA, Reader and Mentor should be aware of

This list of policies is in no particular order other than the one in which these issues arose.

Each of this is here because at some point, a TA, Reader or Mentor was unaware of some policy and it created confusion, uncertainty, misunderstanding, or doubt.

So, these clarifications are here for your protection.

Many of these policies may seem harsh. Please know that it is not in my nature to want to have harsh course policies, so in each case, the policy is “cruel only to be kind”, in the sense that I’ve found that having less harsh policies leads to a kind of chaos that takes a heavy toll on the TA, Reader and Instructor.

If students always acted reasonably and responsibly—or if the number of students were small enough that the number of “exceptions” was managable, these draconian measures would not be needed. That has not been my experience over my experience, though—and having done this full time since 1997, and at UCSB since 2007, that’s a lot of experience.

Do NOT accept homework outside of the class in which it is due.

Each homework assignment clearly states, at the top, something like the following (the exact wording may vary from quarter-to-quarter, class to class, but it will be something like this)

MAY ONLY BE TURNED IN IN THE LECTURE/LAB LISTED ABOVE AS THE DUE DATE, OR IF APPLICABLE, SUBMITTED ON GRADESCOPE. There is NO MAKEUP for missed assignments; in place of that, we drop the three lowest scores (if you have zeros, those are the three lowest scores.)

One very important implication of that is this: if a student tries to hand you a homework assignment, and it is OUTSIDE of the class in which it is due, whether early, or late, YOU MUST NOT ACCEPT IT. Unless you have been told otherwise by the instructor directly, refuse to accept it, and cite the course policy. If you accept it, it may be interpreted by the student that they have discharged their responsibility to submit the homework. If you do make this error, let the instructor know as soon as possible.

Do NOT accept homework handed in “in the wrong pile”

Related to the previous item…

If you are in charge of processing the “pile” for, say Homework H14, and a student simply “leaves” say, an H13 or H15 paper in the “pile” for H14, the proper response is to send a notice to that student (perhaps by private instructor note on Piazza, or an email cc’d to the instructor and other TAs) that you cannot accept their submission because it was not made on the day the assignment was due. Refer to the policy printed on each assignment.

(There are occasional exceptions to this policy, but if/when there are, they will be CLEARLY ANNOUNCED by the instructor by Piazza, Gauchospace, Slack, in person, etc.)

It is then up to you what you do with the assignment:

• On a first offense, it would be an act of kindness to offer to return the paper during your next office hours or the next lab. Note, however, that this requires you to keep hold of this paper from a student that violated a course policy, which is an extra administrative burden on you. As a result, you are NOT REQUIRED TO DO THIS. You may, but you don’t have to.
• Or, you may simply discard it. Certainly on a second offense by the same student, that’s a perfectly reasonable thing to do. This is one of the reasons for cc’ing the instructor, and other TAs and Readers: so that they can check to see if the student is a repeat offender.

If you will miss a lab/discussion section

If you need to miss lab/discussion section due to illness, professional obligation (e.g. attending a conference, job interview, etc.), then please take responsibility for doing two things:

• Please let the instructor know well in advance

• Please take personal responsibility for arrange coverage by another TA, Reader, or Mentor for the duties that you would have been responsible for. Offer to compensate your colleague in some way by taking on some of their duties on another occasion (e.g. cover for them when they need to miss a lab, or take on some extra share of the grading, code review, etc.)

At the end of a discussion section, please check in before leaving

Before leaving at the end of a discussion section, check in with the instructor, or if the instructor is not present:

• If you are a mentor, with one of the TAs
• If you are a TA, with all of the other TAs

The reason to check in is to:

• See if there are any issues that need to be discussed based on what happened during the session
• Find out if any follow up is needed on anything that arose during lab
• Ensure that all homework papers submitted have been collected and handed off to someone that is taking responsiblity for ensuring that they will be promptly scanned to Gradescope (or otherwise in process to be graded and returned)
• Ensure thatthe room is tidy, windows are closed, lights are off, and the doors are locked before everyone leaves

I fully appreciate that occasionally some mentors will need to leave early, or “promptly at the ending time” because of some scheduled obligation that immediately follows the end of the discussion section time. In this case, the appropriate action is to inform the instructor (if present), or if not the TA(s) leading the session, so that they are aware. In every case, at least one person should be clearly identified as the one taking responsibility for NOT LEAVING until the room is tidy, and secured,