TA Orientation

To: Departmental Executive Officers
From: Christine Getz, Associate Dean for Graduate Education and the Arts
RE: TA Orientation

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All schools and departments in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences are required to provide a TA orientation during the three-day period preceding the beginning of the Fall 2018 semester.  This TA orientation must not conflict with the Graduate College orientations on Wednesday, August 15th, 2018.  The College further encourages you to avoid scheduling your school or departmental orientation during the Center for Teaching Orientation that many new TAs have elected to attend on Thursday, August 16, 2018.  The school/departmental TA orientation should include preliminary teacher training in the discipline.  Some larger units may wish to divide the students into smaller groups according to specialization, while smaller departments may wish to work with other departments in offering TA training.  All TA supervisors must observe the teaching of new TAs by the 8th week of the semester and provide feedback to the TAs on their overall performance in a written form apart from the ACE evaluation.

 

An effective TA orientation will include, but is not limited to discussion of the following:

 

• Information about FERPA and Sexual Harassment Prevention Training

https://clas.uiowa.edu/faculty/teaching-policies-resources-student-records

https://clas.uiowa.edu/human-resources/sexual-harassment-prevention-training

 

• Required content of the course syllabus

https://clas.uiowa.edu/faculty/teaching-policies-resources-required-syllabus

 

• Creating a coherent lesson plan for each class period

https://teach.its.uiowa.edu/handbook-teaching-excellence-6th-edition/planning-ahead-and-first-day-class/session-plans-–-mini

 

• Instructor guidelines for meeting classes, holding office hours, and covering absences (including departmental policies for securing substitutes)

 https://clas.uiowa.edu/faculty/teaching-policies-resources-time-committed-instruction

 

• Meeting deadlines for class lists, student attendance, and submission of grades

https://clas.uiowa.edu/faculty/teaching-policies-resources-class-lists-submitting-grades-and-student-attendance

 

• Policies regarding student absences, student workload, student accommodations, final examinations, and textbooks and teaching materials

https://clas.uiowa.edu/faculty/teaching-policies-resources-student-absences

https://clas.uiowa.edu/faculty/teaching-policies-resources-student-workload-guidelines

https://clas.uiowa.edu/faculty/teaching-policies-resources-accommodating-students-disabilities

https://clas.uiowa.edu/faculty/teaching-policies-resources-examination-policies

https://clas.uiowa.edu/faculty/teaching-policies-resources-textbooks-and-materials

 

• Cultivating a welcoming and professional classroom atmosphere

https://clas.uiowa.edu/sites/default/files/1744-2-Student-Assistance-Folder-Printable-pdf.pdf

https://teach.its.uiowa.edu/handbook-teaching-excellence-6th-edition/behavioral-expectations

 

• The timely and effective grading of student work

https://clas.uiowa.edu/faculty/teaching-policies-resources-grading-system-and-distribution

 

• Handling academic misconduct

https://clas.uiowa.edu/faculty/teaching-policies-resources-academic-fraud

 

• Required ACE course evaluations

https://clas.uiowa.edu/faculty/teaching-policies-resources-student-evaluation-teaching

 

• Resources and Support available through the Center for Teaching

https://teach.its.uiowa.edu/audience/graduate-students-post-docs