Tracy, We have "mentors" who help with our Intro Psych students. They attend lectures, do the required reading, run weekly group study sessions and exam reviews, can look over lab reports, help with APA style, and generally provide assistance outside of a faculty member's regular business hours. They work about 6 hours per week. In semesters when they have helped with the lab component (there's a weekly 3 hour lab meeting), the hours have been greater, but student time considerations are one reason we've cut back on that responsibility. Pay is currently $8.25/hr (last year it was $7.85 -- students wages are adjusted every year). Students who do tutoring or grading for our department earn the same.
--Barbara Barbara Brown Psychology Department Technical Assistant 1116 8th Ave Grinnell College Grinnell, IA 50112 Phone: 641-269-3171 FAX: 641-269-4285 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: Traci Giuliano [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 9:57 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [tips] undergraduate teaching assistants I was hoping that other Tipsters at undergraduate liberal arts colleges could give me some information about undergraduate teaching assistants in psychology. My questions are: 1. Do you have undergraduate TAs? 2. If so, what are they officially called (i.e., "lab assistants", "teaching assistants")? 3. For what courses in psychology do they work? 4. Are students compensated with pay (and if so, how much) or class credit, or both? 5. If class credit, what is the title of the class and how many hours of credit do they get? 6. How many hours per week do they work, and what are their duties? At Southwestern, we have undergraduate TAs in the research methods courses (3 hour class plus 1 hour lab per week), although the administration makes us call them "lab assistants" instead of TAs because it looks better in university PR (i.e., because as an undergrad school, we are distinguished because we do not have TAs). However, they really are effectively TAs (they have office hours to help students with papers, they grade homework assignments, they give a few solo lectures on APA style, they conduct review sessions before exams, etc.). Currently, they make minimum wage (we're capped at paying them for 7.5 hours per week this year due to budget cuts), but we are considering giving them class credit, because it's time consuming, undercompensated, and because it would give their teaching experience further legitimacy on their transcript. Any information or advice would be greatly appreciated! Cheers, Traci --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang= english --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english
