This page contains both teaching resources and HR resources for TAs from the L&S TA Training & Support Team, the L&S Instructional Design Collaborative, and partners across campus. For more resources or feedback on a particular situation, consider contacting the Office of Student Assistance and Support or your supervisor.
Teaching Tips from the L&S TA Training & Support Team
Getting to Know Your Students
A sense of community produces better class enrollment, attendance, satisfaction, participation, academic performance, and graduation rates. Here are simple strategies to learn your students' names, foster community, and increase engagement.
Reading Student Evaluations
Reading your teaching evaluations can be a painful experience, even for veteran professors. Here are some tips for TAs on how to read and make sense of your student teaching evaluations.
Tips for Grading Fairly and Efficiently
If you're up against tight deadlines while grading students, here are ten tips to get that assessment done efficiently and accurately.
Resources from the L&S Instructional Design Collaborative
The IDC partners with TAs, instructors, staff, and departments in L&S in creating modern and effective learning experiences using established course design principles and technical expertise.
L&S Mini Discussions
Add a 10-15 minute discussion of a teaching topic to your next meeting.
Mini Discussions can help your team:
Easily incorporate short conversations about teaching into your routines.
Discuss relevant teaching topics with colleagues using approachable materials.
Integrate new ideas to grow your teaching practice.
L&S Design for Learning Series
Within our each article in the Design for Learning Series,
the IDC relies on research literature to identify effective practices, gathers examples and input from L&S instructors and students, and share spractical steps and considerations to help you try something new in your classroom.
Writing Learning Goals
Having learning goals, whether they be program outcomes, course outcomes, or learning objectives for a specific activity, helps make learning clearer to everyone involved.
Interpreting Student Feedback
Once you have collected feedback from students, what do you do next? Reviewing feedback from students can feel overwhelming, but a few strategies can make this task less stressful.
Canvas Course Orientation Module
This orientation can be added to your course to help students in in-person, blended, or online classes be ready to start the semester.
Campus Resources
Office of Student Assistance and Support
The Office of Student Assistance and Support (formerly the Dean of Students Office) is a primary resource for students navigating personal, academic, or health issues to get the help they need, whether that be on campus or in the community. The office also serves as a central location for reporting bias and other student-related concerns.
Elaine Goetz, Graduate and Professional Student Assistance Specialist, offers and assistance specifically for graduate students.
Contact Graduate Student Support Specialist
Contact the Office of Student Assistance & Support
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Center for Teaching, Learning, and Mentoring
The Center for Teaching, Learning, and Mentoring (CTLM) supports instructors at all career stages in continuing growth as practitioners of the complex, dynamic and rewarding craft of teaching.
Instructional Resources KnowledgeBase
The Center for Teaching, Learning & Mentoring (CTLM) Instructional Resources KnowledgeBase includes a wide variety of tips, tools, and sample activities and assignments you can use in in-person, online, and hybrid learning environments.
McBurney Disability Resource Center
McBurney Disability Resource Center offers online and in-person training about the history, resources, policies and procedures associated with providing access and accommodations to individuals with disabilities at UW–Madison.
DELTA Program
Build your skills and CV as an effective and inclusive teacher and research mentor with offerings designed for graduate students and post-docs.
The Discussion Project
A professional learning opportunity focused on developing skills in leading high-quality small- and large-group discussion in undergraduate and graduate classrooms.
Learn@UW
DoIT Academic Technology oversees the Learn@UW suite of supported learning technologies, including Canvas, Kaltura MediaSpace, AEFIS, Top Hat and more.
Morgridge Center for Public Service
The Morgridge Center Supports faculty, staff, and students looking to connect their research and teaching with mutually beneficial community engagement initiatives. Offerings include individual consultations, workshops, grants for community-based learning and research, and the Morgridge Fellows learning community, a yearlong professional development opportunity.
Teaching Academy
Educators who care about good teaching. The Teaching Academy offers opportunities for instructors to connect with each other – from drop-in Meet Ups to Fall and Winter Retreats. Most events are open to all.
WISCIENCE
Offers programs, courses and resources for instructors and mentors at all levels to promote equitable and inclusive teaching and mentoring in STEM. Collaborates with departments on initiatives related to enhancing student success and engagement in STEM.
Writing Across the Curriculum
Writing Across the Curriculum helps instructors find creative and effective ways to incorporate writing and speaking assignments into courses at all levels and in all disciplines.
HR Support for Graduate Assistants
HR is here to help you
Do you have concerns in your job as a TA or concerns about your work environment? Are you not sure where to start? We can help.
For example: If you have accommodations as a student related to a disability or medical condition and think those accommodations might help you in your TA role, we can help. If you have concerns about workload or expectations or your working relationship with your instructor—we can help with that too.
Some common issues we help TA’s with are:
- Accommodations needed to help you do your job as a TA, related to a disability or medical condition (examples: special lighting, special chairs or stools, or assistance with grading)
- Using paid sick leave and understanding leave options
- TA workloads and expectations
For non-confidential issues, contact your employing department’s Human Resources/Payroll staff. For confidential assistance with accommodations or disability concerns, email lsddr@ls.wisc.edu to be connected to the DDR (Divisional Disability Representative) within the College of Letters and Sciences Human Resources group.
Are you employed as a student assistant (i.e., TA, PA, RA, etc.) and do you need to take time off for illness or other medical needs? Not sure where to start?
You likely have paid sick leave if employed as a student assistant. For more details, see Graduate Assistantship Policies and Procedures (GAPP) under “Leave Benefits” (https://policy.wisc.edu/library/UW-5082), contact your department’s Human Resources/Payroll staff, or for confidential assistance with accommodations or disability concerns, email lsddr@ls.wisc.edu to be connected to the DDR (Divisional Disability Representative) within the College of Letters and Sciences Human Resources group.
GAPP Graduate Assistant Policies and Procedures outlines who is eligible, how much paid sick leave they are eligible for, and usage. The student assistant lets their supervisor and department know when they need to use paid sick leave, and the supervisor/department arranges coverage while the student is out using paid sick leave.
Do you have accommodations as a student that might apply to your employment as a student assistant (i.e., TA, PA, RA, etc.)? Would accommodations in your role as a student assistant help you? For confidential assistance with accommodations or disability concerns, email lsddr@ls.wisc.edu to be connected to the DDR (Divisional Disability Representative) within the College of Letters and Sciences Human Resources group.