For many LSAs, the position is an important opportunity to gain and sharpen skills of independent teaching on the way to a career in academia. It is essential that departments set clear expectations and provide comprehensive and organized support and guidance to their LSAs; such guidance helps LSAs stay on track in all their commitments and helps to ensure a quality learning experience for enrolled students.
This document outlines a number of hiring procedures as well as recommendations and best practices for supervising and supporting LSAs. We recommend that departments develop and make widely known their own detailed policies for the hiring, supervision, and evaluation of LSAs.
Departments may supplement LSA appointments to include additional compensation for professional development.
The additional percentage for professional development is up to departmental discretion, but the total appointment should not exceed 50%. The appointment letter should clearly distinguish the appointment percentage associated with each activity (e.g., 33.4% for teaching and 10% for professional development).
A detailed Professional Development Plan must be approved. Plans should be emailed to
Lynne Prost for review and should include:
- The LSA(s) and the mentor(s) for each
- A detailed account of the expectations for both the graduate student and the mentor over the course of the semester
- A list of planned professional development activities. These must include regular interactions with a faculty or instructional staff member (who may or may not be the individual on record as the direct supervisor of the LSA appointment), and might also include participation in appropriate and relevant workshops or similar programs, readings, classroom visits, literature reviews, etc.
- The criteria for determining eligibility for the supplement (e.g., is this provided to all LSAs?)
- A description of the assessment that will be used to determine the efficacy of the professional development training, such as an exit interview.
- The stipend amount and percentage of the appointment, and the funding source you intend to use to cover the costs.
- The department is responsible for all associated expenses. Departments can use 131 funds or gift funds to cover the professional development portion. Otherwise, you may charge the full costs of the appointment to STS 101 resources. The funding source will be reviewed by Mary Beth Roberts in the L&S Budget Office, and by your Academic Associate Dean.
Typically, LSAs are expected to:
- Set the course syllabus and class policies
- Prepare lecture material and deliver the lectures
- Prepare and assign assignments
- Prepare and administer exams and final projects
- Create rubrics for grading assessments, supervise grading and participate in grading
- Supervise any Teaching Assistants (TAs) and graders (see below)
- Hold office hours and respond to students communications
- Troubleshoot special cases
- Determine, o, for LSAs whose course has TAs, confirm final grades for the class.
LSAs supervising TAs
LSAs are, at times, tasked with the supervision of TAs in their classes. This arrangement makes close departmental
supervision even more critical. Expectations should be clearly communicated to both the LSA and TAs.
The following are recommended best practices to support LSAs in this role:
- Assign experienced TAs to work with LSAs.
- The LSA supervisor should clearly communicate with the LSAs and TAs on workload expectations, supervisory structure, and course responsibilities.
- Regular weekly course meetings and communications between LSAs and TAs are recommended, with discussion focused on housekeeping items such as weekly tasks, arrangement for exams, and effective pedagogy, grading alignment across sections, and course trouble-shooting.
- LSAs should visit course TAs classrooms to observe classroom dynamics, confirm that expectations are being met, and evaluate TA performance. LSAs should be given guidance on how best to provide feedback to TAs under their supervision, and any department resources on TA evaluation (e.g. rubrics) should be shared with the LSAs.
- If peer evaluation is a concern, the supervisor of the LSA may be asked to supervise the TAs.
It is helpful to make access to course materials and instructional guidance as comprehensive, organized, direct and clear as possible. In doing so, the department can guide and support the graduate students, so they spend time and effort efficiently and strategically.
To help the LSA succeed, supervisors should provide:
- Assistance with and training in setting up a Learning Management System (LMS) such as Canvas.
- Guidance on responding to student work, be it exams or papers.
- Assistance and guidance with administrative tasks such as:
- Course rosters
- Room reservations
- Access to AV equipment
- Copying handouts
- Guidance on expectations for instructors regarding FERPA, sexual harassment policies, consensual relationship policies, Title IX, etc.
- Guidance on the formal accommodation process, for an accommodation that might be needed by the instructor as well as any that might be brought by students in the class via the McBurney Center.
- Assistance and guidance for interactions with special students, athletes, auditors, or students of special concern.
- Guidance for handling particularly challenging or controversial course content and dealing with disruptive or challenging students.
- Assistance and guidance on creating a positive classroom environment that is welcoming to all students and promotes engagement and active learning.