cs 501: ta training seminar

CS 501: TA Training Seminar

William Eierscs.ucsb.edu/∼leadta


Week 1 : Elements of E�ective TA’ing



Week 1 : Elements of E�ective TA’ing


Teaching

Course Outline

Objective : Train new graduate students for college/university teaching

Course Outline


Challenges

I was a TA in the past

I will know when I need to know

I have other important things to do

I know all this ..

Course Outline


Challenges

I was a TA in the past

I will know when I need to know

I have other important things to do

I know all this ..

My Goal is to make sure

• You learn something new every week

• Sessions are not repetitive or super dry

Course Outline

TL;DR Meet and discuss techniques to improve teaching skills

Course Outline


Knowing the material well

What makes a good instructor?

Course Outline




Knowledge of school policies, teaching ethics, etc

Course Outline





Board-work/Presentation

Course Outline






Fair and consistent Grading

Course Outline







No homeworks or exams, just in-class activities and assignments

Course Outline







No homeworks or exams, just in-class activities and assignments

Teaching Philosophy Statement due on last day of classes

Logistics

• Attend and critique section of another TA

Logistics


• In-class presentations for those not TAing this quarter

Logistics



Any non-trivial topic of your choice of general interest

Logistics




• Enroll in Piazza

piazza.com/ucsb/fall2018/cs501/home

Logistics




• Enroll in Piazza

piazza.com/ucsb/fall2018/cs501/home

• TA accountability

Evaluations : Midterm / End of Quarter

TA Hour Tracking (No negative repercussions)

Elements of E�ective Teaching

Planning


Planning

Implementing


Planning

Implementing

Evaluating


Planning

Implementing

Evaluating

Plan what you are going to teach


Planning

Implementing

Evaluating


Execute what you have planned


Planning

Implementing

Evaluating


Execute what you have planned

Evaluate how you did

On Planning What to Teach


1

1 The O�ce, S01E01


Pick an ‘interesting’ subset of topics



Clearly speci�y objective of the session

Ask how these topics connect to overall goal?

What order to present material in?






Try multiple ways of de�ning something – intuitive, formal







Try to keep an ‘element of surprise’







Try to keep an ‘element of surprise’ Why is this result/technique surprising?

Why is this better than naive way of doing things..

In-Class Example

Computing Convex Hull of a set of points

In-Class Example


Was the objective clear?

Did the order of material make sense?

Was there an intuitive and/or formal explanation?

Was there an element of surprise?

In-Class Example


On Evaluating How You Did


• Explicitly ask


• Explicitly ask

• A short quiz at the end


• Explicitly ask


• Randomly select a person and ask a question to test they understand


• Explicitly ask



• Ask a question to the class and expect someone to volunteer


• Explicitly ask



• Ask a question to the class and expect someone to volunteer

• Ask True or false questions and survey the class

Evaluating the In class-example


What is the complexity of the Gift-wrapping CH algorithm?


What is the complexity of the Gift-wrapping CH algorithm?

O(n2)

Questions?

cs 501: ta training seminar

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