Apr. 21, 2023

AY 2023 Spring Term TA Coffee Hour (held April 5, 6, and 18, 2023)

TA Coffee Hour was held on April 5, 6, and 18, 2023.

TA Coffee Hour

[Date and time] 

Wednesday, April 5 and Thursday, April 6, 2023, 13:30-15:00

Tuesday, April 18, 2023, 15:20-16:30

*Participants were free to come and go as they pleased.

[Location] 

April 5: Outdoors near the Othmer Library

April 6 and 18: Othmer Library 1F Group Learning Area

[Language] English and Japanese

[Format] Face-to-face

[Number of participants] 13 TAs

At the CTL, we usually hold an orientation for newly hired TAs in April, but this time we adopted a format where we asked newly hired TAs to visit our newly launched TA Portal site and take a look at the videos and materials posted there about TA work individually before joining TA Coffee Hour as necessary to discuss any questions or concerns.

Since almost all courses will return to face-to-face teaching from the AY 2023 Spring Term, the proportion of work that TAs will undertake on campus will increase further. We sought to create a network to enable TAs and staff members involved in TA work to become acquainted with one another and to make it easier for them to discuss matters related to TA work.

This time again, we enlisted the help of five experienced TAs from different fields. They described TA work and answered questions on specifics such as using the Help Desk and recording the attendance of enrollees. CTL staff also provided supplementary information covering matters such as the difference between Work Record sheets and TA Activity Reports, points to keep in mind, and offices relevant to TA work.

In response to requests from those who participated on April 5 and 6, we had another TA Coffee Hour on April 18.

As in previous years, we will be conducting a workshop in the Autumn Term focusing on tips and strategies for more specific aspects of TA work.