8.0 Introduction

This module is intended for faculty members will be working with Teaching Assistants (TAs) and are thinking about how the TA role might change as they move their course(s) online. Because TA duties vary quite widely between faculties, disciplines, and even classes, we have framed much of the module around questions to consider and things to pay attention to when thinking about how you will involve TAs in your online course. We have organized these into four roles TAs may have, though your TAs may not take on all four roles. In addition to these questions, we have included examples from instructors and TAs to show different ways that these questions might be answered and to make broad recommendations drawn from best practices. Although this module is written with the assumption you've worked with TAs before, it also provides practical advice for instructors who will be working with TAs for the first time.

For the sake of readability we reference Teaching Assistants in the plural, but recognize that many faculty members will have a single TA.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

• Explore how adapting your course for the online environment will impact your TAs’ responsibilities.
• Consider the implications of what you will want your TAs to do (training, timing, etc.).
• Identify what changes you’ll need to make to your TAs work for your online course.