Teaching Assistant Guidelines

The School employs Teaching Assistants (T.A.s) who help with undergraduate and occasionally graduate courses in Computer Science and provide programming assistance. The total remuneration is approximately $2000 per unit.

Eligibility Criteria

Teaching Assistants at McGill University are unionized. The Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM) contract regulations stipulate that graduate students currently registered at McGill may be employed as T.A.s. Although priority must be given to graduate students, these positions have also been assigned to qualified and more senior undergraduate students.

N.B. To be eligible, undergraduate students must have a GPA of at least 3.2 and must have successfully completed several high-level computer science courses.

Stipend (Union Dues, etc.)

The stipend for a T.A. in the School, as negotiated by the union will be $26.51 per hour as of January 03, 2011.

As T.A. positions are unionized and are covered by the Association of Graduate Students employed at McGill (AGSEM), the university is required to withhold union dues currently established by the Union at 2.5% of a T.A. stipend. Furthermore, a 4% vacation entitlement is already included in the T.A. stipend.

Qualifications:

A T. A. must possess the following qualifications:

• good language and communication skills;
• a good command of the course material and must be able to demonstrate this command to the satisfaction of the course instructor. At the very least, should be capable of doing the homework assigned to the students in the course.

N.B. Due to the specific nature of some of our courses, other qualifications may also be required. All qualifications will be clearly indicated on the T.A. postings.

Duties (N.B. Failure to perform duties as required will jeopardize future appointments.)

A T. A. will be required to:

• grade assignments and exams under the supervision of the course instructor;
• prepare solution sets for assignments, etc.;
• maintain and observe office and/or lab hours;
• photocopy course notes, handouts, etc.;
• be available throughout the examination period;

N.B. Other duties may also be required. These will be clearly identified by the course instructor at the beginning of the T.A. assignment and will be captured on the T.A. workload form.

Application Process

The School sends e-mail to all registered graduate and undergraduate students in Computer Science soliciting applications on a pre-established date determined by the T.A. Union (see "Posting dates" below). Students must consult T.A. postings, available in electronic format on the School's website, and must apply online by the official deadline date indicated on the individual postings.

All new applicants must undergo a T.A. interview where language and communication skills will be evaluated. Only successful applicants will be assigned a T.A. position.

N.B. Priority will be given to graduate student applicants as per union contract stipulations.

Workload Form

The standard workload of a Teaching Assistant in the School is 90 hours per term or approximately 5 hours per week. Each term is normally four months, i.e. September through December (Fall term) and January through April (Winter term). The School also offers a summer term that runs for a period of two months, usually May through June.

Everyone employed as a T. A. in the School must complete a T.A. Workload Form. This form clearly defines a T.A.'s time committments and must be completed with the course instructor at the very beginning of an assignment. A copy of this form remains part of a T.A.'s employment record. Any changes to this form must be approved by both the instructor and the T.A. and should also be reflected in the T.A.'s employment record. Successful applicants will be given a workload form upon returning their official letter of offer (signed) and union form (signed). 

Evaluation Process

The instructor of the course evaluates the performance of the T.A. assigned to the course. These evaluations must be signed by the course instructor and the T.A. and remain on file for future reference.

Information Concerning Funding Forms

Click here for more information concerning funding forms.