FAQs

If you are an undergraduate student, you can apply to become a teaching assistant in Carleton Central under the Student Services tab. You may also wish to introduce yourself to the graduate supervisor and administrators of the department so that they know who you are. Please bear in mind that undergraduate teaching assistants are traditionally only hired if there are insufficient numbers of graduate students available.

It is not uncommon for teaching assistants to receive information on their course, instructor and duties once the new term has begun. It is a deft balancing act to allocate teaching assistants to the appropriate course, especially when the number of TAs a department has access to shifts as individuals accept or decline their TAship.

If you have not received your assignment before the first day of class, you should politely contact your graduate supervisor to inquire when you can expect more information.

If you have accepted your TAship in Carleton Central and been assigned to a course, but the assignment of duties form (ie: what tasks you will be charged with completing on a weekly basis) has not been completed before the start of the term, it is strongly recommended that you contact them to set up a face to face meeting and go over the assignment of duties form together. There may be special reasons why your faculty member has not contacted you, but you are encouraged to be proactive in contacting them and clarifying their expectations – and yours – before the course begins.

The TA Orientation, organized by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs, is only for new Carleton TAs. If you have been a TA at Carleton before, you should not attend this session. If you have been a TA at another institution, it is recommended that you attend this session to learn about institution specific groups and policies. 

The new TA orientation is offered by Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs and is considered a mandatory session for all new Carleton TAs. If you have never been a teaching assistant before, or you have not been a teaching assistant at Carleton before, you should attend this session. If for some reason you are unable to attend this session, the orientation is videotaped and will be available on the Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs website later in the term, although it cannot be credited towards your training in this format.

For additional details on the orientation, please visit the website for Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs here.

Each department is responsible for its own orientation session. Many of them include content for both your graduate and teaching assistant roles and may introduce you to faculty, staff and experienced TAs in your department. If you cannot attend this session, you should contact your graduate supervisor or your graduate administrator in order to acquire this information. Details on departmental orientations can be found here.

All individuals working more than 65 hours are eligible to complete five hours of paid training according to article 14.01 of the CUPE 4600 collective agreement (page 19). This means that any individuals – undergraduate, graduate or even single term teaching assistant – assigned to more than 65 hours have 5 hours of training built into their contract each year. Training is offered in both the Fall and Winter terms, so individuals are invited to attend sessions over the course of the year. All training must be completed before the end of March.

Teaching assistants are paid for the training that they complete, so individuals who cannot (or choose not to) complete their paid training will be paid for the number of hours for which they have attended. The total amount of money associated with paid training is approximately $200, or $40 per hour of training.

All graduate teaching assistants are paid for their training over the course of the year, so individuals who do not (or decide not to) attend their paid training will have their remaining hours removed from the final paycheck of the year (either in December or April depending on when your contract expires). This means that you are paid for the hours you complete which is a standard policy for any working environment.

*Please note* Carleton University is the only institution that dedicates this kind of support to training and support. No other university offers this much financial compensation to its teaching assistants, which is a demonstration of how valuable the institution considers your work. Although you are eligible for up to five hours of paid training, there is no maximum training limit and all TAs are strongly advised to attend as many sessions as they require to feel comfortable performing their duties. 

The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs is responsible for tracking and ensuring adequate numbers of training options are available for all teaching assistants to complete their training. If you have questions or concerns you should contact their office here.

The EDC and Mentorship program provide training support through diverse activities, the majority of which count towards your training. Attendance at these sessions is tracked in Carleton Central, which is accessed by FGPA in order to determine how much training you have completed. 

The orientation facilitated by FGPA  accounts for one hour for new teaching assistants (experienced individuals should not attend this introductory session). Additionally many departments offer orientations, which vary in length, at the start of the year. Observations, workshops  and other programming can also be used to complete your training hours. For an extended description of training options, click here.

The five hours of paid training are in addition to your regular hours (typically 260 for the full year or 130 per term). These hours are traditionally not included in the assignment of duties.

Carleton University is one of the few institutions that pays for its teaching assistants for their training, and our five hour commitment to your personal and professional development is significantly more than all other institutions.

Paid training is available because CUPE 4600 and Carleton University believe that teaching assistants play an integral role in the education of our undergraduate population and we want our teaching assistants to succeed personally and professionally. It is for this reason that all teaching assistants, not only new ones, are encouraged each year to participate in the vast diversity of training in order to create a better informed and educated teaching community amongst our graduate students.

Training will vary from individual to individual based on your assignment of duties form.

Some options include:

• Peer Observations: Strongly recommended for all teaching assistants teaching in a classroom. This form of training is not currently searchable in the TA Management System. Speak with your TA Mentor for details or visit the link for additional information
• Microteaching: These sessions allow individuals to practice their presentation and teaching skills in a closed, safe environment comprised of 5-6 colleagues. Individuals prepare 10-15 minute presentations that are observed (sometimes videotaped) and provided feedback on their strengths and areas of growth by the other participants. For further information, contact the EDC or your TA Mentor.
• Workshops: Primarily intended for new teaching assistants. Broad topics are offered by the EDC; discipline specific are offered by the TA Mentors. Additional sessions may also be available, including online options.
• Workshop Panelist: Primarily for experienced/continuing teaching assistants who provide the voice of experience on a particular topic in a workshop. Contact the EDC or your Mentor for more information
• Workshop Creator:  Looking for training on a particular topic? Why not research and facilitate your own session. Pitch a topic to your Mentor or the EDC, research scholarly journals and books and prepare a lesson plan.
• TA Talk article: TAs who’s schedules can not accommodate the more active, interpersonal training options can research and submit up to two TA Talk articles (1 hour’s credit is offered per article) per year. These articles must be researched using academic sources and should be between 500 and 1000 words. *Please note: Link is attached to EDC Certificate in Teaching Assistant Skills, although all TAs are welcome to submit an article.
• Other: These are only the most popular options, but there are many other forms of training. Speak with your Mentor, the EDC or FGPA for additional opportunities.

This is also why it is so important to be selective in your training: you should seek out the best sessions and programs that are most applicable to your TA duties, in addition to sessions that will help you to grow as an instructor and a professional. For this same reason, you are encouraged to go beyond simply attending workshops to more active forms of training such as peer observations and workshop creator, which will prompt you to reconsider your approach to teaching and get you out into the community with your peers where the training will have a greater impact. 

Until you know for certain what you will be doing as a TA, it is strongly recommended that you hold off on attending training sessions. Once you know what your duties are, you will have a better idea of what training to pursue. Sessions are offered throughout the year, through both the EDC and through Mentor supported departments, and training can be completed through the year so teaching assistants should select the best sessions that suit their needs, not simply the ones that are offered early or at a convenient time.

Topics and frequency are determined by needs and interest. It is important to remember that workshops are intended primarily for new teaching assistants, so continuing teaching assistants should be participating in other forms of training such as peer observations and workshop creator. If there is a lack of topics that address your needs as a TA, you are also encouraged to create your own session.

The topics that the EDC and the Mentors provide training for is often time sensitive. The goal is to ensure individuals are trained early in the term so that they can apply the knowledge from workshops for the duration of the term. For this reason the EDC offers workshops in the first 6-8 weeks of each term. Mentors offer fewer workshops, but aim to stagger their sessions to match the needs of their respective department with regards to grading and time management. Therefore near the end of the term, the majority of workshops have been offered with a few still potentially offered by the Mentors.

Please look over this comprehensive list of training options. Please note that workshops are primarily intended for new teaching assistants, so you are encouraged to investigate alternative options.

Yes.  If you wish to apply this towards the Certificate in Teaching Assistant Skills, however, you will need to ensure it is not a duplicate credit. If you have already attended a workshop on the same topic, your role as a panelist is that of a Mentor or a guide to other teaching assistants, but you are not contributing to your own development. If you have never attended a workshop on the topic of your panel discussion, then you are welcome to use it towards your training hours and as a requirement for the certificate.

All training is captured in Carleton Central. Click on the TA Training link located under the Student Support Services list to access your records and view all of the available workshops. *Please note that workshops are primarily intended for new TAs and represent only one method of training. For the full list of training options, click here.

Once you have identified your preferred session, you can register at the click of a button (barring any restrictions).

Please note: Individuals in Mentor supported departments should make an effort to attend training sessions offered by their Mentor. Credit will not be given for individuals who attend workshops outside of their discipline (ie: Engineers should not attend Film Studies workshops and vice versa). To see which departments have Mentor support, click here

First, log into Carleton Central and visit the TA Training section where you will see a list of all the workshops you have signed up for. Then simply select the title of the session you are no longer able to attend and click deregister. Finally, confirm that you wish to proceed, at which time you will be deregistered.

The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs manages the TA Management System with the intention of tracking all TA training. The EDC uses the system in an additional capacity to track the progress of the participants of the EDC Certificate in Teaching Assistant Skills.

If a session reads “EDC Certificate Credit: No” this simply means that the session does not count towards the EDC certificate, although it will still likely count towards the CUPE paid training. If a session does not count towards the CUPE paid training, this will be indicated in the session description. 

The first five  individuals who are on the waitlist will automatically receive an email in the event someone deregisters from a full workshop. At this point, the first individual to log into Carleton Central, open the workshop from your list of upcoming sessions and – if you are the first individual to do so – click the register button. Please note that due to heavy interest in the sessions, there are many individuals interested in accessing workshops.

For a detailed slideshow of how to register for a workshop while on the waitlist, please click here.

Please allow a minimum of one week for your training to be input in the system as many facilitators are busy with other responsibilities. If a week has passed and your attendance has not been capture, you should contact the session facilitator. If you attended a session through the EDC, please contact us directly instead of your facilitator so that we can look into your inquiry.

Please note: You are strongly encouraged to track your progress independently of the TA Management System in order to ensure its accuracy. Consider tracking the day, time, location, and length of each training session.

Each unit is responsible for inputting their training, so it is possible that your training facilitator has not yet had the opportunity to input it in the system. Individuals are asked to wait a week for their attendance record to be updated following a training session.

If you participated in training before Winter 2010, your training will not appear in the system (it cannot accommodate sessions before that date). If you attended sessions before this date and wish to know how close to completion you are in the EDC certificate, please contact us as edc@carleton.ca to confirm your attendance record.

In addition to these attendance records, individuals must ensure they sign the attendance form at their training session, in addition to independently documenting the names, dates and locations of all their training. Your signature at training ensures that your attendance has been captured, so if you do not sign you will not see a session appear on your training transcript.

The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs facilitates the September Orientation and are responsible for inputting the attendance records of the session. A decision was made not to input the records for September 2010 and as a result they do not appear in the database.

The Mentorship Program is a four year old program that features experienced teaching assistants in select departments providing department specific training. These individuals run workshops, organize orientations, observe discussion groups and labs, and provide general advice and feedback. In 2011-2012, the program encompasses 17 departments. The full list of departments can be found here.

Mentor workshops/sessions have been created specifically to address the responsibilities of the particular department. In many cases this content is supplemented by faculty and experienced teaching assistants who provide concrete examples from courses that you may be assigned to.

In addition to specific content, the majority of these workshops are also available for credit towards the EDC’s Certificate in Teaching Assistant Skills. Please bear in mind that duplicate sessions will not count for credit.

All teaching assistants from Mentor supported departments are strongly encouraged to utilize the resources of their Mentor as much as possible.

Individuals that are interested in attending a TA Mentor workshop should search the available workshops in Carleton Central using their department as a search filter.

The 2011-2012 list of Mentor supported departments can be found here.

Mentors are hired on an annual basis and recruitment traditionally begins in the spring. Individuals who are interested are encouraged to speak to the existing Mentor or (if your department is not Mentor supported) the graduate supervisor.

Qualities in successful applicants include:

• Interested in teaching and pedagogy
• Approachable
• Flexible
• Adaptable
• Reliable
• Creative
• Excellent time management and organizational skills
• Excellent public speakers
• Well liked and respected in the department (by peers, Faculty and Staff alike)
• Upper year MA or PhD students

Applications are available from February – March in Carleton Central (under the Student Services tab). Interviews for qualified applicants are held in mid-March.