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For Instructors

Utilizing teaching and research assistants in a remote environment

Working with Teaching & Research Assistants

Teaching and research assistants can help you transition to online or hybrid learning.

Help TAs Help You

Your teaching assistant can help you smooth the transition to any instruction mode. Here are some faculty-recommended tips and resources to get TAs involved:

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Keep in touch. Even if you and your TA have decided on a flexible work schedule, try to establish at least a loose schedule in which some hours are kept consistently. Consider holding regular virtual meetings.
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Divvy up tasks. If you manage a team of TAs, you could assign one TA to manage in-class technical difficulties and another one to be on call if students run into issues with technology.
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Ask for help utilizing technology. Ask your TA to research and manage the technical aspects of your course. For example, you could as a TA to research a whiteboard tool or help you record and edit lecture materials.
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Communicate with students. Ask your TA to monitor the chat box during class or have breakout rooms ready for smaller discussions. Student questions about your course may also increase this semester, so assign a TA to monitor and circulate a class FAQs page or wiki.
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Ask for feedback. A TA is uniquely positioned to provide you with course-specific instructional design feedback. Ask your TA to measure class participation, survey student needs, or provide you with ideas to modify learning activities to better fit your teaching objectives.

Research During COVID-19

Here are a few useful articles as you set up and run your research lab fall semester.

  • This Inside Higher Ed article gives some examples of what institutions and people are doing about their research labs.
  • Check out the Council on Governmental Relations independent review and resources pages for federal awards.
  • Johns Hopkins COVID-19 research response hub and program.
  • PowerNotes is designed to facilitate academic research projects and allows you and your students to gather, organize, and keep track of your research. See the Teach Anywhere training on this tool.
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Photo by Rebekah Baker
1906-51-22 Student pouring into a vial.jpg
Photo by Rebekah Baker

Support For Struggling Employees

A TA, RA or other employee may experience difficulties that get in the way of work. Here are some tips for helping them.

  • Reach out. A text or an email asking how your employee is doing is a good first step. Explain what is missing from your work’s progress together and seek for understanding. Ask them to brainstorm next steps with you.
  • Reaffirm goals and expectations. Invite the employee to come up with an action plan for improvement. Be specific about how you will assess his or her growth in the future. More on this here.

In case you’re wondering if employee productivity decreases in remote environments, take heart—it actually may reduce the number of days someone takes off and even increase employee satisfaction. For more information about supervising employees working remotely, see the BYU Human Resources FAQ page for supervisors. Keep in mind that employees and instructors who test positive for COVID-19 will need to use BYU’s self-reporting form.

For Instructors

Setting Up Your Course
Managing the Virtual Classroom
Disciplinary Resources
Assessment Ideas & Resources
Working with Teaching & Research Assistants
Tools & Technology