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:
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.
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.