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From: honavar@uwai.UUCP (Humanoid #1vgh1)
Newsgroups: soc.college,net.cse
Subject: Re: Who teaches CS classes?
Message-ID: <424@uwai.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 18-Oct-86 03:36:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: uwai.424
Posted: Sat Oct 18 03:36:06 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 21-Oct-86 08:35:49 EDT
References: <922@Shasta.STANFORD.EDU>
Reply-To: honavar@ai.WISC.EDU (Humanoid #1vgh1)
Distribution: net
Organization: U of Wisconsin CS Dept
Lines: 47
Keywords: TAs, professors, teaches
Xref: watmath soc.college:74 net.cse:995

In article <922@Shasta.STANFORD.EDU> andy@Shasta.STANFORD.EDU (Andy Freeman) writes:
>Who actually teaches CS classes at other schools?  How are
>graduate students supported?
>
	At University of Wisconsin-Madison, only the introductory CS classes
	are taught by TAs. Examples of introductory classes are the first
	programming course, Intro to Computers for non CS majors and the like.

	However, TAs may be involved in grading and/or consulting with students
	in post-introductory courses.

	Graduate students are supported by teaching and research assistantships
	as well as fellowships and occasionally by jobs in the university
	computing facilities.
>
>I bring this up because of a survey I read in either net.cse or
>soc.college.  One of the questions was whether graduate students
>belonged to a union.  That didn't make sense to me until I realized
>that graduate students might be supported elsewhere as teachers
>instead of as researchers.

	There is a teaching assistants' union here to which TAs can belong
	if they want to.
>
>Is student teaching fair to either the teachers or their students?
>(I know that some TAs and graduate student teachers are wonderful
>and that some professors shouldn't be allowed inside a classroom.
>I think that's irrelevant; am I wrong?)

	Graduate students that are given teaching responsibilities are
	well qualified for the job. For Ph.D students who might choose 
	to stay in the academia after graduation, teaching is a useful
	experience. Often, there are not enough professors to teach
	introductory CS courses and TAs have to fill the void. The
	question of fairness is irrelevant so long as graduate students
	are not forced to teach against their will and students are not
	taught by incompetent TAs. 

	At UW-Madison, TA taught sections are limited in enrollment to
	a maximum of 25 and the small class size is really a big plus
	in an introductory undergraduate course. It would never be 
	practical to have professors teach over 30 sections of intro.
	to programming and retain the small class size.
>
>
	Vasant Honavar
	honavar@ai.wisc.edu