Syllabus
The purpose of CS 501 is to prepare the Computer Science TAs for teaching in the classroom environment. TAs are not expected to have any prior teaching experience, so this course will help them achieve confidence in the classroom, grade equitably and efficiently, teach to various learning styles and establish their personal teaching philosophies. The course is given to both students who will be TAing concurrently in the fall quarter and those who hope to TA in the future.
Instructor
Junrui Liu (he/him, first name is pronounced "June-ray")
I'm a 5th year PhD student in Computer Science. I'm also the Lead TA for the CS department this year, so please reach out to me if you have teaching-related questions or concerns.
In my free time, I like playing music. I'm currently studying the carillon (you might catch me practicing on the Storke Tower over the quarter).
Email: junrui@ucsb.edu
Office hours: TBD
Requirements
Your time as a graduate student is precious and limited. Thus, you'll only need to complete the following list of requirements to pass the course. For the entire fall quarter, please expect to spend a total of 5 hours in class, and around 5-8 hours after class. Spread across the quarter, the workload comes out to be just above 1 hour per week in combined in-class and out-of-class time, which I hope is manageable.
| Who | What you need to do | Estimated time |
|---|---|---|
| Everyone | Attend classes from week 1 - 5 | 5 hours (in class) |
| Everyone | Complete the autograder lab | N/A: we'll do this in class |
| Everyone | Pick any one of Certificate in Inclusive Teaching (CIT) workshops to attend in the fall quarter | 1 hour |
| TAs | Maintain a teaching journal | 5-10 minutes per week |
| TAs | Go to the class on drafting a teaching philosophy statement | 1 hour (in class) |
| TAs | Write a teaching philosophy statement | 1 hour |
| Non-TAs | Give a 10-min teaching demo | Prep time + sign up for 1 class where you'll present |
| Non-TAs | Observe a discussion/lab section led by a fellow TA | 1 hour |
Attendance
Attendance is mandatory from week 1 through week 5, and will be taken in class.
From week 6 to week 10, you'll only need to attend exactly 1 week of class:
- If you're a TA, attend the class on drafting teaching philosophy statements (tentatively scheduled for week 6).
- If you're a non-TA, sign up for 1 class to give your micro teaching demo.