Teaching Support and What It Involves

1. Teaching Support and What It Involves Cristina Adriana Alexandru calexan4@staffmail.ed.ac.uk

2. Summary What is teaching support? Available roles The allocation policy Contracts and payment Benefits Available training opportunities (in school, other) How to sign up After you have signed up

3. What is teaching support? • Beginning of year: ITO advertises set of roles/ course + number of hours/ role. • For UG Hons, Taught PG, PGR students • Roles are meant to help with delivery of aspects of the course • Course organisers are responsible for: • guidance and support • handling grievances or complaints • have ultimate academic responsibility for course

4. Available roles • Tutor (for all): • Preparation + delivery of tutorial from material • Taking attendance • Answering to student queries • Providing oral feedback to students/feedforward to course team • Demonstrator (for all): • Hosting lab session • Answering to student queries • Providing oral feedback to students/ feed forward to course team

5. Available roles • Teaching assistant (TA- PGR students only)- one or more of: • Designing assessed/unassessed coursework • Designing tutorial material • Preparing slides and lecture notes • Creating and updating course information • Answering student queries • Occasional delivery/support in delivery of lectures • Other similar support duties

6. Available roles • Marker (PGR students only): • Marking assessed and formative coursework • Providing feedback to students • Returning marks + feedback to ITO within max 2 weeks, or announcing if more time needed • Answering student queries on marks and feedback • Exam marker (PGR students only): • Same as marker but marking exams.

7. The allocation policy • For PGR students: • If >40 hours/year-> seek supervisor approval! • Max 132 hours/year (unless PCD)! Extra not paid. • For Hons UG and Taught PG students: max 3 tutor or 2 tutor + 1 demonstrator role/ semester • Overseas students need to check visa on max hours or get advice from International Office. • Declare hours on monthly timesheet (deadline around 25th) for payment next month

8. The allocation policy • Normal maximum allowances: • Tutors: declared tutorial h * 2 + max 8 h training. • Demonstrators & markers: declared h + max 8 h training. • TAs: declared h + max 8 h training + max 5 h coordination with course lecturer • If likely to require more time-> announce BEFORE course organiser, who must seek approval from Director of Teaching • Do not require more than 15% more time.

9. Contracts and payment Guaranteed hours contract Payment starts at UE06 scale (14.40 £/h), and increases with each year of experience. Monthly BACS transfer to bank account, one month after each timesheet has been submitted.

10. Benefits Of course, payment! Pleasurable, rewarding! Developing subject area knowledge, discovering new research Good practice if interested in academic career! Developing transferrable skills: communication, leadership, presentation, organisation, time management Boosting your CV

11. Available training opportunities- In School - • 4 Informatics training sessions/semester: Wedesdays 2-4 pm every two weeks starting next week • Optional but highly recommended! • Attendance paid at hourly rate! • Themes: demonstrating, tutoring, marking, getting a teaching accreditation, others if voted. • I announce future sessions on tutors mailing list.

12. Other available training opportunities • Numerous IAD (Institute for Academic Development) university-wide courses • Some future orientation courses: • Effective Tutoring Introduction (23 Sep, online 29 Sep) • Introduction to Laboratory Demonstrating (30 Sep) • Assessment & Providing Feedback (14 Oct), in the Sciences (21 Oct) • Enhanced development courses on supporting students, accreditation, lectures, courses.

13. How to sign up • Before signing up: • Access the Theon vacancy webpage: https://portal.theon.inf.ed.ac.uk/reports/teachsupp/vacancies/index.html • Read role requirements and course web page • Check with supervisor/ sponsor/ grant holder if necessary • Contact course organiser

14. How to sign up • Stage 1: • Fill in Applicant Information Form with personal details, skills, experience, work preference. • Bring to the ITO: • Passport • EU National ID card • Visa/other supporting documentation (if non UK) • Tier 4 Semester Dates Letter (if Tier 4 visa holder) • Stage 2: • Email tutor-applications@inf.ed.ac.uk with course name, role name and number of hours (groups). • Even if the lecturer has approached you!

15. After you have signed up Course organisers decide on who to appoint If you are accepted, you will receive an email confirming the role and number of hours One email for each role where accepted Wait for such an email for 2 weeks before contacting the ITO Once appointed, the ITO will contact you regarding the contract if you don’t have one Fill in contract documentation asap to be able to receive payments!

16. Some resources Teaching support Informatics webpages: http://web.inf.ed.ac.uk/infweb/student-services/teaching-support Sign-up page: https://portal.theon.inf.ed.ac.uk/reports/teachsupp/vacancies/index.html IAD website (especially section on T&Ds): http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/institute-academic-development