Workload Policy for Graders and Recitation Leaders

The following Workload Policy for Graders and Recitation Leaders is a result of this study and outlines the responsibilities for professors and GTAs. Please take a look at the guidelines and expectations.

I. Maximum Labor Hours

Professors with graders or recitation-section leaders should manage their assignments so that

Graders do not on average spend more than 10 hours per week on the course; and
Recitation leaders do not spend on average more than 20 hours per week.

The calculations of these hours must encompass any and all of the following activities that might be required of the GTA:

Reading for the class
Attending the professor’s lectures
Meeting on matters pertaining to the course
Holding office hours
Answering emails
Grading
Preparing class
Teaching

We all know that the academic calendar has rhythms: more time will be spent on a course when exams and papers are due. At such points in the calendar, GTAs may find themselves working more than the average. However, such overloads should never be the rule.

As you calculate your assignments, you need to be certain that the recitation leader’s workload will not average more than 20 hours per week—recognizing that simply attending two lectures and teaching two sections itself involves 3.6 hours of labor. The grader’s workload should not be more than 10 hours/week—and simply attending the faculty’s lectures involves 2.6 hours of labor.

Professors should also consult with their GTAs in determining deadlines to make sure that they do not fall at a bad time for the GTAs (e.g., when they are taking candidacy exams).

II. Policies for Lecture Courses with Graders:

Graders are assigned to help the faculty member grade assignments in courses with high enrollment. The assignment of a grader is not intended to free the professor from all grading responsibilities, but only to reduce the grading responsibilities to the levels of most of our courses. Typically, then, the professor and grader should either split a batch of assignments or divide the assignments—e.g., professor grading the final paper, grader grading the final exam. (Faculty who require GTA support as part of a disability accommodation should discuss with the Chair the required level of support.)
Professors may ask graders to hold office hours, but such office hours must be included within the calculated workload. Additionally, because the professor writes the assignments and determines the criteria for grading the assignments, it is more appropriate for the professor to field questions about the assignments and their grading.
Graders should not be assigned any work unrelated to grading, which includes recording attendance, communication and paperwork with SLDS, giving lectures, or other clerical tasks.

III. Policies for Lecture Courses with Recitation Leaders

In addition to respecting the 20 hours/week limit discussed above, the professor should observe the following guidelines:

The professor should visit each GTA’s recitation once a semester and meet with the GTA afterwards to provide feedback.
A recitation leader is neither required nor entitled to give a lecture.
Any lectures GTAs do give should be mentorship opportunities. Before a GTA lectures, the professor should meet with the GTA to discuss content and pedagogical strategies. A recitation leader should never give a lecture unless the professor is present to observe and the professor should give meaningful feedback after the lecture.
Recitation leaders should never be asked to lecture when faculty are ill or away on business. When a major emergency (e.g., serious accident or illness, death in the family) might require a professor to miss multiple class meetings, the professor should notify the Chair, who will set in motion the process of determining appropriate arrangements.
Recitation leaders should not be assigned work unrelated to their recitations, which includes recording attendance in the lectures, communication and paperwork with SLDS (other than, of course, providing the accommodations pertaining to their recitations), or other clerical tasks.

IV. Implementation

Professors should inquire regularly how much time GTAs are spending on their work for the course, and GTAs should inform the professor whenever they spend more than the 10 or 20 hours of their assignment. Professors may not realize how much time it takes to grade assignments. Solutions to working overtime may include providing rubrics that will make grading more efficient or pitching in with the grading. In the 2000-level lecture survey courses, more frequent informal response papers might be both more valuable to undergraduates than fewer formal papers and less time consuming for GTAs to grade.
If GTAs are routinely spending more than the allotted time and find the professor unresponsive, they should contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies or the Director of Graduate Studies.

V. Mentoring and Best Practices

One of the advantages for GTAs assigned to these courses is that they work with professors experienced at lecturing—a difficult skill that GTAs may need in their careers. Courses with recitations work best when professors and their recitation leaders share their talents and insights to produce a great learning experience for the undergraduates, and when those undergraduates perceive the recitations to be integral to the course rather than peripheral. We encourage professors to consult with recitation leaders on their syllabus, assignments, criteria, and to discuss their pedagogical choices. We recommend that they meet with their recitation leaders weekly to address any problems that arise, both those relating to the functioning of the recitations and to GTA labor. Collaboration, trust, and communication will do much to ensure that our graduate assistants are not being overworked.