Teaching Assistant Request Electronic Form

MET provides teaching support for on-campus courses to supplement the activities of the faculty and better allow our faculty to focus on course quality. Teaching assistant support is provided for individual course sections by request on a need-basis, is contingent on the availability of funding, and is not guaranteed.

Course Support Activities:

Teaching assistants’ duties can vary depending on the needs of the class and the number of hours of support a course has been allocated. Students may only work up to the number of hours per week that are approved by the deans. Faculty are expected to handle the remainder of any other grading or course preparations.

Types of on-campus course support activities may include, but aren’t limited to:

  • Grading and/or maintaining accurate records of all grades in the form specified by the instructor
  • Attending class and supporting in-class activities
  • Holding office hours between lectures to assist students individually or answer questions
  • Assisting in other preparations for class meetings (posting assignments on Blackboard, photocopying and distributing hand-outs, preparing PowerPoint slides from lecture notes, proctoring exams, assisting in grading projects, etc.).

Eligible Teaching Assistants:

It is preferred that a teaching assistant is a current MET student who has either already taken the course and received a grade of A or A-, or who has a background in the subject area. They should not be a student currently taking the course. A former student or other non-student may be selected as a teaching assistant if a qualified student is not available. University staff members who already work full-time may not work as teaching assistants.

Faculty should identify their own Teaching Assistant. If you are uncertain who to select as your TA, please contact your program or area coordinator for suggestions. After the request has been approved by the deans, please confirm with your selected TA that they are available to take the position.

TAs may begin working only after the requests have been approved by the deans, contracts have been received, and the selected TAs have completed the required employment paperwork. Please refer to the Student Employment Office’s website for information on hiring policies and procedures.

Support Allocations:

Because the size and kind of courses offered at MET are highly variable, the approved teaching assistant allocation for a course section may range between 3 and 10 hours per week. The allocated hours are based on the instructor’s request for an individual course section, and depend on 1) enrollments, 2) the number and complexity of assignments, and 3) the complexity of content in the course, in addition to the availability of funding. Consideration of these factors allows us to support both large courses and smaller courses with complex needs in an equitable manner. Students may only work up to the number of hours per week that are approved by the deans. Faculty are expected to handle the remainder of any other grading or course preparations.

Based on available funding, the general guidelines for Teaching Assistant allocations in 2024-25 MET on-campus classes are:

Enrollments Hours/week
Up to 19 No assistant
20 – 27 3 – 5 hours
28 – 35 5 – 7 hours
Over-enrolled or particularly complex courses 7 – 10 hours

Any exception from these guidelines requires a Chair’s justification and Dean’s approval and is reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Timeline and Process:

Course support requests are highly dependent on course enrollments. As such, allocations are typically not approved until two weeks before classes start, to ensure that decisions are based on relatively stable enrollment numbers. Courses that reach their maximum capacity earlier may be reviewed earlier.

  1. Faculty submit their request for individual course sections (sections that do not meet together should not be combined) via the online form below up to one month before the semester. It is important that all requests are accompanied by a justification for why a TA is needed that includes the number of assignments in the course, and the amount and kind of work that students enrolled in the class are doing. A detailed justification provides important context for the reviewers and speeds up the processing of the request. Faculty may choose to include the name and BUID of their intended TA when submitting the form or may opt to provide that information at a later time, after the request for the position has been reviewed and approved. Requests are not reviewed or approved based on the student who is selected for the role.
  2. The department chair or program director reviews the request to ensure that the course is eligible for a TA. If the course section has any unusual needs or the request falls outside of the normal allocation guidelines, the chair should provide a comment with that context when approving the request.
  3. The Office of the Dean reviews the request to ensure it meets eligibility criteria.
  4. The deans review the request and make the final decision on TA support allocation. Their decisions are communicated to the requesting faculty.
  5. The Office of the Dean coordinates with the faculty and MET Finance to set up the selected TA for each request. An appointment letter for the position with the approved start date is sent to the TA, with a copy to their supervising faculty.

Submitting Requests

Faculty (not students) should use the App for any new Fall or Spring semester requests:

Please do not use this form for Summer Term course TA requests. Those requests go directly through the Summer Term Office.

If you have any questions about your request, or need to make adjustments to an existing request, you can contact Lyn Ariyakulkan, Manager of Faculty Actions: lyna@bu.edu.

 

Frequently Asked Questions