Setting and Managing Expectations: A Framework for Onboarding Teaching Assistants

teaching assistants, collaborative teaching, student learning

Teaching assistants (TAs) are frequently leveraged in college, yet few have scrutinized the process for setting and managing their expectations. While beneficial, each TA experience varies, potentially causing concern, frustration, or even animosity in the TA-instructor partnership. We will reflect on our experiences with and as TAs before highlighting the history, advantages, and challenges of the relationship. We will then discuss examples of positive and negative TA-instructor relationships. Next, we will engage participants in a reflective discussion about identifying and managing expectations with TAs. The session will conclude with an introduction about a setting and managing expectations framework.