08.18.08
Kaun Banega TA?
The list of TA’s for this semester was recently finalized. Reactions ranged from disappointment to bewilderment as students did not find their names on the list or find themselves TA’s for courses they haven’t even applied for !
Student X was denied TA ship despite being a TA for the course last year, as students with higher CGPA’s had applied. Student Y was denied TAship because, despite being widely acknowledged as arguably the best candidate, he had a A-. Student Z was denied TAship despite the faculty member giving a written request for Z to be made a TA. Rumor has it that a MS-CSE student was made a TA for DSP. Apparently he had never done the course or ever heard of it. In fact he didn’t know whether DSP meant Digital SP or Discrete SP.
Are you X or Y or Z? Do you think that this is good for academics? Do you think that students selected as TA’s based on a grade-CGPA sort make the best TA’s? Certainly not. In defense of the institute, at least the faculty member responsible for TA allocation is trying to be consistent with the selection criterion. Also there is apparently some semblance of transparency.
Are TA’s paid enough? Is the Rs.2250 pay adequate compensation for the TA’s who definitely put in more then the recommended 5 hours a week? Or is it fair to argue that TA’s should not be concerned about the money as being a TA is primarily about the opportunity to learn and experience teaching?
Is IIIT selecting the best TA’s? Has the time come for IIIT to re-evaluate the way they appoint TA’s?
harith said,
August 18, 2008 at 3:50 pm
I think yes. They do need to re-evaluate the way they appoint TAs. The one with good CGPA is not necessarily a good teacher. Unfortunately, it is not a simple thing to evaluate the teaching capabilities of a person either. The faculty just can’t spare so much time in just selecting the TAs. That’s why they put it in the hands of You Know Who. But, at least they need to talk to the interested students and those students should convince the professors why they are good at teaching/other tasks of a TA.
portunes said,
August 18, 2008 at 6:01 pm
The present system is so FUBARed that good people cannot get TAship. But if we look it from the faculty point of view , i think a research student needs to be gettin bucks more than a B.tech guy. But in ideal case this can be harmul or say less benifitial for the students taking the course.
Let me tell you how FUBARed the present system is . A student X got an A in the course Y his gpa has just crossed 8 . He applies for taship for Y. Now a student Z , with a GPA of near 9.3 and one batch junior to X and also got a B grade in the course gets the freaking TAship.
Is this fair ? I think not .. Just because he/she has a GPA of above 9 doesnt mean that he/she can teach it better + Atleast look at his/her grade in the course for cryin out loud.
@Oracle Nicely put up . You could have also posted your views
.
Its time the TAship co-ordinator changes …
ShArK said,
August 18, 2008 at 7:02 pm
I think selecting TA’s should be left to course instructors. Nobody is that busy that he/she can’t select TA’s. In the present system the TA coordinator has no way of knowing who is good at what. The only thing he has to go by is the grade or the cgpa.This problem will remain no matter who the TAship coordinator is. Some faculty members(ex Jawahar, PJN, Kannan etc..) hand pick their TA’s and the TA’s are generally some of the best in the area concerned. I think the faculty has to dump the lazy attitude and make an effort to select TA’s. After all the TA’s selected do impact the way the course is taught and in the end reflect on the course instructor more then anything else.
Right now a student with a good cgpa can apply for 10~15 TAships and be confident of landing something as his/her cgpa is high. I don’t know how motivated such people are to be TA’s for one of these randomly allocated courses.
Anon said,
August 18, 2008 at 7:18 pm
I think that there should be a proper interview process for selecting a TA. We are in IIIT Hyderabad. Everything that we should get should be the best. There should not be any politics or personal bias for selecting a TA.
portunes said,
August 18, 2008 at 9:13 pm
@Anon Dude Interviews ? You drunk ?
@shArK ..Dude the course i talked about was one of the courses talked by ( Jawahar, PJN, Kannan etc..) dont want to name anyone
. The system is so retarted that a students one year younger to me , 2 grades lesser than me got the job just because his/her GPA is 1.3 more than me duh !
Rohith said,
August 18, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Dudes!!! Don’t you think you are wasting your times discussing this TA things… they have got experience and they know what is best for the students. So everybody do your research and don’t worry. That’s all you have to do. Just don’t worry.
mythalez said,
August 18, 2008 at 11:33 pm
@rohith, rofl!!
a system can only be as good as the person implementing it … When Dr. Jawahar used to allocate TAs, it was pretty decent.
I guess now it has become a blindly allocate to highest cgpa system … tch. And interested profs can still supply their preferences (which is the best method actually), but I guess most dont bother.
Kulbir Saini said,
August 19, 2008 at 12:48 am
I like this system. Eventually you need something to laugh at. If everything is perfect, there will be no fun at all
Raj said,
August 19, 2008 at 12:58 am
what about a program… which takes grades, cgpa, sgpa, prof recommendation, and student choice for a course from ISAS and automatically assign theTA ship?
Note1: Add the missing attributes to ISAS e.g prof reco
note2: the waightage for each attribute should be assigned properly and after a discussion with faculty.
note3: Derive a formula
e.g. (cgpa + (prof reco)^2 – (sgpa)^3)/100
note4: sgpa depicts what is the state of the student currently.
PS: This idea is purely mine. you r free to choose your own attributes/formulas or whatever.
Badrinath said,
August 19, 2008 at 3:16 am
Deja Vu!
About 2/3 years back (when there were loads of active blogs/bloggers), there was a huge discussion on this very same subject (I think I had a post on this too, now deleted with the old blog). The very same points were put forward, and if memory serves right, I think someone even brought this topic up in an FSIS, which as usual was brushed under the carpet. Being in my 2nd/3rd year, I actually happened to care about TA-ships and courses and what-not, and that was the first year this system was being used.
Now, three TA-ships later, I realise that the tutorials are quite pointless beyond the first year (and in math courses, the second year). Tutes should be about practice and if you really need a TA to TEACH you your subject, you arent putting in any effort.
Back then, it felt that the TA-ship money was too little for the work we put in. Now, I see that the money was too little to be relevant. Its hardly an issue, plus the 2250 you get is AFTER an upward revision, so you cant have any complaints on that.
Taking just CGPA or one subject grade into account is not the way forward. eg: someone may have a C in DSP. At that time, their concepts may have been rubbish, or they underperformed in that one course. However, if they get As in MSP and ASP (which extend DSP concepts), they should still be given preferrence for a DSP TA-ship – because their concepts are FAR better than what they were then.
To conclude – from a neutral PoV, it doesnt really matter who gets a TA-ship, as long as the tutes are regular and the TA is not a complete idiot. Many people tend to have biased opinions because they dont get the TA-ships they want
@nks said,
August 19, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Its good TA ship money is revised … …
i rmr getting 1500 bucks richer every month…
though i hardly cared …
and i dont think ppl do it for money … students of IIIT can earn much more than this … by putting much less effort … !!
Karan said,
August 19, 2008 at 11:00 pm
All I’ll say is I’m disappointed for not being made the Middleware tutor
Varun said,
August 20, 2008 at 12:28 am
students elect TA’s!!!! thats my suggestion…
my all time fav TA: Vishal Malik – Physics