TA Resource Page

TA Workload Form (Allocation of Hours Form)

Link to Download: TA Workload Summary Form (Fall & Winter Term)
Link to Download: TA Workload Summary (Summer Term)

Instructions for Professors

An allocation of hours form must be completed for each employee. One copy must be placed in the employment file of the employee and one copy given to the employee.

1. Please fill out the TA Anticipated Workload Summary (Allocation of Hours Form),
2. Meet with your TA(s) to discuss your workload expectations, and;
3. Email a copy (hist.grad@ubc.ca) of the form to the History Graduate Student Support for the TA’s employee file.

Sample TA Workload Form

General Information about TA Workload Form (Allocation of Hours)

(From: https://cupe2278.ca/how-we-help/hours/allocation-of-hours-form/)

As per the TA Collective Agreement, at the beginning of the term, all instructors are required to provide their TAs with an itemized allocation of hours for the term. This form documents the allocation of hours anticipated to be assigned to the Teaching Assistant for the duties itemized below. You, the TA, and the instructor of your course should keep a copy of this form for your own records.

The purpose of this form is to help both the TA and instructor allot adequate time for the duties of the TA. It is a tool to help plan the term and should facilitate discussion between the TA and instructor. It will also delineate reasonable expectations for the course. This form recognizes that courses can evolve over the length of a term and supports ongoing discussion between the instructor and the TA as to the ongoing allocation of hours.

Additional Notes about History Department TA Workload Form

A. For New TAs only: In-Service Training/TA workshops.

All new TAs are required to participate in one cycle of the History Department's TA Training Program.

Number of Hours to Allocate on TA Workload:

• Please refer to the TA Orientation/Workshop Schedule below (Item #2), or;
• Contact the TA Director.

The TA Orientation Day, and TA Workshops is scheduled by the TA Director in the summer session before the academic year begins in September.  The schedule will be updated on the TA Resource Page as soon as it is available.

B. Vacation Hours

Number of Hours to Allocate on TA Workload:

• All TAs have some vacation hours: 8 hours per term (4-months), prorated for smaller appointments.

C. Online Anti-Bullying Training (Certificate)

Number of Hours to Allocate on TA Workload:

• For new TAs only: 0.5 hours

All new TAs are required to complete the online anti-bullying training within the first two weeks from the start of their very first teaching assistantship.  Training consists of an online presentation and a small quiz.  Once your Job Appointment is set up on the Human Resource System (called Workday), students will receive a Workday notification to complete the online training.   If students have completed this previously, they do not need to take it again.

D. Online Privacy Fundamentals Training (Certificate)

Number of Hours to Allocate on TA Workload:

• For new TAs only: 0.5 hours

All new TAs are required to complete the online Privacy Matters training within the first two weeks from the start of their very first teaching assistantship.  Training consists of an online presentation and a small quiz.  Once your Job Appointment is set up on the Human Resource System (called Workday), students will receive a Workday notification to complete the online training.   If students have completed this previously, they do not need to take it again.

TA Director: Laura Ishiguro (Laura.Ishiguro@ubc.ca). If you have any questions or concerns about this training or any other aspect of your TA work, please email me.

Overview of the History Department TA Training Program (2022-23)
5 July 2022. Subject to change.

Online home:

Canvas (History Department TA Training). The site is not yet available for 2022-23 – stay tuned! It will contain information and resources to support your work as a History TA.

TA training events:

As usual, there will be a full-day History TA Orientation in early September, and a series of workshops in Term 1. New TAs are required to attend these events; they are included in your workload hours for your Term 1 TAship. (Returning TAs are welcome to attend any sessions if you would like to brush up or build on your first-year training, but you are not required to do so. Dropins are fine; however, if possible, I would appreciate an email when you are planning to attend a session, as this will allow me to ensure that the catering order and room size is sufficient.)

New for 2022-23 *pending confirmation of funding* – Training 2.0. In response to feedback from last year, I have planned several drop-in lunches/open discussions about TAing in Term 2. These will be optional and open to all History TAs. Stay tuned for more information.

All of the above are currently planned as in-person events. Of course, this is subject to public health order, university policy, and TA Director discretion. If required or if I determine it is necessary in specific circumstances, I will transition the event(s) online, where they will be hosted on Zoom. I will announce any such changes by email and on Canvas.

If you are unable to attend in-person workshop(s), remote/online alternatives can be arranged. For this or any other point that would make the training more accessible to you – no questions asked, no documentation required – please contact me by email.

Food will be provided at in-person events. This will always include some vegetarian and vegan options. Please email me if you have other dietary needs or preferences.

Schedule (as of 5 July 2022)

TA Orientation
Tuesday 6 September, Buchanan Tower 1112 (History Department)
All new TAs are expected to attend.

Tentative schedule (to be confirmed)
9:00-9:30     - Arrive.
9:30-10:00   - Welcome, introduction & overview: being a History TA
10:00-10:30 - CUPE 2278 & the collective agreement
10:30-10:45 - Break
10:45-12:00 - Teaching & learning for everyone: accessibility, inclusion & you
12:00-1:00   - Lunch & break
1:00-2:15      - Techniques for the first class: establishing dynamics & facilitating discussion
2:15-3:00     - Discussion, conclusions & what's next

Term 1 workshops
Wednesdays, 11:30am-12:50pm, Buchanan Tower 1133 (History Department)
All new TAs are expected to attend.

14 September  - Further techniques for History teaching.
28 September - Indigenous histories, colonialism, & teaching/learning-an introduction for TAs
12 October       - Giving feedback & effective grading (while managing your workload)
2 November    - Supporting students & connecting them with supports

Annual TA Townhall Meeting
Tuesday 15 November, 12:30-1:50pm, Buchanan Tower 1112 (History Department)
All History TAs (new and returning) are welcome and encouraged to attend.

If Professors have TA(s) that need access to your course(s): 

• TAs need to be hired into the HR system to show up as an eligible TA to add to a CANVAS course.
• Jason Wu (hist.grad@ubc.ca) is your department timetable representative (T-Rep), and will enter your TA(s) into the SIS system as the final step after the TA job appointment has been approved and appears in the HR system.  Once the TA is assigned on SIS, this will automatically grant access to CANVAS.
• In terms of a timeline, TAs are entered into the system approximately 1-2 pay periods before the course starts.

How can professors check to see if your TA(s) already have access to their Canvas Site: 

• Go the People tab in your Course Navigation menu.
• If you do not see your TA(s) listed, please contact your T-Rep (Jason Wu is T-Rep contact to assign TAs for HIST courses.)

To help your TAs get ready for to support your classroom, please let them know that Arts ISIT has TA focused workshops and ensure they self-enrol in the Arts Teaching Assistant Training site in Canvas.

Contact Person if the professor’s TA does not appear on CANVAS: 

If you have any questions about adding your TAs to CANVAS, please contact your Department T-Rep (jason.wu@ubc.ca or hist.grad@ubc.ca).  If you contact ARTS IT for assistance with adding TAs to CANVAS, your request will get forward to Jason Wu (History Department T-Rep).

Location:
Rooms 143, 145, 147, 149
Auditorium Annex A
1924 West Mall V6T 1Z2

Instructions for TAs:

1. Please find your TA Room Assignment below.
2. Please email your office hours (Day and Time) to hist.grad@ubc.ca and this information will be inputted into the Room Assignments below.

Room Assignment:

Important Notes about TA Office:

1. Each TA’s Physical UBC Card will serve as the swipe key card for access to all of the rooms.
2. Each TA is assigned to one of four TA Offices.
3. Please note the fridge in 143 is for all TAs to use (hence, shared access).
4. Each office shares 5-10 TAs per term. TAs are assigned at random and evenly distributed across all of the rooms.
5. TAs work out their office hours with the other TAs in the shared room.
6. TAs are assigned a primary/designated room, but have access to all rooms in case there are unforeseen circumstances (For example, a TA can use an adjoining empty room to meet with their students if their designated room is temporarily occupied by another TA.
7. TA offices are primarily for Office hours. Office space not being used for office hours may be used for TA prepping, marking, etc.
8. Due to close proximity with other student offices, please be respectful of noise. Casual conversations should take place outside of the office area.

If you are not able to access the TA rooms with your student card, please send an email to hist.grad@ubc.ca to check if your student card is activated for Swipe Card Access.

The History Department Teaching Assistant Offices are located at:

Auditorium Annex,
1924 West Mall,
Vancouver, BC,
V6T 1Z2

The TA Office rooms are 143, 145, 147, 149 and 152.
The entrance is Door H (143A).

For your reference, 143A is shared common area out front.

UBC Employee email address: “@ubc.ca” or “@mail.ubc.ca”

As employees of UBC, TAs are required to use a UBC Faculty and Staff email (FASmail) address (“@ubc.ca” or “@mail.ubc.ca”) to communicate with students in their tutorial sections.  When emailing your class as a group, keep student privacy in mind by using the blind carbon copy function (“bcc”) or equivalent in your email program.   Do not use personal email (E.g. gmail, hotmail, etc.) to communicate with students.

Once the TAship is set up in the UBC HR system, students will receive an automated email with instructions to set up a “@ubc.ca” email.  Only UBC employees are allowed to use this email address.  Please note that the “@ubc.ca” email will only be accessible during the job (TA) appointment.

Important Note: When students are no longer active employees, their access to FASmail will be automatically discontinued. UBC Faculty and Staff Email (FASmail) is meant to only be used by UBC employees. For academic work, students should be using the UBC student email: (at)student.ubc.ca.

How to extend the use of “@ubc.ca” email after job appointment is finished:

Student Employees who would still like to use the “ubc.ca” email after their job appointments have finished will need to ask their thesis supervisor to sponsor them for a guest email account for a limited period.

1. Student must ask thesis supervisor to sponsor guest account. Students will need to be sure that their thesis supervisor knows the student’s CWL name (just the name, not the password).
2. Instructions for supervisor on “How to Sponsor a Guest Account” is found on the website:

https://it.ubc.ca/services/accounts-passwords/campus-wide-login-cwl/how-sponsor-guest

• Use the option to “Sponsor an account with an existing CWL”
• Students will need to be sure that their thesis supervisor knows the student’s CWL name (just the name, not the password).

The TA Invigilation Schedule updated (during the middle of the term) once the end of term exam schedule is released by UBC Scheduling services:

2022-2023 Term 2 Exam & Invigilation Schedule (History Department)

Please find below the Exam & Invigilation Schedule for History Department Courses.

Note for Professors & TAs:

Please find below the Exam & Invigilation Schedule for History Department Courses.

Exam Schedule as of Feb.23.2023
(Exam Rooms have been assigned to the TA Invigilation Schedule)

The location of the exam will be updated later in the term. Standard exam length is 2.5 hours. Please check the official UBC exam schedule for the location: https://students.ubc.ca/enrolment/exams/exam-schedule

For your reference, please find links below for the following information:

• UBC Invigilator’s Cover Sheet
• UBC Exam Invigilation Guidelines (or PDF link)
• UBC Student Conduct During Exams

 For courses without TA(s) assigned to it:

• If professors need a TA invigilator, please contact the TA director in charge of hiring TAs for assistance. If there are enough funds in the TA Budget, the TA Director could hire additional TAs for invigilation work.

For courses with TA(s) assigned to it:

• TA Invigilation Assignments (below) are based on the TA Workload Forms filled out by the professors.
• If professors did not assign invigilation hours for their TA(s), but need a TA invigilator, professors should adjust hours on the TA Workload form and communicate this with their TA(s).

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Payroll Operations recently created a FAQ to answer the community’s most common questions, ranging from when you get paid and how to understand your pay statement, to why your net pay might be lower at the beginning of the year.

The information in the link above includes everything you need to know about how and when you get paid, including how to understand your pay statement and other pay-related information.

Document:

TA Handbook - History (Click to Download)

Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.):

1. How are TAships paid out? Who to contact if you have questions about pay?Teaching Assistantships, set up on the Human Resource System (Workday), are paid out semi-monthly (middle of the month, and end of the month).  Once the TA job appointment is set up on Workday, employees will receive a notification to complete an on-boarding process which includes instructions on how to set up their direct deposit payment on Workday.

2. Who provides the TA Workload Form? What if you don't receive one?
At the beginning of the term, all instructors are required to provide their TAs with an itemized allocation of hours for the term. This form, called the TA Workload Form, documents the allocation of hours anticipated to be assigned to the Teaching Assistant for their duties. If you do not receive a TA Workload form at the beginning of the term from your professor, please contact the TA Director for assistance.

3.  Are there TA Mailboxes in History Department Office?
Each History Department TA is assigned a mailbox in the History Department Office (Buchanan Tower, Room 1297).  TA mailboxes are located just inside the main office entrance on the left hand side.

4. How to set up UBC email for professional capacity?
Once your TA Job Appointment is set up on Workday, the TA will receive a notification to go through an on-boarding process which includes instructions on how to set up an employee email (designated as "(at)mail.ubc.ca" or "(at)ubc.ca).  The employee email serves as the default contact email that will appear on the UBC course schedule for the TA.

When emailing your class as a group, keep student privacy in mind by using the blind carbon copy function (“bcc”) or equivalent in your email program.   Do not use personal email (E.g. gmail, hotmail, etc.) to communicate with students.

UBC Faculty and Staff Email (FASmail) is meant to be used only by UBC employees. When students are no longer active employees, they will not have access to FASmail.

For academic purposes, students should use an official UBC student email (link) designated as "(at)student.ubc.ca").

5. What about re-applying or renewing your TAship for next year?
Anticipated TA positions for the next academic year are posted by ~March 31st.  The anticipated TA positions will be be posted on the Department's Physical TA Bulletin Board, and on the Department Website's TA Opportunities Page.  Returning TAs should renew or re-apply for next year's TAships by filling out the online application/renewal form on the TA Opportunity page by the April 30th deadline.

6. Am I eligible for a UBC Zoom License if my professor requires me to hold online tutorials as part of my TA work?
UBC has a campus-wide license for Zoom as a platform for delivering courses online and larger meetings. Instructions on how to request a UBC zoom account can be found here (Learning Technology Hub), here (UBC IT), or here (UBC Zoom).

7. Where can History TAs get "whiteboard markers" to use in their tutorial sections?

Option #1: History Department TAs can ask (in-person) the front desk administrative support person in the History Main Office (Buchanan Tower, Room 1297) for "whiteboard markers".

Option #2: Fill out the contact form to ask the front desk administrative support person to leave extra whiteboard markers for "pick up" in your TA mailbox located in the History Main Office (Buchanan Tower, Room 1297).