At USC, MS students are often hired to assist faculty in administering classes, referred to as “Course Producers” (the title “Teaching Assistant” is reserved for PhD students). Each semester, I hire a few CPs for each of my classes (generally about 1 CP for 30 students). Here are my policies regarding CPs:
- The student must have previously taken then class, preferably a section taught by me.
- I give priority to students in the second year (third or fourth semester) of their MS program.
- My selection criteria are grade in the specific class, overall GPA, and my assessment of the communications skills of the student (so as to be best able to assist students who are having difficulty with the class).
- In order to give as many students a possible the opportunity to be a CP, I generally do not hire students to be CPs more than one time.
Responsibilities of CPs:
- CPs are not permitted to work more than 20 hours per week.
- The two primary responsibilities for a CP are to grade student submissions and to assist students with questions regarding the course.
- I may also ask for assistance in other areas including creating homework assignments and solutions and assisting with various technical activities regarding the tools and systems used by the class.
- CPs are expected to attend all classes in person (except for occasional absences due to extenuating circumstances).
- Each CP should schedule one to two hours per week of office hours. This can be by Zoom or in person.
Application procedures:
- Once the schedule is posted for the next semester (on classes.usc.edu), applications can be entered in the myviterbi.usc.edu site (under the link “Grader, Mentor, and Course Producer Applications).
- Decisions will be made for the spring semester shortly after the completion of the grading for the fall semester (typically about 3 weeks after the last class of the fall semester). Decisions for the fall semester are made approximately three weeks before the start of the fall semester.