Preparing for the term

When preparing for the term ahead, there are two crucial elements that will help you succeed: the course outline and meeting with your instructor.

The course outline

The course outline or syllabus is a road map to understanding the structure and deliverables of the course and the instructor’s approach. It may contain key information including:

• The time and location of the class
• The learning outcomes of the course
• The materials that the course instructor will be using to support student learning (readings, slides, videos)
• The types and weighting of the assessments the instructor will be using
• The deadlines for assessment submission
• The course instructor’s policies on submission of late assignments and class attendance or participation

When you receive a copy of the course outline, it is advisable to use it to plan your time during the semester. Consider placing important deadlines for the course into your calendar, if you use one, and checking to see if you have any scheduling conflicts with other obligations that you might resolve early in the semester.

Questions to ask your instructor

It is crucial to meet with the course instructor at the earliest possible opportunity to lay the foundation for a good working relationship moving forward. Meeting with the course instructor can help you both get on the same page about essential topics including the duties associated with your contract, grading expectations, and the learning objectives of the course. You are usually only allotted one hour for meetings and administrative matters, so it’s best to review the course outline and prepare all your questions in advance of the meeting.

Important things to discuss in that meeting include:

Tutorial/studio/lab leaders

• Whether you will be required to keep up with class readings
• Whether you will be required to show up to, or lead, any class sessions tutorials, studios, or labs .
• Expectations for communication (frequency, method, time-sensitive or urgent matters)\
• Whether you will be required to hold office hours
• Confirming hours for the contract and how the instructor wants to be keep notified of your hours worked
• How to handle conflicts in classroom discussions
• If and where you should post any content on Moodle for students to access.

Markers/graders

• Expectations for how many hours you should spend grading.
  Note: Marking time is often allocated on a ‘per student’ basis. It is important to know how much time you should be spending per student on each assignment so it adds up to the allotted time you have been awarded in your contract. For example, if you are allotted 1 hour per student, and you are responsible for marking four assignments, a rough guide would be 15 minutes per assignment per student.
• Expectations for when grading should be completed after each assignment is submitted
• Whether you will be using a grading rubric to mark assessments 
• Instructor’s policy on grading, late work, suspected plagiarism or misuse of GenAI
• If and how you will post final grades. For example, the instructor may want it in a spreadsheet for them to review and post themselves, or they may require you to post it directly on Moodle.