Teaching Associate (TA) Training

The College of Graduate Studies provides a holistic orientation and training program open to all Graduate Teaching Associates at San José State University. The orientation is run through a Canvas course shell, and students can move through the various modules at their own pace. There are several “live” workshops and interactive sessions.

Topics included in the orientation include:

• Policies and practices that are specific to SJSU on a wide range of issues such as plagiarism, Title IX, student conduct, accessibility, and syllabus creation
• How to best serve and support students at SJSU, including an exploration of the various resources available to students
• Using Canvas, Zoom, and other teaching technologies
• What it means to be a unionized student employee

Students in the course are also assigned a Lead TA Peer Mentor, who they meet with several times throughout the semester and who they can contact if they ever have questions and/or need support.

Orientation sessions open prior to the beginning of each semester and students are given several weeks to complete the program. There are multiple brief written assessments throughout the course, primarily asking students to reflect on aspects of the course material.