Teaching Fellow System Overview (March, 2012)
Prepared by Judith Hackman and Howard el-Yasin
(Director & Assistant Director, Teaching Fellow Program)
Teaching Fellow Program
The Teaching Fellow Program (TFP) provides the principal framework at Yale in whichgraduate students learn, under faculty guidance, to become effective teachers. Such learning is integral to the preparation of graduate students for professional careers of teaching and scholarship. In order to obtain the greatest benefit from this training, teaching fellows are urged to participate in the programs offered by the Graduate Teaching Center designed to prepare them for the variety and complexity of classroom environments that they will encounter.
Decisions regarding the program are made in close collaboration with the deans of the Graduate School and Yale College, the academic associate deans of the Graduate School, as well as with thechairs, directors of graduate studies (DGSs), and directors of undergraduate studies (DUSs) of the arts and sciences academic departments and programs.
Teaching Fellow System
The Teaching Fellow System (TFS[1]) is the online tool launched in 2009-2010 to support FAS departments and programs and some professional schools[2] as they provide teaching assistance for their courses. TFS is used to allocate Teaching Fellow (TF) and Part-Time Acting Instructor (PTAI) positions, to assign students to these positions, to process appointment letters, to send payment information via GSPS, the Graduate Student Payroll System, for graduate students and via Payroll for professional students, to make revisions in allocations and appointments, and to collect information both for student evaluation of teaching assistants and for graduate students’ transcripts. TFS provides a consistent process that offers timely information through embedded rules and validations. In the first three years this has resulted in considerable savings and faster response time than was previously possible.
Access to TFS
Access to TFS is provided through the TFP Assistant Director in consultation with departments. For most departments with graduate students, the DGS (Director of Graduate Studies) and the Graduate Registrar have primary Read/Write access with Read Only access typically given to Chairs. Other options (such as Read/Write access for business managers) are arranged as needed.
TFS Features
This guide briefly introduces the various features found on the TFS home page:
· My Tasks
o Master Approval
o Funding
· Allocations
· Assignments
o New Assignments
o Revised Assignments
o Confirmations
· Students
o Appointments
o Eligibility
· Reports
o Student Report
o Departmental Roles
· Section Management
· HELP
·
Further documentation on using this system is available at: Teaching Fellow System Instructions
My Tasks
The first option on the home page for Teaching Fellow System Liaisons (TFSLs) with READ/WRITE access is “My Tasks.” The My Tasks page shows actions that a TFSL needs to address.
Master Approval. The “Master Approval” page lists any of the department’s students whose assignments still need to be approved.
Funding. “Funding” lists any assignments that need to have one or more PTAEOs entered either through the “New Assignments” option or “Revised Assignments.” TFS calculates the teaching stipend for a particular TF type and level. If only one PTAEO is used, TFS will show the remaining dollar amount (zero) at the bottom of the page. If more than one PTAEO is to be charged, a TFSL enters the dollar amount for one PTAEO and then TFS calculates (in RED) the remaining dollars needed to complete the payment. This assists the TFSL in distributing charges. The default start date for a payment is the beginning of the term if a change occurs within the first two pay periods; after the second pay period, the default start date is the next pay period. While a TFSL can indicate a future start date for a change, only the TFP Office may retroactively change payment sources and TF levels after the first two pay periods. When new actions are required, TFSLs receive daily digests pointing them to these activities.
Allocations
In the spring prior to an academic year, departments download (from CIMS – the Course Information Management System) those undergraduate courses needing TFs or PTAIs plus they directly enter any graduate or professional courses with teaching assistance requests. For each course, a TFSL selects the type of teaching assistant needed and indicates the number requested. A drop down menu lists the types most frequently used for a particular department.
Allocation requests are then reviewed by the TFP Office in collaboration with the relevant Graduate School associate deans and are approved, adjusted and approved, declined, or revisions are requested. These decisions are based in consideration of past enrollments and the following basic guidelines:
TFs may be provided for courses with 30 or more students or for labs, language courses, or courses with heavy quantitative grading. PTAIs may be provided for introductory courses in languages, mathematics, music, or English, for a small number of independent seminars and for Associates in Teaching. Seminars by Prize Teaching Fellows are favored when a department agrees it is useful for its curriculum. When departments have an insufficient number of allocations for their students in teaching years, we allow smaller enrollments. However, even for priority students, graders must have at least 9 students in a course, and discussion sections must have at least 6 students. If allocations for courses not meeting these threshold enrollments need to be cancelled, every effort is made to move priority year students to another assignment; and if that is impossible, teaching is waived. Except for these two enrollment rules, students in priority years continue as TFs or PTAIs unless a change is agreed to by the student, the instructor, and the DGS.
Assignments
Departments are responsible for recommending individual teaching fellows to the TFP Office for appointment. Ideally, they ask their students (especially those with teaching priority) to rank preferences for possible courses, then consult with faculty teaching each course, and finally convene a group of administrators, faculty, and students to place students. TFSLs are asked to submit these appointments before mid-August for courses in the fall semester and by early December for courses in the spring semester.
New Assignments. TFP reviews the recommendations to confirm eligibility and finalizes the appointments contingent on a student's satisfactory academic progress. Key eligibility concerns are embedded in TFS. For example, students with teaching priority (shown in boldface green in the “New Assignments” page) should be appointed before others who have filled their teaching expectations; if assigned, the TFP must approve any nonpriority students or students from other departments before all priority students are assigned. TFSLs are asked to move any “green” students to “orange” if they should be removed to teaching exemption status from priority status. This occurs, for example, for students on leave (but not yet having this status in Banner), with University Dissertation Fellowships (UDFs), with teaching deferrals or waivers. Such changes in TFS are not official until they are conveyed to the appropriate office – e.g. Registrar’s Office or Graduate School Finance Office.
In most cases, the same TFSL first assigns a student to a course (indicating that this is who the department wants to assist with the course) and then master approves the student (indicating that this is a teaching experience appropriate for the student at this time). However, if a student is from another unit, that department/program/school needs to provide the second type of master approval.
When entering new assignments, TFSLs also need to indicate funding sources (PTAEOs) for each student. In some departments, a business manager is the “Funding Approver” who adds this information, but in most cases this is the original TFSL.
Revised Assignments. Once an assignment has been submitted to the TFP, any changes need to be made through this page. There are three types of revisions: “Revise Assignment, “End Teaching,” and “Edit/Revise Funding.”
The first “Revise Assignment” page is where a TFSL makes changes in an already approved and submitted assignment; for example, editing the TF Type and Level or moving the student to another course within the department. The new assignment must be entered at the same time a student is moved out of the current assignment.
If a student is not expected to continue assisting with teaching during the term, the “End Teaching” button cancels the appointment. In addition, a TFSL must first “End Teaching” before a student is moved to another department. Currently this means that the TFSL must rapidly (i.e., within 24 hours) contact the new department so that there is no lapse in funding.
The “Edit/Revise Funding” page may be used to change or add PTAEO(s).
Confirmations. This page lists all the approved assignments documented in TFS for the term. Approximately two weeks before the last day of classes TFSLs will be requested to confirm the teaching assignments for their department. This process should only be completed at the end of each term, and determines the eligibility of TFs for Yale College student evaluations as well as the recording of the teaching assignment(s) on the student’s transcript, for PhD students only.
Students. Whereas the “Allocations” and “New Assignments” pages view TFS activities course by course, the “Revised Assignments” and “Students” pages look at individual students.
Appointments. This page lists all of a department’s students who have been assigned during the term and indicates their status for the following categories. Cancelled appointments are on a separate line followed by the revised appointment. In addition, a TFSL may view an electronic version of the appointment letter issued to the student. Once accepted, a student can print out the letter.
Name / Student Primary Department / Assignments/Approved / Offer Status / Sent Date / Aggr. Funding
Status /
Eligibility. This page lists all of a department’s students and indicates their status for the following categories.
Name / Degree &YearStudy / Program / Concentration / Primary
Department / Secondary
Department / Secondary
School / Joint
Degree /
Student Report. This page provides considerable information about each student, including Banner data plus historical and current appointments for the following categories. This is especially useful when troubleshooting a concern.
Approval History
Name / Status / TFSL Net ID / Date /Funding History
Name / PTAEO / Status / Purpose Code / Aid Source /Departmental Roles. This page lists the following TFSL users by department: Read/Write, Master Approver, and Funding Planner. This information is useful if you need to contact a user in another department.
Section Management
Departments are expected to use the “Section Management” button to link their courses with discussion or lab sections to the “Section Management” tool, which is administered by the Registrar’s Office. The allocation of discussion and lab sections for undergraduate courses through TFS automatically initiates the creation of sections in this tool. Departments then enter information in two sections of the section management form:
Top Section. The information in the top section (in which the instructors indicate whether the course will participate in online section selection and whether registration will open on the first or sixth day of classes) must be entered and saved in the system no later than the Thursday before classes start. Completing the top section creates the electronic connection between the course and the discussion sections/labs so that a student cannot register for the course without registering for the section. If this is not complete before Online Course Selection (OCS) opens on the Friday before classes start, students will be able to register for the course without a discussion section.
Lower Section. The information on the lower part of the form includes section start dates and times and room comments. It should be entered into the system no later than the Monday before classes start for courses with section selection the first day of classes and no later than the fifth day of classes for courses with section selection that begin the sixth day of classes.
HELP
The HELP button takes the user to the TFS web site (tfs.yale.edu), where answers to several common questions and further documentation for TFS functions can be found along with links to helpful web sites.
TEACHING FELLOW SYSTEM LOG ON
To access the Teaching Fellow System, go to the following url and log in with your Yale NetID and password: https://faculty.yale.edu/tfs/dashboard.htm
Upon entering TFS you will be at either the “My Tasks” or the “Allocations” request page (depending on your access level), which will serve as your home page. Make sure the page displays the term in which you want to work and (if you submit requests for more than one department) the correct department. The first time you enter the system for a given term, your course work list will be empty.
Be sure to save your work periodically. TFS will automatically time out after one hour of inactivity. For security reasons, always log out of TFS when you are finished and close your browser window.
Teaching Fellow System Overview 7
[1] See Attachment for detailed documentation about how to log into the Teaching Fellow System (TFS).
[2] Henceforth this document usually will use the term “department” when referring to “departments, programs, and schools.”