ABSTRACT

Employing KFUPM Undergraduates as Teaching Assistants

A major part of the faculty member's time is devoted to teaching and administrative work, with little time left for research. The typical way to solve this dilemma is to employ graduate students as teaching assistants. The current number of graduate students at KFUPM, however, falls well below the teaching assistance demand. This talk suggests tapping into the undergraduate students' body and employing undergrads as teaching assistants. Specifically, the talk proposes two kinds of assistants for a given course: 1) a teaching assistant—someone who assists the instructor after having taken the course and 2) a student assistant—someone who assists the instructor while being concurrently registered for the course. The talk provides some suggestions for implementing the teaching assistance program including assistants' choice, responsibilities, and compensation. The talk also highlights some of the advantages of this program and how it relates to some current initiatives at KFUPM as well as some of the program's potential challenges.