Seminar TA Training

Welcome to The Data Mine Seminar Course!

We are excited to have you on board as a Seminar TA for The Data Mine next year!

This is going to be a long read, so please try to find a bit of focused time to understand all this (fun!) information.

You must have valid FERPA training proof to engage in any TA work. Please e-mail datamine@purdue.edu if you need assistance with FERPA training.

TA Training - Readings

Please complete the readings in the following modules:

TA Responsibility Overview

TAs are a key part of success in The Data Mine. Your constant support keeps the courses running smoothly.

For Spring 2024, we are piloting a teams structure; TA’s will be on a team that has specific tasks in areas of grading, online help (Piazza), office hours, and solutions.

Office Hour TAs

Student-facing TAs are responsible for holding office hours and helping students with their projects.

Grader TAs

Grader TAs are responsible for grading student projects and providing feedback.

Online/Piazza Answer TAs

Online/Piazza Answer TAs are responsible for spending time on Piazza answering student quesitons and providing feedback.

Solutions TAs

Solutions TAs are responsible for spending time working on project solutions with members the Data Science team and providing feedback.

Hybrid TAs

Hybrid TAs are responsible for both student-facing and grading responsibilities. They may be on multiple teams or have a more hybrid job description.

All TAs should review the upcoming week’s projects and solutions to be best prepared to assist students.

You can find a detailed calendar for next semester’s weekly project schedule here.

Set up your GitHub Account

Please ensure you have a GitHub account made with your @purdue.edu email address.

Please share your GitHub usernames here to get access to TDM Project Repositories.*

Seminar TAs must submit their hours to SuccessFactor by Sunday evenings at 11:59 PM.

Monday Seminar

Each Monday, Dr. Ward hosts seminar sessions for all students in the Data Mine to attend. These sessions are held in Hillenbrand Dining Court’s atrium.

The seminar times for Spring 2024 are:

  • 8:30-9:30 AM

  • 9:30-10:30 AM

  • 10:30 -11:30 AM

  • 4:30-5:30 PM (Virtual)

For the first four weeks of the semester, we need a few TAs (at least four for 10200, two for 20200, and one for 30200) in each seminar time.

If you attend the seminar, you can log an extra hour in SuccessFactors. It would be in addition to your required office hours.

Office Hours

Graders can skip over the office hours section and go to the Grading section.

TAs will choose their office hours times and will be expected to hold their scheduled office hours consistently each week.

We need lots of help on Thursday and Friday. Evenings are much appreciated because we have students all over the world who will need help. Friday evenings are prime time, and we permit more than one TA to work at a time.

Please keep track of how many students come to each of your office hours for weekly reporting. If needed, we will reshuffle a bit based on popular times after the first four weeks.

  • Office hours before 5:00 PM EST: Hillenbrand Hall Lobby C100 - make sure you also have your Zoom on during in person office hours

  • Office hours after 5:00 PM EST: Online in Zoom

  • Office hours on the weekend: Online in Zoom

Your online Zoom meeting room should always be ON during in-person office hours.

You need to have your camera ON in all your Zoom calls.

The staff will randomly join office hour meetings to ensure this is followed.

Set up your Zoom meeting room

All TAs will utilize on central zoom room to conduct all office hours starting after week 2 for Spring 2024. More information and the link to come.

Choose your time

When choosing your office hour time slot(s), please consider your schedule and conflicts such as classes.

We encourage all TAs to hold office hours that impact the most students - you should aim to help as many students as you can.

Your help during office hours could change a student’s day, week, month, or semester!

On January 4, 2024, you will be sent another email in which you will find a link to a spreadsheet to choose your weekly office hours time.

Unable to host office hours

If, for a certain day, you are unable to hold office hours, message the Head TA on Teams with a valid conflict and get approval to skip office hours. If approved, please post an instructor note in Piazza at least 48 hours before to all the students

If it is an emergency and you cannot do the above in time, message the Head TA on Teams and post an instructor note on Piazza as soon as possible.

How to Get Paid

Seminar TAs can submit up to 10 hours a week. Time Card information

International students can work a maximum of 20 hours across all jobs.

Look forward to

  1. Complete the Syllabus and Academic Integrity Quizzes before class begins

  2. Have valid FERPA training by 8:00 AM, January 8, 2024.

  3. Submit your Github username

  4. Confirm which mandatory orientation session you want to attend.

  5. Verify you’re a part of the TA Teams channel.

  6. Look out for an email to schedule office hours.

Please send questions to your Head TA via Teams/Email, post in the Seminar TA Teams Channel, or email datamine-help@purdue.edu.

We look forward to having you onboard as a TA with us this semester!