Teaching and Learning

For help, contact the TA Officer.

On this page:

MGAPS intends to foster the growth of a pro-active TA community in the Physics Department. Key goals include:

  • Introduce teaching concepts (active learning, student centered approaches)
  • Encourage inclusive and engaging classrooms and meaningful marking
  • Promote feedback at all levels throughout the term (students, TAs, professors)
  • Promote TA Mentorship
  • Solicit new ideas!

TA Handbook

Please consider attending the yearly TA training in the Fall whether you’re a new or returning TA. For those who need a reference document that covers all the main points, we’ve compiled a document that you can access here.

TA Feedback

Use this survey template to easily create an anonymous survey that your students can complete using myCourses. You can make the survey yourself if your professor grants you access, or you can ask them to do it.

TA Resources

Resources at McGill

Attending a teaching workshop

The T-Pulse group (Tomlinson Project in University-Level Science Education) is committed to improving science teaching and learning at McGill. T-Pulse organizes free graduate teaching workshops for TAs in science: https://www.mcgill.ca/tpulse/workshop. These workshops represent a great opportunity to familiarize yourself with efficient teaching techniques and to address your concerns, especially as a new TA.

Skillsets (http://www.mcgill.ca/skillsets/) also offers teaching workshops through the Learn to Teach (LTT) initiative.

Resources outside campus

Attend a SALTISE workshop

Supporting Active Learning & Technological Innovation in Science Education (SALTISE) is a community of practice that brings together instructors and professional development staff from English and French educational institutions within the greater Montreal area, as well as other regions of Quebec. The key goals of SALTISE are based on the ideas of pedagogical change involving innovations in instruction and leveraging the use of educational technology to promote learning.

Goals of SALTISE:

  • To promote the development of a community of practice among science instructors at both levels of education.
  • To foster collaborations that will support the development, dissemination and sharing of innovative science pedagogies including the effective uses of technology and new learning environments.
  • To promote sustainability of the human, pedagogical and technological resources, as well as the institutional infrastructure created through these collaborations, by establishing a Center with appropriate public presence (e.g., website).
  • To disseminate best practices in science education through a mentorship model that supports peer-to-peer mutual sharing within and between educational levels.

As part of the initial grant SALTISE organized events and workshops that are of interest to the science education community.

If you are interested to take part to one of these events, please contact the Graduate Teaching and Learning Coordinator (gtlc@physics.mcgill.ca) or visit SALTISE website.

Online Resources

Many pedagogical resources are available online. Check them out to get new ideas, gather useful tips and broaden your view on teaching methods.

More education resources from other universities can be found on this page: http://www.mcgill.ca/tls/graduates/resources#TA.

Allocation and Contract

McGill Physics Graduate Students are entitled to a teaching assistantship (TAship) salary every year they qualify within the priority pool (MSc students years 1-2, PhD students years 1-5). In order to apply for a TAship, you need to fill up the application form that is placed in your mailbox and give it back to the administration before the deadline (end of april for returning student, and in september for new students).

Students are assigned TAships and can request preferred courses, working typically 6 hours per week during the Fall and Winter semesters. TAship are quite various ranging from homework marker, exam marker, lab instructor (with marking), tutoring, etc…

TAs are paid for a total of 90 hours per semester, at a rate of $29.33 (winter 2022). All teacher assistant are members of the union AGSEM, therefore, all TAs must fill up the union form at the beginning of each semester in order to get the instalment of their TA pay. The form is placed by the administration in your mailbox at the beginning of each semester.

Finally, the TA workload forms must be filled out every semester, to prevent students from being overworked by the course supervisors.