When Samantha Soto first became a teaching assistant, her role was a bit complicated.
A number of the students she was supposed to guide were her friends. Some of them she had known from a similar classroom setting. But in that situation, she wasn’t the teaching assistant, she was a fellow student.
“You go into it hoping it’s not weird,” the Communication junior said. “As a TA, you have the role as an authority figure. Sometimes it’s hard.”
Not long ago, Soto was one of the 80 students in Professor Irving Rein’s Persuasive Images: Rhetoric of Contemporary Culture class. Today, as an undergraduate TA, she facilitates discussion and gives advice about projects she once did.
“Those classes are great opportunities to show your skills and strength,” Soto said. “(Rein) had recognized I was a leader within our project group and asked me to be a TA.”
Rein has taught the class for 39 years, and he has almost always used undergraduates as TAs. He usually selects former students who have recent experience working on the very projects they help lead, he said.
“It serves the students very well,” he said. “It’s been … a very fruitful and exciting experience.”
For Communication junior Dan Millstein, being an undergraduate TA means better communication between him and the students. He can play the roles of both TA and friend.
“I feel students respect you, and at the same time, they can be very honest,” he said. “I think it’s really important to have someone to talk to outside the teacher-student relations.”
There are different ways undergraduate students can end up as TAs. Soto and Millstein, among the three other TAs for Persuasive Images, were asked by Rein to join the class. For the Winter Quarter schedule, they were registered in a research practicum and will receive academic credit for it.
Students can also become TAs through the Undergraduate Leadership Program. Adam Goodman, director of the program and a School of Communication faculty member, leads two classes where he uses undergraduate TAs.
The yearlong program is open to freshmen, sophomores and juniors. After completing the program, these students can petition to become TAs for a leadership course.
“An undergraduate student has less expertise, but does a better job identifying with the student,” Goodman said.
Undergraduate TAs don’t have the same responsibilities as graduate students in both Goodman’s and Rein’s classes. The undergraduates’ primary goal is to facilitate discussion and guide the students. They don’t give out grades.
“I think when properly used (having undergraduate TAs) is a great opportunity for everybody,” Goodman said. “It’s taking learning to a new level.”
Since assisting Rein’s class, Soto has considered going to graduate school. Her role as a TA has helped her in her role as a student.
“As a TA, you’re sort of able to see what goes wrong in everyone else’s project as opposed to when you’re actually taking the classes,” she said. “We know the mess-ups and can catch things before they happen.”
After using undergraduate TAs for almost four decades, Rein said the students who fill this role are organized and motivated.
“This is one of the most valuable experiences students can have,” he said. “They’re playing a vital role in the class.”
