Using Undergraduates as Teaching Assistants At a State University

This paper describes a program that uses undergraduates as teaching assistants to staff large computer science classes, particularly at the introductory level. Creating such a program at a state school presented special challenges, but the program has become a mainstay for the department’s undergraduate program. The program has been so successful that we have expanded it to cover some sophomore and junior level courses, including a discrete mathematics course. Among the benefits of the program are reduced overall cost, improved quality of instruction, the formation of an undergraduate community and the practical experience that the undergraduate teaching assistants themselves gain