"Teaching Minor" and TA Requirements Survey Results

Overview

• The Survey
• The Full Results
• The Summary

All questions of a given number were written by the same person

• Would you be interested in the Teaching minor (strong yes/yes/maybe/no/strong no)?
  1. Strong No
  2. Strong Yes
  3. Strong Yes
  4. Yes
  5. Yes
  6. Yes
  7. Strong Yes
  8. Strong Yes
  9. Yes
  10. Strong Yes
  11. No
  12. Strong Yes
  13. Maybe (see comments)
  14. Maybe (see comments)
  15. Yes
  16. Maybe (see comments)
  17. Yes
  18. Strong Yes
  19. Maybe (see comments)
  20. Maybe (see comments)
  21. Maybe (see comments)
  22. Strong No
  23. Maybe (see comments)
  24. Strong Yes
  25. No
  26. Strong Yes
  27. No
  28. Yes
  29. Strong Yes
  30. Yes
  31. Yes
  32. Strong Yes
  33. Maybe (see comments)
  34. Yes
  35. Maybe (see comments)
  36. Strong No
  37. Yes
  38. No
  39. Yes
  40. No
  41. Yes
  42. No
  43. Maybe (see comments)
  44. Maybe (see comments)
  45. Strong Yes
  46. No
  47. Strong Yes
  48. Yes
  49. No
  50. Yes
  51. Yes
  52. Yes
  53. Maybe (see comments)
  54. Maybe (see comments)
  55. Maybe (see comments)
  56. Maybe (see comments)
  57. Maybe (see comments)
  58. No
  59. Strong Yes
  60. Yes
  61. Strong Yes
  62. Yes
  63. Maybe (see comments)
  64. Yes
  65. Maybe (see comments)
  66. No
  67. Strong Yes
  68. Yes
  69. Strong Yes
  70. Yes
  71. Maybe (see comments)
  72. Yes
  73. Strong Yes
  74. Strong Yes
  75. Maybe (see comments)
  76. Yes
  77. No
  78. Strong Yes
  79. No
  80. Yes
  81. Yes
  82. Yes
  83. No
  84. Yes
  85. Strong Yes
  86. No
  87. Strong Yes
  88. Maybe (see comments)
  89. Yes
  90. Strong Yes
  91. Strong Yes
  92. Yes
  93. Yes
  94. Yes
  95. No
  
  
• If you said "Maybe", "No", or "Strong No", explain your answer:
  1. I don't intend to pursue an academic career.
  8. of course, to make more sense, substitute "ee" for "cs" above
  11. Ability as a teacher is still not highly regarded by the academic community, or the community at large for that matter. So I don't see any value added to a PhD degree by having a "Teaching" minor.
  13. CS301 has been singularly uninformative and of no practical benefit whatsoever. More of the same in this respect is not an improvement worth persuring. TA'ing undergraduate classes should be required as such an expience is unlike graduate classes as you note. TA'ing grad classes is an easy escape exit.
  14. I'm not sure that I want to work as a teacher after I leave. In fact, I am fairly convinced I would not be a particularly good teacher. Therefore I am looking more at industry positions, for which this would not be very valuable. If I later discover that I have a knack for teaching I will certainly reconsider, though.
  16. I arrived with an MS and four semesters of TA experience at another school. I would only have been interested if this experience could transfer to the 2 semesters TA requirement.
  20. Since I am new grad student, I am still not sure how much more practice and experience I need on teaching, other than the one semester as a TA that is currently required. Another issue that would effect my decision to do this minor or not is whether I would prefer to prepare myself for an academic career or a career in industry.
  21. Although useful, I prefer the opertunity to take unrelated technical classes offered by the outside minor
  22. Too boring.
  23. It would be great for others to have this option. Personally, I would only choose this if I decided that I wanted to teach or if the other choices didn't further my career goals. ( and I'm not sure that they do...)
  25. Taking courses in teaching is an excellent idea, but it should not replace the existing structure of having two academic minors, since I believe that the minors add breadth to an otherwise narrow Ph.D. area.
  27. It's hard to see how that goes towards furthering your knowledge of outside topics that gives insight into the Major. It would cause people to narrow the scope of ideas they examine.
  32. I would qualify my support with some hesitation about "a sequence of CS301-style seminar classes". I found cs301 to be a collosal waste of time.
  33. Conflict of interest with my other idea for an outside minor - I'd want to do both!
  34. YES if I can chose the classes I teach. but my doubt is the condition on large undergraduate classes. Would we required to take or TA them? in the first case I wouldn't be interested. in the second case it depends, maybe no.
  35. I'm not certain how ultimately useful it would be. It would also take time away from other courses (ie one less minor) which I don't htink is a particularly good idea.
  36. I believe that the outside minor is really important. Although the benefits from the minor may not be as immediate as it would be from a minor in teaching, I believe the knowledge gained is really valuable and it is a good opportunity to learn another subject while you have the time. A minor in teaching could be offered additionally, but should not replace the minor requirement.
  38. Not interested in teaching long-term
  42. I'd rather go in for a minor that would help my research. But it doesn't hurt to have an extra option, so I'm not opposed to there being such a minor.
  43. I think that the outside minor is fairly important, certainly for what I'm doing. I'd prefer to have this replace the inside minor.
  44. I would be more likely to consider it if it were an alternative to the inside major. There are already so many other choices for the outside major it's hard to compete...
  46. I would find other minors more interesting
  49. I would rather have an outside minor to increase my technical background
  53. I have a couple of other minors in mind
  54. I would not choose it personally, but as an applying student I would be interested in a school that offered it. It shows an unusual interest and concern for teaching effectiveness.
  55. Better training for teaching is very valuable, but if it is available as a minor, it may interfere with one's consideration of normal academic courses for a minor. I am not sure whether I would opt for normal courses or teaching seminars when it comes to specifying a formal minor. This is a subtle call, since I would probably teach for at least 2 semesters anyway as a PhD student.
  56. how many "classes to be selected from a subset of EECS offerings"? Does this mean we take undergraduate EECS classes as part of our outside minor? would we take a 301 style seminar each semester we teach? I would be interested in this type of minor, but I would be concerned that the classes be really helpful and not just fluff.
  57. wpould be fun, but unfortunately i'd rather be learning new stuff rather than teaching.
  63. I'm not sure what i want to minor in, but this teaching option sounds very tempting.
  65. Two reasons: 1. I'm not sure I'm that interested in teaching; I enjoyed my outside minor. 2. I don't remember301 being very interesting or useful.
  66. I don't see teaching in my career path.
  71. I don't know how effective the teaching courses are. I think greater emphasis on teaching is a good idea. I think some full class lecturing should be involved. FYI Part: 2 I don't believe early TAing is necessarily a good idea. I don't think 1st semester grad students make the best tas.
  75. It's somewhat unclear to me at this point exactly what the role of the minor really is, but it seems as if one might have to effectively complete the usual minors in addition to a teaching one as background for the dissertation.
  77. I found the teaching theory courses pretty useless. We have taken many classes by many different professors, good and bad, and we have plenty of examples of how to teach (and how not to). Also, I don't know what the value of a teaching certificate would be.
  83. Although teaching is interesting, it seems like offering a minor in it is a bit overboard. It would help those whose primary goal is teaching, but mine is a strong research orientation. Also, I have a grant. In addition, I already have an interdisciplinary focus, and would like to take classes from other depts for more substantive minors.
  86. i would not be interested, but others obviously might. i can see that this is not so different from any other applied field. perhaps the way to put it is, you minor in Education and 40 hours of TAing counts as a grad class or something.
  88. This option turns out to be good for people who don't have financial supoort for the first year. Since they have to teach full time for a year anyways. Therefore, if I am one of them, I will be happy to take it as a minor. Otherwise.. I don't know...
  95. Have other business plans
  
  
• How important would Higher GSI Salary be in terms of convincing you to satisfy your TA requirement during your first year?
  1. Somewhat important
  2. Not important
  3. Not important
  4. Not important
  5. Somewhat important
  6. Very important
  7. Somewhat important
  8. Somewhat important
  9. Not important
  10. Not important
  11. Somewhat important
  12. Somewhat important
  13. Not important
  14. Not important
  15. Not important
  16. Very important
  17. Somewhat important
  18. Somewhat important
  19. Very important
  20. Somewhat important
  21. Very important
  22. Somewhat important
  23. Not important
  24. Very important
  25. Very important
  26. Not important
  27. Somewhat important
  28. Not important
  29. Very important
  30. Very important
  31. Somewhat important
  32. Somewhat important
  33. Somewhat important
  34. Very important
  35. Somewhat important
  36. Not important
  37. Very important
  38. Not important
  39. Very important
  40. Somewhat important
  41. Very important
  42. Very important
  43. Somewhat important
  44. Very important
  45. Somewhat important
  46. Somewhat important
  47. Very important
  48. Somewhat important
  49. Somewhat important
  50. Very important
  51. Very important
  52. Very important
  53. Somewhat important
  54. Very important
  55. Somewhat important
  56. Somewhat important
  57. Somewhat important
  58. Somewhat important
  59. Somewhat important
  60. Very important
  61. Very important
  62. Somewhat important
  63. Very important
  64. Somewhat important
  65. Somewhat important
  66. Very important
  67. Very important
  68. Somewhat important
  69. Not important
  70. Somewhat important
  71. Not important
  72. Somewhat important
  73. Somewhat important
  74. Very important
  75. Very important
  76. Somewhat important
  77. Somewhat important
  78. Somewhat important
  79. Somewhat important
  80. Very important
  81. Very important
  82. Not important
  83. Very important
  84. Not important
  85. Very important
  86. Somewhat important
  87. Somewhat important
  88. Somewhat important
  89. Very important
  90. Not important
  91. Somewhat important
  92. Somewhat important
  93. Somewhat important
  94. Very important
  95. Somewhat important
  
  
• How important would Ability to defer prelims breadth requirement be in terms of convincing you to satisfy your TA requirement during your first year?
  1. Not important
  2. Not important
  3. Somewhat important
  4. Not important
  5. Not important
  6. Somewhat important
  7. Somewhat important
  8. Somewhat important
  9. Not important
  10. Very important
  11. Very important
  12. Very important
  13. Not important
  14. Very important
  15. Not important
  16. Somewhat important
  17. Very important
  18. Not important
  19. Not important
  20. Somewhat important
  21. Not important
  22. Somewhat important
  23. Not important
  24. Somewhat important
  25. Not important
  26. Somewhat important
  27. Not important
  28. Somewhat important
  29. Not important
  30. Somewhat important
  31. Very important
  32. Very important
  33. Very important
  34. Very important
  35. Somewhat important
  36. Somewhat important
  37. Not important
  38. Not important
  39. Somewhat important
  40. Somewhat important
  41. Somewhat important
  42. Somewhat important
  43. Somewhat important
  44. Somewhat important
  45. Not important
  46. Somewhat important
  47. Not important
  48. Very important
  49. Not important
  50. Somewhat important
  51. Not important
  52. Very important
  53. Somewhat important
  54. Not important
  55. Somewhat important
  56. Very important
  57. Somewhat important
  58. Not important
  59. Not important
  60. Somewhat important
  61. Not important
  62. Not important
  63. Somewhat important
  64. Not important
  65. Somewhat important
  66. Somewhat important
  67. Very important
  68. Very important
  69. Not important
  70. Very important
  71. Somewhat important
  72. Somewhat important
  73. Somewhat important
  74. Not important
  75. Somewhat important
  76. Somewhat important
  77. Somewhat important
  78. Very important
  79. Not important
  80. Somewhat important
  81. Somewhat important
  82. Somewhat important
  83. Somewhat important
  84. Very important
  85. Very important
  86. Somewhat important
  87. Very important
  88. Very important
  89. Somewhat important
  90. Not important
  91. Not important
  92. Somewhat important
  93. Very important
  94. Very important
  95. Somewhat important
  
  
• How do you feel about increasing the TA requirement from 10 hours to 20 hours?
  1. Don't Support
  2. Don't Support
  3. Don't Support
  4. Indifferent
  5. Indifferent
  6. Support
  7. Indifferent
  8. Indifferent
  9. Indifferent
  10. Support
  11. Support
  12. Support
  13. Don't Support
  14. Indifferent
  15. Indifferent
  16. Support
  17. Support
  18. Indifferent
  19. Indifferent
  20. Indifferent
  21. Indifferent
  22. Don't Support
  23. Don't Support
  24. Don't Support
  25. Indifferent
  26. Don't Support
  27. Support
  28. Indifferent
  29. Support
  30. Support
  31. Support
  32. Support
  33. Support
  34. Don't Support
  35. Support
  36. Support
  37. Support
  38. Don't Support
  39. Support
  40. Indifferent
  41. Indifferent
  42. Support
  43. Don't Support
  44. Don't Support
  45. Indifferent
  46. Support
  47. Support
  48. Support
  49. Support
  50. Support
  51. Support
  52. Support
  53. Indifferent
  54. Support
  55. Support
  56. Indifferent
  57. Indifferent
  58. Indifferent
  59. Don't Support
  60. Support
  61. Indifferent
  62. Indifferent
  63. Support
  64. Support
  65. Support
  66. Don't Support
  67. Support
  68. Don't Support
  69. Indifferent
  70. Don't Support
  71. Indifferent
  72. Indifferent
  73. Indifferent
  74. Don't Support
  75. Support
  76. Don't Support
  77. Indifferent
  78. Support
  79. Don't Support
  80. Support
  81. Don't Support
  82. Indifferent
  83. Support
  84. Support
  85. Support
  86. Indifferent
  87. Support
  88. Don't Support
  89. Don't Support
  90. Support
  91. Support
  92. Indifferent
  93. Indifferent
  94. Don't Support
  95. Support
  
  
• If you said "Don't Support", would you support the increase if some other requirement were relaxed?
  1. No - working as a TA did not provide me with any skills or experience which I thought would be helpful in the future and which I did not already have. In other words, it was a tedious hurdle I had to jump over which put my research on hold for a semester.
  2. Yes. Relax the outside minor requirements.
  4. Since you didn't have any box for comments on early incentive to TA, I am putting my comments here. When a first year graduate students comes to Berkeley he or she is just getting settled in, learning how things work here, and adjusting to graduate classes. I do not believe this is the ideal time to start instructing others, if for no other reason that the incoming student will not have had the chance to take graduate classes in the subject he or she is teaching, limiting the amount and depth of experience to draw upon. I believe a more serious problem with TAing is the amount of time required to do a good job combined with the need to still take a full course load. While dollars can be traded for credits, this is not an option if you need the money to live off of. This condition is exacerbated for first year students since they are less likely to be able to take one "real" class and "pad" their schedule with the needed number of research units or seminars.
  13. A "10 hour" appointment rarely only takes 10 hours of time each week. I suspect the same hold for "20 hour" appointments. If 10 hours meant 10 then maybe. I find the higher GSI salary offensive. Is it about learn to teach or about earning more money? Why are highly productive GSR's not more highly compensated?
  22. No
  23. Unless you work harder to make up for it, an extra TA position could delay graduation. I would support this if each student could choose between the regular requirements and a 10-hour TA with relaxed requirements. I'm not sure which ones.
  24. Number of classes required for the degree.
  34. I would say yes if: - same salary as GSR and wave completely the resident and non-resident tuition for the semesters I hold GSI as it is for GSR or with a combination of the above: - decrease minimum number of units to hold GSI/GSR - decrease total units required for degree - reduce to one and in EECS the number of minors required
  38. Probably not. 10-hour TA is enough. I think that people who want to TA more should be encouraged to do so but those who do not want to should not have to more - or else it will not be very good for them or their students.
  43. I believe the main difference between a 10 and 20 hr position is the GSI/student ratio and that increasing the requirement would merely decrease the quality of education.
  44. No.
  54. Having TAed 20hours four courses and seeing friends do it only 10 hours, I am convinced they only got the worse of both worlds: all work and no reward. At least I got some reward out of being more involved, which made the work bearable.
  56. It seems to me that 10 hour positions are as much work as 20 hour positions. I think this requirement would make it *very* difficult to fill 10 hour slots.
  58. It's not an issue of the requirements being difficult to fulfill. TAing just takes up far too much time, and the amount of work required is extremely variable. From my experience, "10-hour" and "20-hour" appointments have nothing to do with the amount of time you'll have to spend; that is determined by the class you're TAing and who the professor is. My 10-hour position required around 25-30 hours per week for the last 2/3 of the semester.
  59. I'd be worried about prelims (orals) if I were to fulfill a larger TA requirement in my first year.
  66. I think increasing everyone's requirements is likely to result in lower quality TAs than increasing incentives.
  68. some part of the breadth requirement, since that's the other major time commitment for first-year students
  70. prelims or major course requirements
  74. No.
  76. I don't support this because it seems to be simply a ploy to increase the supply of GSIs. If there is a shortage of GSIs, the problem should be alleviated through "market forces" (not just increases in pay) which make the job more attractive.
  81. probably, but i can't think of any offhand
  88. No.
  94. If the TA positions were the first year that would be okay, but 2 semesters of TAing could really set back research.
  
  
• What is your status (1st year/2-3rd year/sr grad student)?
  1. Senior Grad Student
  2. Senior Grad Student
  3. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  4. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  5. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  6. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  7. Senior Grad Student
  8. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  9. Senior Grad Student
  10. Senior Grad Student
  11. Senior Grad Student
  12. First-year Grad Student
  13. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  14. First-year Grad Student
  15. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  16. Senior Grad Student
  17. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  18. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  19. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  20. First-year Grad Student
  21. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  22. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  23. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  24. Senior Grad Student
  25. Senior Grad Student
  26. Senior Grad Student
  27. Senior Grad Student
  28. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  29. Senior Grad Student
  30. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  31. Senior Grad Student
  32. Senior Grad Student
  33. First-year Grad Student
  34. First-year Grad Student
  35. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  36. Senior Grad Student
  37. Senior Grad Student
  38. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  39. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  40. First-year Grad Student
  41. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  42. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  43. Senior Grad Student
  44. Senior Grad Student
  45. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  46. First-year Grad Student
  47. Senior Grad Student
  48. First-year Grad Student
  49. Senior Grad Student
  50. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  51. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  52. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  53. First-year Grad Student
  54. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  55. First-year Grad Student
  56. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  57. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  58. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  59. First-year Grad Student
  60. Senior Grad Student
  61. First-year Grad Student
  62. First-year Grad Student
  63. First-year Grad Student
  64. First-year Grad Student
  65. Senior Grad Student
  66. First-year Grad Student
  67. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  68. First-year Grad Student
  69. First-year Grad Student
  70. Senior Grad Student
  71. Senior Grad Student
  72. First-year Grad Student
  73. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  74. Senior Grad Student
  75. First-year Grad Student
  76. Senior Grad Student
  77. Senior Grad Student
  78. First-year Grad Student
  79. First-year Grad Student
  80. First-year Grad Student
  81. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  82. First-year Grad Student
  83. First-year Grad Student
  84. Senior Grad Student
  85. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  86. Senior Grad Student
  87. First-year Grad Student
  88. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  89. Senior Grad Student
  90. Senior Grad Student
  91. Senior Grad Student
  92. Senior Grad Student
  93. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  94. Second or Third-year Grad Student
  95. Second or Third-year Grad Student

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