Our TAs all have a Master's or PhD and come from a wide range of academic disciplines. Given the emphasis we place on academic rigor, quality of feedback and timely turnaround, the recruitment of TAs is of paramount importance to us. Here are some demographics:
Adjunct Faculty
We hire adjunct faculty with at least a Master's degree and who are currently teaching (or have taught) at four-year institutions. Adjunct Faculty constitute our best TAs, because of their knowledge, experience, and aptitude for teaching. Given the state of adjunct pay, grading for us earns them better or comparable compensation, especially considering the remote work and the flexible schedule it affords.
PhD Students Referred to Us by Our Network of Professors at Doctorate-Granting Universities
We rely on a network of professors across research and graduate institutions across academic disciplines to get the word out to graduate students looking for supplemental income. Among them, mid- and late-stage PhD students are some of our best Virtual-TAs, for many of them already teach, are current in their disciplines, and are socializing into the profession. Many of them use the grading to become familiar with undergraduate courses they may be assigned to teach in the future.
PhD-Qualified High-School Teachers
Depending on the need and the course, we might turn to PhD-qualified high-school teachers (or those with a Master's and years of experience) who teach AP courses, essentially lower-division, college-level courses. High school teachers have a tradition of providing detailed feedback.
Innovation in Feedback
As more homework assignments get submitted online, providing feedback digitally has also become easier. We are experimenting with voice-based feedback, which can be embedded within a document, inserted in context, conversational in style, constructive in tone, and supportive of learning. Imagine the student clicking on an icon and hearing feedback with reference to context; it doesn't get more individualized than that. If you're wondering about the effort it entails, know that voice-based feedback is far more time-efficient than written comments, which must be typed out and free of grammar and spelling errors.
Online Education
With the growth of online programs, rich feedback goes to the heart of such outcomes as student engagement, learning, persistence, retention, and graduation.