Thanks for your interest in a CS107 CAship! You can find more information below for answers to common questions about applying, CA responsibilities, and more.
CS107 is at a really cool juncture point in many students' computer science journeys; it really propels students forward a big step in their understanding of program execution, their debugging skills, and their ability to build out projects, and it is a really fun challenge to help students grow these skills. As a member of the teaching staff, helping students navigate bugs, really understand the "why" behind issues they see or behavior they observe, and helping students build good testing and debugging habits, is really rewarding.
Applications are accepted until the department application deadline - applications are not processed on a rolling basis. Once the deadline passes, the department sends the applications submitted for each class to the instructor for that class to review. The instructor can view application information relevant to their class, such as the ranking inputted for that class (but not overall rankings), the blurb submitted for that class, etc. The instructor then submits their preferences for applicants to the department. Finally, the department takes the instructor preferences and students' submitted preferences and assigns students to CAships based on these preferences and other constraints. This means that, while a student will never be placed in a class they did not rank, even if a student ranks a class their first choice, and that instructor ranks the student also as their first choice, it's not necessarily guaranteed that the student will be offered a CAship in that class. Of course, the hope is that positions will be offered to align with preferences! But for instance, if that student also ranked another class their second choice, and they are one of a handful of people uniquely qualified to CA for that class, they may be offered a CA position in that class instead.
Positions are never pre-filled prior to applications being reviewed, so we always welcome applications! We make hiring decisions based on applications received for that quarter; all applicants, including current or prior-quarter CS107 CAs, must reapply each quarter, and offers are made based on the received applications. While having good prior experience CAing for CS107 can certainly make an application stronger, no positions are filled in advance. While it can depend on the quarter, there are usually a mix of returning and new CAs each quarter, though this may vary depending on the quarter, applications received, and other factors.
The main responsibilities for a 50% CA are:
Midterm and final exam grading takes place in person, so please make sure you can attend and be on campus through the end of final exam week to attend final exam grading in person, as all CAs are required to attend in person (we will decide the specific grading dates and times at the start of the quarter).
25% CAs have roughly half the workload - they grade half as many assignments, hold half the number of office hours, and help proctor or proofread all exams, but grade for half the exams.
(Note: while the application criteria are generally the same or similar across CS107 instructors, the information here is provided only for when I (Nick) am teaching the course - for specific information about what other instructors may focus on in applications, please reach out to that instructor.)
Because of the focus on student-facing teaching time in CS107, as well as the focus on helping students build foundational debugging and programming skills, I heavily emphasize any prior teaching experience (if any), especially any with similar responsibilities to those you'll have as a CS107 CA (e.g. debugging help, continuing to build up foundational programming skills, etc.). I also look at why the applicant is interested in CAing for CS107 in particular, and their understanding/comfort with the course material. Both of these points (prior teaching experience and interest in this CAship) are also noted in the blurb in the CS107 CA application. Beyond this, feel free to include any information about yourself that you think would be helpful in evaluating your application.
There is also a required 5 minute teaching sample video component of the application. More information can be found in the application blurb when completing the application for CS107. This video helps provide more information on your teaching style and approach!
In quarters with a Head CA, the Head CA is responsible for working directly with the course instructor on course management, logistics and policies, and is the point person internally for the course staff before escalating to the instructor, as well as the student-facing point person for student logistics and other matters before escalating to the instructor. This includes aspects such as overseeing grading, managing extension requests, and helping the instructor with course policy decisions, and meeting weekly with the instructor to touch base. Because of the additional time commitment of Head TA responsibilities, some other aspects, such as assignment grading workload, are slightly decreased. Because of the responsibilities of the Head CA, it is usually strongly recommended to have prior CS107 CA experience when applying.
Absolutely! In some quarters, there will be additional optional roles for anyone interested in additional responsibilities (e.g. overseeing the Ed forum, being the point person on assignment grading or exam logistics, etc.), and you are encouraged to ask about anything in general you would be interested in contributing to.
For questions about the CA application process in general, please email Bettina Villaroman at bvsantos @ stanford.edu. For questions about CS107 CAships in particular when applying for quarters when I (Nick) am teaching, you can email me at troccoli @ stanford.edu. Please note that because of the large volume of applications I receive, all information that I consider in an application must be included in the online application form, and cannot be sent via email - for this reason, I won't be able to note information such as transcripts, resumes, other background information, etc. sent via email when reviewing your application. Make sure to include any relevant information in the application itself submitted via the online portal.