This is a reposting of a Rice Thresher article from September 15, 2020.
by Nicole Lhuillier
To assist instructors with the classroom technology for online or hybrid courses, the Office of Information Technology has hired 160 students as technology teaching assistants. According to the OIT Associate Vice President Diane Butler, faculty have requested Tech TAs for approximately 270 courses.
In the first round of hiring, the OIT received 300 job applications from students. The OIT also hired eight students to manage the Tech TAs’ schedules, Butler said. The application period for the Tech TA program is now closed, according to the information on the web page for the position.
“I knew my team would never be able to get to all the classrooms to assist faculty with the new, added technology [in] the rooms as my staff is very small, so we would have to supplement in some way. In talking to peers, I came up with the idea to have students help,” Butler said. “We were hoping students would be interested in assisting with this but I had no idea it would be such a popular job on campus.” Read rest of article.