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Successful Communication with Instructors

Attending class regularly, keeping up with readings and assignments, and communicating with your instructors are all crucial to your academic success. Here are a few tips on how to get to know your instructors and successfully interact with them.

How can you get to know your instructors?

To get the most out of your academic career at UCSB, get to know your instructors. Ask questions in the classroom. Establish a professional relationship with your instructors by going to office hours. If they tell you about interesting academic activities going on around campus, check them out. You may be in a position one day to have to ask your instructor for a letter of recommendation, for example, if you want to participate in the Education Abroad Program, or if you go on to grad school. Make sure you know your instructors, and that they know you! Think about the following information when establishing relations with them, because some of your instructors are more permanent than others.

Who are your instructors?

I wish I had known that TAs can really help you understand the material and assignments.

Professors and most lecturers are members of the faculty who have earned doctoral degrees. Both professors and lecturers teach courses. In addition to their teaching duties, professors conduct research, write books and articles, supervise the research of graduate students, write grant proposals, and serve on various departmental and university committees. These faculty members tend to be pretty permanent, so you can expect them to be around in four years when you graduate.
Visiting professors are members of the faculty of other colleges and universities. They come to UCSB to teach for a specified length of time and provide variety to the learning experience.
Post-doctoral fellows ("post docs") have earned their doctoral degrees, and are hired to teach and conduct research in their area of specialization for a year or two.
Guest lecturers can be graduate students, professors, or even members of the community who have expertise in a given area and are invited by the instructor of a course to share it with you. Guest lecturers provide yet another opportunity to widen the scope of the learning experience.
Teaching Associates are graduate student instructors who are faculty of record. That means that they are fully responsible for the course they are teaching, and are considered to be temporary members of the UCSB faculty. Teaching Associates have already earned a Master's degree and have displayed expertise in the area in which they have been hired to teach. You might find them teaching small seminars or large introductory lecture courses.
Teaching Assistants ("TAs") are graduate students who, while pursuing an advanced degree, are employed by the university to teach. Although they are not faculty of record (like Teaching Associates), they assist faculty by teaching discussion sections, language classes and laboratory sections. They also conduct review sessions, write and grade exams and quizzes, correct papers, and hold office hours. UCSB encourages ongoing department-based training programs for TAs, and offers a university-wide orientation program at the beginning of every year. Your TAs provide the opportunity to discuss course material or gain hands-on experience in small groups. TAs work hard, and are the committed professors of tomorrow. So if you think that you might need a letter of recommendation from your TA, ask for it at the end of the quarter. Many TAs will be gone before you finish your degree.
International Teaching Assistants are talented individuals from around the world who come to America to pursue advanced degrees. The Graduate Division requires International TAs to demonstrate their English language proficiency before taking on the role of the TA. Interacting with International TAs can add a little spice to your learning experience. They bring a unique perspective-not to mention a variety of accents, customs and fresh ideas-to their duties as scholars and teachers.
Readers are usually graduate students who are hired to grade some or all of the tests or assignments for a particular course. They generally work in upper division courses that don't have TAs, although in some departments, you might have TAs and Readers working with faculty of record in the same course. The instructors are responsible for informing TAs and Readers of grading standards. Just as with TAs, you can ask to talk to your Readers. They usually hold office hours before or after assignments.

What do most instructors expect of you before, during, and after class?

Before class do at least some review of the material from the previous session so that you can get the most out of the day's instruction. During the few minutes before class begins, your instructors are generally pretty busy getting set up, so if you need to speak to them, you might want to wait until after class, or just go visit them during their office hours. Have assignments ready to turn in at the beginning of class. Whether you are turning in a paper or doing an in-class presentation, keep in mind the following mantra: "neat and complete." If your instructors have not made clear what the requirements are, ask. In any case, you can assume the common-sense basics: papers should be regulation font, double-spaced, with margins for corrections. Staple them, and make sure to carefully check spelling and grammar. Your instructors will appreciate the added efforts that you've put forth to hand in polished work in a timely manner.
During class: Instructors often begin class with important administrative information (the distribution of handouts, test-taking locations, etc.) before moving on to valuable conceptual frameworks. If by some chance you are late to class, make sure to ask a friend what you have missed. Critical thinking and questioning are difficult skills to develop, but what are you here for? If there is something that you do not understand, ask! If there is a point with which you disagree, respectfully choose to differ! Be ready to try and back up your position with reason and facts. Maybe you recently read something that is in direct opposition to what your professor just said. Ask him or her about it. Maybe there is something in your professor's line of thinking that doesn't make sense to you. Raise your hand and ask for clarification. Take control of your education and develop your mind. Participate. Explore not only your own thinking, but also other perspectives.
After class: OK, so I've mentioned office hours at least four times already. But I cannot stress enough how helpful it can be for you to take advantage of this "service." It is the only time that the instructor is 100% available to answer any and all questions that you may have, whether they be long and involved, or brief and simple. Prepare yourself in advance in case there are other students taking advantage of this time. Also, the more prepared you are, the better your instructor will be able to zero in on the issues you raise. If you need to leave an important message for your instructor, and you can't make it to office hours, you can call her/his department, or you can take a note to the office and ask the administrative assistant to put it in the instructor's departmental mail box. Also, your instructor may include his/her email address on the class syllabus. Ask your instructor his or her preferences at the beginning of the quarter.

What can you do if you have questions about assignments or grades?

Most instructors will tell you what they are looking for in an assignment and what the evaluation criteria will be. If they are not clear about these matters, ask. It's very helpful to know as much as possible about your instructor's expectations before you start your work. Do your best to hit the due date. University life is a life full of deadlines, so get used to it. If something serious comes up, let your instructor know immediately. If you have a medical problem, he or she may ask for a medical certificate, and you
Most instructors will tell you what they are looking for in an assignment and what the evaluation criteria will be. If they are not clear about these matters, ask. It's very helpful to know as much as possible about your instructor's expectations before you start your work. Do your best to hit the due date. University life is a life full of deadlines, so get used to it. If something serious comes up, let your instructor know immediately. If you have a medical problem, he or she may ask for a medical certificate, and you must provide one; if it is a problem of a different (maybe personal) nature, let your instructor know, and negotiate an extension. If you get your work back and are surprised by your grade, find out how to improve your work for the next time. Talk to your instructor, listen and learn. However, if you spot what appears to be a grading error, speak up. Sometimes there are scantron errors, sometimes an error might occur when a tired TA is tallying points late at night. Make sure and politely address the issue with your instructor after class. A trickier problem arises when you think that a grade is somehow unjust. As, for example, when you think you deserve a better grade than the one you received. Again, speak up. Make an appointment with your instructor to meet with him/her during office hours, and be prepared to ask specific questions about evaluation criteria and your instructor's assessment process. You have the right to request more feedback, however, do it respectfully, and give your instructor a week or so to get back to you if need be.
If after requesting more feedback you are still not satisfied, you can contest a grade. This is a more formal process. Basically, you would have to write a statement detailing your situation, and outlining what you think was incorrectly evaluated. Make sure that you can fully justify being misgraded, and put it in writing, once again requesting that your instructor consider your request How can you get to know your instructors? To get the most out of your academic career at UCSB, get to know your instructors. Ask questions in the classroom. Establish a professional relationship with your instructors by going to office hours. If they tell you about interesting academic activities going on around campus, check them out. You may be in a position one day to have to ask your instructor for a letter of recommendation, for example, if you want to participate in the Education Abroad Program, or if you go on to grad school. Make sure you know your instructors, and that they know you! Think about the following information when establishing relations with them, because some of your instructors are more permanent than others.

How can you provide feedback to your instructors?

At the end of every quarter you will fill out formal course evaluations for all of your classes. This is your chance to provide thoughtful, specific comments on course content and quality of instruction.
But you need not wait until then to provide feedback to your instructor. Are you having problems understanding the material? Approach your professor immediately. Were the assignment guidelines unclear? Request clarifications quickly. Do you have a suggestion that would somehow help your instructor to help you (and your classmates)? Share it with your instructor. Did you enjoy a particular activity in class? Let it be known. The point is, there's no need to wait to voice your positive thoughts, or your dissatisfaction. Your feedback-positive and negative-throughout the quarter allows the teacher to be more responsive to your needs.
If you find yourself in a situation where you have continual difficulties, and are not able to resolve them with your instructor, you may have to consider speaking to a neutral third party. Within the department you could make an appointment to speak with the lead TA, the supervising faculty member, the departmental academic advisor, or the department chair. Make sure you are very clear about what the problems are, and what you have done to try and solve them. If within the department you still cannot get your problem addressed, you can speak anonymously with the campus Mediation (893-3285) who serves as a liaison between and among students and university employees.

In closing, I'd just like to urge you to think of developing your communication skills just as you might develop any other skill. Whether you're trying to learn how to surf, play the piano, or speak honestly and professionally with your instructors, you have to practice. And the more you practice the better you get at it. And the better you get at it, the more benefits you derive from your newly acquired skills. Consider that life somehow becomes easier, more fun and fulfilling, when you learn how to talk straight to people. Take advantage of your university years to develop your communication skills. They will come in very handy in every area of your life.

-Eva Diaz, Former TA, Department of French and Italian, Peer Consultant, TA Development Program