To use TA office hours, enter your personal Zoom link (or the link of another Zoom room that you’ve created) after clicking on the “Get TA Help” button. When a TA is available, they will join your room. Make sure that you have your Zoom room open, and that you are monitoring it for the arrival of the TA.
TA OH are usually staffed by one TA at a time. When you request TA Help, you will see how many other students are requesting help, and what position you are in the queue. We limit OH help sessions to 10 minutes per student. So looking at your position in the queue may give you a rough idea of how long the wait is likely to be. Students are put in to the queue in the order that they request help, but over the course of the semester, there is some priority given to students who have requested help less often.
At times when there are many students requesting OH at the same time, a TA may not be able to meet with you. When this happens, posting your question(s) to Piazza is the best way to get help.
To request a TA, use the TA office hour help request tool.
Before requesting OH related to a particular assignment, please make sure that you have read the entire assignment page, including any troubleshooting tips. Be prepared to tell the TA what you have tried.
Try to formulate specific questions, for example: - “I’m getting a TypeError on line 12, but I don’t know why, I think that my variables are holding integers and I should just be able to add them together like that” - “I’ve put a bunch of items in a list in my first function, but when I look at it’s contents, it appears to be empty on line 23.” - “We’ve been talking about functions in class and how they can receive values. I’ve tried to practice this, but I haven’t been able to do it yet. Here is what I have tried …”
Try to avoid questions that appear as if you are not concerned about learning the material. Questions can be to vague, or they can be too focused on getting credit for the assignment without mastering the concepts required. For example: - “My program isn’t working and I don’t know why, can you look at for me and find the error?” - “For this assignment, it says that I’m not passing the 5th test case. What is that test case, and what do I need to change in my code to pass it?” - “I’m really confused on this assignment, I haven’t tried anything yet.”
Here’s what you should and should not expect during office hours
You should Expect: - A brief interaction with a TA via Zoom, limited to a maximum of 10 minutes - The ability to share your screen with your TA if needed - Assistance from TAs on programming assignments and understanding class material - Help on getting “unstuck” on a certain part of an assignment
Please Do NOT Expect: - To obtain solutions for assignments, instead TAs may help you work through a problem or direct you to more resources - TAs to work through an entire assignment with you - Immediate assistance upon request (you will be put in to a queue) - That the TAs will give help after scheduled OH end (Look at your place in the queue. If there are many students waiting and it is getting close to the end of OH, you may not be helped).