FAQ

for everyone.

Who can apply to teach?

Any student at UMD College Park may apply! Each course may be facilitated by 1 to 3 students.

How are student facilitators compensated?

It depends on the department the class falls under. Some departments may pay facilitators as TAs, some may require it to be volunteer service, and some may offer credit as a sort of independent study.

What should I do if I want to teach?

Visit the apply page.

Who handles grading/grade disputes?

While the student-facilitators may handle intermediate grading on assignments like projects and quizzes, the instructor of record will be the one submitting final grades. The instructor of record also handles any grade disputes that escalate past a certain point.

What are the responsibilities of a faculty advisor?

For an informal summary of the role, check out this document.

How many credits are STICs?

STICs are offered from 1 to 2 credits.

How many STICs can I take?

As many as you want! Keep in mind that STICs may or may not help you for major requirements.

for administrators.

How do course numbers work for STICs?

This is up to the department. Most departments are using special topics numbers (as they are perfect for one-off courses like this). Some other departments have created other numbers.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Once a course is created, things like the grading policy (pass/fail vs. standard letter grades) cannot be changed. In other words, if there is a course from 2009 that is P/F and a STIC wants to use that course number, it MUST be P/F.

How should these courses be inputted into SIS?

In a typical STIC, the student facilitator(s) will be the primary one(s) interacting with the students in the class while the faculty advisor works behind the scenes with the student facilitator(s). Therefore, the faculty advisor (who is the course’s instructor of record) should not be evaluated by the students in the course evaluations. If not assigned properly, course evaluations meant for the student facilitator(s) will instead be attached to the instructor of record, which could affect that faculty member’s teaching record for APT and also erroneously affect department averages.

To avoid these situations, IRPA has outlined these options as proper ways of assigning course evaluations in STICs:

• No course evaluation for anyone for that class, or
• If course evaluations are desired, students should be listed as "Lab/Discussion Leaders" and should receive course evals in that role. The faculty member is the only person who should ever be listed as the “Instructor of Record” and should not receive a course eval for the STIC. (In general, a faculty member who is the instructor of record for a course can only receive a course eval if students in the course have seen the instructor of record enough to evaluate them based on the list of course eval questions here. In STICs that are primarily student-led and student-taught, this is not going to be the case.)

Also when STICs are input into SIS, 100% of the teaching load should always be assigned to the faculty advisor. Under no circumstances should a student ever be assigned any teaching load at all in SIS, and under no circumstances should a student ever be the "Instructor of Record” or "Other Instructor" in SIS. Instead, student facilitators should be listed as “Lab/Discussion Leaders,” which still allows them to be evaluated through course evaluations as mentioned above.

What happens if a student facilitator becomes unable to teach a course?

Hopefully the STIC has two facilitators so the other can take over. However, if this does not happen, the responsibility falls on the faculty advisor to decide what happens to the course + students.