From Manual to Automated Excellence
As the Teaching Assistant Community Manager at ALPHA Camp, I implemented automated systems and optimized processes, leading to 100% TA community growth and enhanced service efficiency.
Company
ALPHA Camp
Types
From0to1, Community, UIUX, Scale
Introduction
During my time at ALPHA Camp, I served as the Teaching Assistant (TA) Community Manager. Each student’s assignment at ALPHA Camp was graded by a TA, and if they encountered issues with their coursework, TAs would assist with Q&A. As the number of students increased, the TA team grew from 20 members. The TA experience became increasingly important. Over the course of a year, I improved existing processes and tools, incorporated product thinking, established community guidelines, and perfected the interview and onboarding process. I also developed a platform for automated assignment distribution, Q&A responses, and TA scheduling.
Establishing Community Guidelines from Vision
The first step in building the TA community was to create community guidelines, starting from vision and mission to member roles, clearly defining the direction and composition of the community.
Optimizing the Onboarding Process
Since ALPHA Camp TAs are part-time, we transitioned from a hands-on approach to establishing comprehensive training documentation for new TAs. This allowed the entire onboarding process to become more automated and scalable, with internal evaluations to ensure the quality of training.
Developing the Assignment Distribution Tool
Information Architecture: ▸ Assignment Overview: Split into two layers: - Courses - Pending grading, pending replies, already graded, and already replied records ▸ Q&A Overview: Displays questions from students in the responsible term and support term ▸ Hours Report: Shows a report of assignments graded and Q&A replied, tracking work hours ▸ Schedule: Displays individual TA schedules in a calendar format ▸ Bulletin Board: Used for monthly updates on TA activities and important community announcements ▸ Settings: Allows TAs to update their phone numbers for easier contact during in-person activities
User-Friendly Interface
Transitioned from Google Sheets to a web app to significantly enhance the user experience and future scalability. Additional features will be added based on TA feedback and requirements.
Easier Access to Assignments and Status Updates
TAs now have their own list of assignments to grade, without mixing with others’ assignments. This allows them to see at a glance what needs to be graded for the day. TAs handling multiple terms can see notifications indicating the number of assignments needing grading and responses, allowing flexible time management.
Complete Grading and Response Records
All graded assignments and their responses are recorded in detail. Tabs and search functions make it easy to find previous feedback or reference it for future grading.
Impact
Documenting the growth and impact of the TA community throughout 2020: https://review.alphacamp.co/2020/ta/ ▸ TA community growth rate: 100% ▸ Total service hours: 3000 hours ▸ Q&A volume and word count: 3,500 questions & 940,000 words ▸ Assignment grading: 15,000 assignments, 2.4 million words ▸ Workshops: 100 sessions, nearly 10,000 minutes, average student satisfaction over 4.5/5 ▸ Assisted in course recording: 14,000 minutes of video content ▸ Meetups: 12 sessions ▸ Achievement: 24 TAs participated in the Ironman competition, 6 received awards
