Recently, the 56th ACM Computer Science Education Technical Symposium (SIGCSE TS) was held in Pittsburgh, USA. A collaborative paper titled "Iterative Design of a Teaching Assistant Training Program in Computer Science Using the Agile Method" by faculty and students from the Department of Computer Science and Technology(Ma Yuchun, Chen Shengqi [PhD student], Chen Jiajie [PhD student], Niu Songjie[Postdoc]) and the Institute of Education (Tang Xiaofeng, Liu Runda [Master student]) has been accepted by SIGCSE TS 2025. The first author of the paper is Liu Runda, a bachelor's graduate from the Department of Computer Science and Technology, and current master's student at the Institute of Education. The corresponding authors are Professor Ma Yuchun from the Department of Computer Science and Technology, and Associate Professor Tang Xiaofeng from the Institute of Education.
The paper summarizes the innovative practices in graduate teaching assistant (TA) training implemented by the Department of Computer Science and Technology since the fall of 2022. Through a series of rapid iterations, the team systematically constructed a comprehensive TA training program from scratch. After four semesters of effort, a holistic and structured departmental TA training program has been preliminarily established, engaging over 200 times of participation by the TAs from the Department of Computer Science and Technology.
The paper highlights how the team gradually scaled the TA training program despite initial inexperience, and developed/implemented phased training content through feedback collection and agile iterations. Moving forward, the team aims to further refine the program by aligning with practical teaching needs and graduate career development goals. This research was supported by Tsinghua University’s Graduate Education Innovation Grants, titled "Reform Practice of TA Competency Training in the Department of Computer Science."
SIGCSE TS (ACM Computer Science Education Technical Symposium), founded in 1970, is a top-tier academic conference in computer science education and the flagship conference of the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE). For over 50 years, it has represented the global forefront of computing education practice and pedagogical research, driving transformations of curricula and instructional innovations in international computer science education. This paper also marks the first time that Tsinghua University faculty and students have published a full paper at SIGCSE TS.
Editor：Li Han
