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Journal of Education for Business

ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20

Using Professional Teaching Assistants to Support
Large Group Business Communication Classes
Lloyd J. Rieber
To cite this article: Lloyd J. Rieber (2004) Using Professional Teaching Assistants to Support
Large Group Business Communication Classes, Journal of Education for Business, 79:3,
176-178, DOI: 10.3200/JOEB.79.3.176-178
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/JOEB.79.3.176-178

Published online: 07 Aug 2010.

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Using Professional Teaching
Assistants to Support Large Group
Business Communication Classes
LLOYD J. RIEBER
Saint Mary’s University
Halifax, Nova Scotia

C

lass size affects the number of
students that a teacher has to

teach, evaluate, and grade. Grading
typically is the most time consuming
of these tasks and is, according to
many, the least rewarding. Consequently, writing teachers have proposed various methods to help reduce
the time spent grading.
One method with a long history is
peer evaluation (Lynch & Golen, 1992;
Liu, Pysarchik & Taylor, 2002; Magin,
2001; Marcoulides & Simkin, 1991,
1995; Pitts, 1988). Another method, recommended by Van Horn-Christopher
(1995), is embedding oral comments in
computer files containing students’
work rather than writing comments on
students’ papers. Monroe (2002) suggested eliminating comments on students’ papers altogether and giving general feedback in a report to the whole
class instead. Most recently, writing
teachers have been experimenting with
using computers to grade student
assignments (Clayton, 1999; Shermis,
Koch, Page, Keith, & Harrington,
2002). Probably the most traditional

way to reduce grading in writing courses is by using teaching assistants (TAs).
Although some programs have had success with undergraduate TAs (Kabel,
1983), most program designers prefer
having PhD students in the classroom as
tutors and markers. Universities that do

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Journal of Education for Business

ABSTRACT. In this article, the
author reports on the use of classroom
instructors and full-time professional
teaching assistants called “course
tutors” for teaching business communication to large groups at an undergraduate university. The author
explains how to recruit course tutors,
what course tutors do in the classroom, and the advantages and disadvantages of using them. The method is
beneficial in that it reduces the grading load for business communication
teachers and offers an inexpensive
method for successfully teaching large

group writing classes. However,
teachers can lose sight of student
weaknesses and not get to know their
students as well as they might in
smaller classes.

not have PhD programs, however, must
find another solution.
In this article, I discuss one undergraduate university’s experiment with
teaching business communication to
large groups by using classroom
instructors and professional teaching
assistants. Many universities are moving away from small (25–30) composition courses to larger (70–90) discipline-specific writing classes, such as
business writing, technical writing, and
professional writing. Professional
teaching assistants can provide an
inexpensive and educationally beneficial means for teaching, evaluating,
and grading writing in large group
classes.

Background
For many years, the English Department at my university offered a single
elective course in business writing. The
course was so useful for business students that in 1988 the business faculty
members changed the course name to
Business Communication and wrote it
into the core business curriculum. However, as a core course, Business Communication would have to serve 600 students instead of the 25 it served while in
the English Department. With 600 students, keeping the class size small
enough to give each teacher a reasonable
grading load would have required at least
four business communication teachers.
Assuming that each teacher taught no
subject other than business communication, each would have to teach six sections a year (three in each term) for a
total yearly offering of 24 sections of 25
students per section. Even with four
teachers, the overall grading load of each
teacher would have been heavy. For
example, if the course were to require
only one page of writing each week,
each teacher would have to evaluate and

grade 75 assignments each week, for a
total of 900 pages in a 12-week term.
Although this amount of grading would
not be impossible, it would put a heavy
burden on teachers who are active in
research and service as well as teaching.

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Hiring even four new teachers, however, would have cost more than our budget
allowed, so we had to come up with an
alternative. Because the university served
only undergraduate and master’s level
students, PhD teaching assistants were
not available. We considered undergraduate markers but concluded that few
undergraduates would have the time or
the ability to grade 75 papers each week,
and if we assigned more than one undergraduate marker to each section, we
would lose marking consistency.
Instead of hiring more teachers or an

army of undergraduate markers, we
came up with an innovative, cost-saving
solution: We hired two full-time teachers
and two full-time professional teaching
assistants, whom we call “course tutors.”
This model has proved so successful that
other universities might want to consider it for business communication courses and for other discipline-specific writing courses.
To recruit our course tutors, we advertised in the local paper for candidates
with a master’s degree in English, journalism, or a related subject; excellent
command of English syntax, grammar,
and punctuation; copy editing experience; and experience in education or
business. From the résumés we received,
we developed a short list of candidates.
During the interview, we gave each candidate a grammar test and a mock student
paper to evaluate, comment on, and
grade. The two candidates that we eventually selected both held master’s degrees
(one in English and one in TESL) and
had extensive editing experience.

37.5 hours per week. After grading

assignments, they have 12.5 hours
remaining, which they divide between
office hours, individual tutoring, attending class, and helping prepare course
materials such as the course outline,
assignments, exercises, and tests.
Each course tutor is assigned to one
teacher and attends that teacher’s classes. In addition, the tutor and teacher
together meet once a week to discuss
the students’ progress, the last assignment evaluated, the next assignment to
be evaluated, and any materials that
need to be prepared for upcoming
lessons or tests. These meetings help the
tutors keep informed on the material
that the teacher has covered and his or
her expectations of the students.
Having the tutor attend the teacher’s
lectures is important for two reasons.
Clearly, the tutor has to know what the
teacher stresses in class. Equally important, the students have to know that the
tutor is marking for aspects that the

teacher considers important. In fact,
when we first started teaching with
course tutors, some students complained that the teacher and the tutor did
not agree; that is, the tutor was grading
for factors that the teacher had not covered or did not think were important.
This complaint typically came from
weaker students who also had an imperfect understanding of what the teacher
discussed in class. Having the tutors in
the classroom during lectures gives the
tutors’ marking credibility by reassuring
students that the tutors do, indeed, know
what the teacher stressed in class and
mark accordingly.

What Do the Course Tutors Do?
The primary job of the course tutors
is to evaluate, comment on, and grade
student papers. During a 12-week
course, students typically complete a
minimum of six writing assignments

and take two full-period tests and a final
exam. Most assignments are one to two
pages long. With practice, the course
tutors are able to evaluate an individual
assignment in approximately 10 minutes, so each tutor can evaluate a week’s
assignments in about 25 hours (150
papers x 10 minutes = 1,500 minutes =
25 hours). The class tutors are in the
staff union and are required to work

What Advantages Does the
Model Have?
The most obvious advantage of the
professional course tutor model is a significantly reduced grading load for the
business communication teachers.
Because the course tutors grade all inclass tests and all writing assignments
done outside of class, the classroom
teacher has to evaluate and grade only
writing, quizzes, and exercises done in
class.

A second major advantage of the
model is cost savings. A course tutor
earns about one fourth as much as a uni-

versity teacher earns. Moreover, whereas the teacher’s salary is likely to
increase with rank, increases in the
tutor’s salary are limited to yearly increments to cover inflation and reward continuing service. In addition, the tutors
do not receive sabbaticals and can be
employed on a 9-month contract if the
course is not offered in the summer.
Beyond reduced grading load and cost
savings, the professional course tutor
model offers several other advantages:
• Students receive the benefit of having essentially two teachers. Not only is
the tutor in the classroom during class
activities and exercises, but both the
teacher and the tutor have office hours.
Students can go to the classroom
teacher or the tutor to obtain help with
their work.
• Students receive much more feedback on their assignments than teachers
generally would provide. Students want
more than a grade on their papers; they
want to know why they received a particular grade and how to improve their
writing. The course tutors—who do not
plan lessons, do research, or serve on
university committees—have more time
to make comments when marking papers
and more time to see students outside of
class than would a classroom teacher.
• Students receive help and comments
from professionals, not student markers.
Using undergraduate students as markers
often means that students’ work is
marked by an individual close to their
own age who took the course only a year
or so earlier. Such markers often lack the
maturity and sophistication needed to
make and support subjective judgments
about their peers’ assignments. From
their peers’ point of view, they lack credibility. Because professional course
tutors are older and more mature than the
undergraduate students in the class, and
because they work more closely with the
classroom teacher than would student
markers, the course tutors thoroughly
understand the course content and are
well equipped to answer student questions and respond to student concerns.
• Unlike student markers, full-time
professional course tutors return every
year. The job of course tutor appeals to
those whom we hire, and they tend to
stay with us. In fact, in 14 years, only two
January/February 2004

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course tutors have resigned (both because
of family commitments). Of the two
tutors whom we have now, one has been
with us for 13 years and one for 10.
Although the job of course tutor is difficult and tedious, it does offer a degree of
autonomy not found in other positions.
The tutors need be on campus only for
meetings with students and with the
course teachers. Thus, they can complete
most of their work at home, which is
attractive to many people. In addition,
because they are on a 9-month contract,
the tutors have up to 3 months free in the
summer. Finally, although the university
pays the course tutors less than it pays the
teachers, the salary is attractive, and the
course tutors have the opportunity to
work in a university, which many people
consider a prestigious position.
Because the course tutors tend to
return each year, the classroom teacher
need not retrain them each year. As a
result, they become more familiar with
the curriculum and can take an increasingly active role in developing course
materials and assisting with classroom
exercises and activities. Student markers rarely perform these tasks.
• Experienced professional course
tutors give the classroom teacher the
opportunity to work with a colleague
while developing the curriculum and
teaching methods for a specific course.
Most teachers work with colleagues to
develop curriculum for a program or a
major, but few teachers have a colleague
observe classroom practices, help plan
classroom activities, and make suggestions about improving learning in the
classroom.

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Journal of Education for Business

• Because all teachers and teaching
assistants work together on class curriculum, delivery, and evaluation, the
resulting courses are truly coordinated.
They have the same course outline,
cover the same content, and evaluate
with similar instruments.
What Disadvantages
Does the Model Have?
The professional course tutor model
has its disadvantages. Because teachers
do not grade student work, they easily
can lose sight of student weaknesses
and fail to plan their teaching to overcome these weaknesses. We partially
overcome this disadvantage by having
weekly meetings to discuss student
work and by having the tutors photocopy papers representative of students’
work for the teacher. In addition, after
each assignment or test, the tutors prepare a report discussing, in general, the
strengths and weaknesses of students’
work. We post these reports on our Web
site, which gives students an additional
form of feedback on their work.
An additional disadvantage of the
model is that teachers do not become as
familiar with their students as they might
in smaller classes and, likewise, the students do not become familiar with their
teachers. This disadvantage is difficult to
overcome, but it would exist in larger
classes whether the class had course
tutors or not. Moreover, having both a
teacher and a tutor in the room gives a
student in a large class two points of
contact and that much more opportunity
to interact with someone who is confident with the subject matter.

Conclusion
Probably no system will replace the
atmosphere and individual attention
possible in a small class, but using professional course tutors allowed our university to introduce a business communication course with only a small,
affordable increase in faculty size. By
using professional tutors, we were able
to teach large group writing courses and
give students the feedback, attention,
and writing practice that they need to
improve their writing.
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