What are special teams?

Special Teams are a more targeted way of improving COMP110, COMP 211 (and previously COMP 101) as courses and making sure the student and TA experience is as great as possible. Given the size of the classes served by the TA team and the number of students who take these classes at Carolina, considerable effort is needed to make sure everything from grading to outreach occurs in a timely and efficient manner.

Which special teams currently exist?

For the Fall of 2020, the special teams are:

• Grading
• Events
• Mentor/Mentees
• Houses
• Tutoring
• Reviews
• Outreach
• Scheduling
• Exercises

Some of these special teams have a dedicated group of TAs (ex: grading, exercises) and other special teams are managed by 1 - 2 people (ex: Reviews, Houses). The available teams vary from semester to semester — DevLab comes and goes, Hack110 planning (RIP), quizzes, etc.

Who are special teams for and how do they work?

Usually, just 10 hour TAs. You usually get between 2 - 4 hours dedicated to the team’s focus, whether grading or writing exercises or tutoring. This changes if you’re the head of the special team. This head is who will be responsible for delegating tasks, answering your questions, and should be your first goto if anything arises.

Why do only 10 hour TAs participate on special teams?

For new TA's spending a lot of time in OH is good for developing a knack for where students have problems and learning how to communicate effectively in this environment. Your first semester is the time to get this skill down, especially when only working 5 hours a week. Usually, TAs transition to 10 hours after this semester and that becomes a great time to join a special team.

How do I get on a special team?

If you come up to 10 hours and express interest on special teams at the beginning of a semester, usually you'll get onto one. Special note is that if you're already on a team it's unlikely you'll get onto another one - for example, the grading team tried to pick people who weren't already on a team. If you don’t get on a team, don’t be afraid to reach out to either the team lead or Kris for more info; it is not a comment on your abilities and likely just a result of lots of interest in the teams you specified.