An Interactive System for Hiring and Managing Graduate Teaching Assistants

In this paper, we describe a system for managing the hiring and assigning of Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) to academic tasks based on the GTAs qualifications, preferences, and availability. This system is built using Constraint Processing techniques and is operated through web-based interfaces. Various versions of the prototype system have been in actual use since Fall 2001 and have yielded a significant improvement in the quality and stability of the final assignments in our department and a reduction of the workload and frustration of the administrators involved in this task. This paper describes the motivation and practical significance of this system, the design and functionalities of its components, and the teaching and research opportunities it has enabled.