As part of your department work, you may be asked to act as course assistant in a course offered by TME. There is no clear-cut definition of what being a course assistant (sometimes also called: teaching assistant) encompasses. Typical activities of a teaching assistant are of administrative nature though and may include:

• Creating and administering the course website → See How to: Canvas for tips
• Posting updates about the course (e.g. via Canvas)
• Answering student questions

In general, it is advisable to discuss with the course examiner before you start your work what your concrete responsibilities are. In any case, it is wise to plan your work ahead so that it does not distract you too much from your other duties as a PhD student. While some activities as a course assistant come with a rather plannable workload (e.g. creating the course website), other activities can vary heavily regarding when and how often they pop up (e.g. answering student questions).

Regarding the latter, you need to balance your responsiveness with both your stress level and your response quality. For instance, you might want to avoid jumping at answering student questions right away, being available 24/7 - without leaving students waiting for your answer for a week or so. Keep in mind that often, several students might have the same question, or at least your answer to a student question might be relevant to others as well. Accordingly, you might want to consider posting your answers to all students, e.g. as a Canvas announcement. Waiting for a bit can avoid double work. Also, sometimes you might need additional info to answer a question, e.g. from a lecturer in the course. In such cases, it does not hurt to answer something like “I will get back to you as soon as I know more.” or “We will soon share information regarding this on Canvas.” In any case, you should avoid giving different answers to similar questions from different students.