Clearing House is not expected to affect undergraduates' course choices, Neel says. But, he says, it will make life somewhat easier for administrators in both the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the GSAS who must help match professors with TFs.
Neel expects two very busy periods for the program: Around Wednesday of next week, when professors begin to estimate course size, and after shopping period, when class sizes are more or less set. "Our success will be in providing a flow of information," he says.
The project won't end after all the TFs and classes are matched. Neel says Clearing House workers will follow up on their placements, checking with departments and interviewing students who participated in the program.
"We thought that we didn't know as much as we might, and we could find out some more," he says.
Kristen E. Poole, a fourth-year English student, was a victim of enrollment uncertainty last year. When the course she expected to teach wound up with fewer students than expected, Poole lost her job and had to find a new position within 24 hours.
This year, things are going better for Poole, who is a TF for Literature and Arts A-40, Professor of English Marjorie Garber's Shakespeare course. Like all other Core courses, Lit and Arts A-40 guarantees jobs for all of its teaching fellows.
"I'm doing this course for two reasons: my specialty is in Renaissance drama and teaching in the Core is guaranteed," she says. "I have a fellowship, but it's job training."
Poole said she thinks Clearing House is "a step in the right direction." However, she warns that the program might categorize graduate students too broadly. As a result, graduate students could end up teaching courses that technically fit their subject areas, but in which they have little actual expertise.
"Last year I was teaching in some courses that were not in my field," Poole says. "I didn't feel I had time to prepare well."
David J. Ellison, a fifth-year economics student who has taught Ec 10 for the past two years, thinks Clearing House will be beneficial.
"I think it sounds like an excellent idea, particularly in small departments where it's not as obvious what courses are there to teach," he says.