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What does an academic assistant do?

Updated January 8, 2025
6 min read
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Academic assistant responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real academic assistant resumes:

  • Help troubleshoot public computers according to directions and also manage database of library.
  • Grade papers for remedial mathematics courses.
  • Serve as liaison to colleges, universities and vendors.
  • Strengthen students' academic weaknesses within science and mathematics fields at their request.
  • Used overhead projectors, Powerpoint and blackboards to demonstrate mathematical processes to students.
  • Assist in maintaining students' GPA'S, ensuring their performance in championship meets.
  • Plan, prepare, and implement group lessons plans pertaining to math, writing, and science curriculum.
  • Create PowerPoint presentations including illustrative charts and graphs.
  • Utilize organizational and creative skills to effectively implement a viable ESL program.
  • Train and support all instructional personnel to present an ESL lesson conversationally.
  • Organize and monitor of the course material administer over blogs and blackboard education software.
  • Prepare and proofread correspondence and research publication submissions containing scientific and technical terminology, tables, equations, and figures.
  • Mentore students in personal and academic matters, help students in registering and getting involve, assist professor in freshman seminar class
  • Serve as backup LMS administrator.
  • Guard the quality of teaching educational syllabus and teaching staff current level of teaching English as a second language.

Academic assistant skills and personality traits

We calculated that 14% of Academic Assistants are proficient in Academic Support, Mathematics, and Student Athletes. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Communication skills, and Patience.

We break down the percentage of Academic Assistants that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Academic Support, 14%

    Provide administrative support with various academic projects while connecting players with appropriate academic support resources.

  • Mathematics, 10%

    Researched reference information for the Mathematics faculty.

  • Student Athletes, 6%

    Assist in advisement and implementation of athletic policies and procedures for academic progress of student athletes.

  • Course Materials, 5%

    Determined priorities, established deadlines for course materials, and provided general administrative support.

  • Administrative Tasks, 5%

    Delivered administrative tasks, effective reporting, and appropriate documentation.

  • Travel Arrangements, 4%

    Organized complex domestic and international travel arrangements, obtained visas, and processed expense reports.

Most academic assistants use their skills in "academic support," "mathematics," and "student athletes" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential academic assistant responsibilities here:

Interpersonal skills. The most essential soft skill for an academic assistant to carry out their responsibilities is interpersonal skills. This skill is important for the role because "teacher assistants must be able to develop relationships with a variety of people, including teachers, students, parents, and administrators." Additionally, an academic assistant resume shows how their duties depend on interpersonal skills: "provided technological solutions displayed office and interpersonal skills provided customer service"

Communication skills. Another essential skill to perform academic assistant duties is communication skills. Academic assistants responsibilities require that "teacher assistants need to be clear and concise in discussing student progress with teachers and parents." Academic assistants also use communication skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "design student workshops to help with; test preparation, stress, study skills and communication. "

Patience. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of academic assistants is patience. This skill is critical to many everyday academic assistant duties, as "working with students of different abilities and backgrounds may be difficult." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "combine patience, determination, and persistence to troubleshoot client issues. "

Resourcefulness. A big part of what academic assistants do relies on "resourcefulness." You can see how essential it is to academic assistant responsibilities because "teacher assistants must find ways to explain information to students who have different learning styles." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical academic assistant tasks: "showed resourcefulness and teaching effectiveness in meeting the needs of students with limited english language proficiency as well as learning disabilities. "

Most common academic assistant skills

The three companies that hire the most academic assistants are:

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Compare different academic assistants

Academic assistant vs. Assistant daycare teacher

An assistant daycare teacher is responsible for performing support tasks in a daycare center. Most of the duties primarily revolve around maintaining a safe and healthy environment for children, preparing meals and learning materials, assisting children during bathroom or hygiene-related activities, and keeping the classroom clean and sanitized. Furthermore, there are instances when an assistant daycare teacher must come up with recreational activities, maintain student records, and help children improve their motor skills and basic knowledge in concepts such as recognizing the alphabet or coloring.

We looked at the average academic assistant salary and compared it with the wages of an assistant daycare teacher. Generally speaking, assistant daycare teachers are paid $13,380 lower than academic assistants per year.

These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of an academic assistant are more likely to require skills like "academic support," "mathematics," "provides administrative support," and "student athletes." On the other hand, a job as an assistant daycare teacher requires skills like "child care," "kids," "cpr," and "child development." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.

Assistant daycare teachers tend to reach lower levels of education than academic assistants. In fact, assistant daycare teachers are 9.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.2% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.

Academic assistant vs. Special education instructional assistant

Special education instructional assistant does work under the supervision of the principal and other administrative workers, especially in school and college. They prepare the material aids which are helping to teach in the classroom. Moreover, they are more inclined upon the progress of students. Conducting the exams, preparing the notes, preparing the result and giving the instruction to the students about their life career and course books etc are the main duties of the special education instructional assistant. They preach, instruct, command and come up with the idea about making the school environment more friendly and viable.

A career as a special education instructional assistant brings a lower average salary when compared to the average annual salary of an academic assistant. In fact, special education instructional assistants salary is $8,879 lower than the salary of academic assistants per year.While the salary may differ for these jobs, they share a few skills needed to perform their duties. Based on resume data, both academic assistants and special education instructional assistants have skills such as "academic support," "mathematics," and "administrative tasks. "

While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that academic assistant responsibilities requires skills like "provides administrative support," "student athletes," "course materials," and "travel arrangements." But a special education instructional assistant might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "cpr," "instructional materials," "autism," and "behavior management."

Special education instructional assistants earn a lower average salary than academic assistants. But special education instructional assistants earn the highest pay in the education industry, with an average salary of $33,416. Additionally, academic assistants earn the highest salaries in the education with average pay of $41,970 annually.special education instructional assistants earn similar levels of education than academic assistants in general. They're 2.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Academic assistant vs. Instruction assistant principal

Assistant principals are the education professionals responsible for doing administrative and research works that involve a school's operation and management. They assist and supervise the teachers and other staff to monitor compliance with the school standards' curriculum and discipline. They help teachers develop plans and strategies for an effective learning education. As part of their job, they usually conduct assessments of teachers to determine their performance level.

On average, instruction assistant principals earn higher salaries than academic assistants, with a $15,039 difference per year.academic assistants and instruction assistant principals both have job responsibilities that require similar skill sets. These similarities include skills such as "mathematics," "course materials," and "front desk," but they differ when it comes to other required skills.

There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, an academic assistant is likely to be skilled in "academic support," "provides administrative support," "student athletes," and "administrative tasks," while a typical instruction assistant principal is skilled in "kids," "customer service," "classroom management," and "role model."

Instruction assistant principals make a very good living in the education industry with an average annual salary of $57,425. On the other hand, academic assistants are paid the highest salary in the education industry, with average annual pay of $41,970.When it comes to education, instruction assistant principals tend to earn similar degree levels compared to academic assistants. In fact, they're 0.9% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 1.4% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Academic assistant vs. School psychologist assistant

A school psychology assistant aids a psychologist in accessing new clients, registering them, and conducting research on behalf of the psychologist. They are not licensed as psychologists and thus cannot offer any advice or administer any form of treatment to the clients. Their duties and responsibilities include conducting tests and evaluations to determine the patient's needs.

School psychologist assistants tend to earn a lower pay than academic assistants by an average of $9,846 per year.According to resumes from academic assistants and school psychologist assistants, some of the skills necessary to complete the responsibilities of each role are similar. These skills include "academic support," "mathematics," and "administrative tasks. "While some skills are required in each professionacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities, there are some differences to note. "provides administrative support," "student athletes," "course materials," and "financial aid" are skills that commonly show up on academic assistant resumes. On the other hand, school psychologist assistants use skills like cpr, kids, age children, and immunization on their resumes.The education industry tends to pay the highest salaries for school psychologist assistants, with average annual pay of $30,911. Comparatively, the highest academic assistant annual salary comes from the education industry.In general, school psychologist assistants hold similar degree levels compared to academic assistants. School psychologist assistants are 2.2% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of academic assistant

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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