<p>On the schedule of classes website for umd, there are classes that are taught by teachers and then there are classes taught by "staff". Now who are/is "staff"? Is it solely a TA taught class?</p>
<p>It just means they haven’t assigned a teacher yet. I’ve had classes (I currently even have an important one) that had STAFF for a while and then it becomes a real professor.</p>
<p>Some departments don’t ever post the professor (e.g. the Spanish department); I guess this gives them more flexibility in determining who will be teaching what–but it’s not any indication that you’ll get a better (or worse) professor. Since many times the professor can make/break a class, it helps to know what you’re going into and using ourumd.com helps—if you know who is teaching it!)</p>
<p>As far as I know, in most courses that do have a TA, the professor does the main lecture and the discussion period is taught by the TA. You always can go to the professor for additional help. Both of my D’s have been TA’s for classes, and this is how the larger courses they’ve taken have worked. Sometimes (especially in math and sciences) having someone else explain a concept you’re not too sure about can really help.</p>