Context at a Glance:

• Emerging Research Institution: ~34,000 undergraduate students

• Medium Enrollment Courses for Majors + Service: enrollments ~ 500 each semester across the three-course sequence; mostly students majoring in engineering and the physical sciences

• Two Courses Components:

  • Lecture

    • Meets 3 hours per week, typically in two 80-minute meetings

    • Enrollment in each lecture section is ~50 students

    • Students spend 1-2 hours each week working in small groups on Tutorials in Introductory Physics and challenge problems; the remaining time is used for lecture, Peer Instruction-style (clicker) questions, and demonstrations.

  • Laboratory

    • Meets 3 hours per week

    • Enrollment in each lab section is approximately 16 students

    • Weekly lab activities are posted on the course website and include computational modeling, conceptual activities, and open-ended laboratory investigations

    • Each section is taught by one Instructional Assistant, undergraduate or master’s level; current and former LAs are preferentially hired to teach these labs

LA Hiring: Each section of 50 students is assigned 4 LAs. LAs are hired as a group for all courses, rather than for a specific course. LAs are assigned to course sections by the LA Program Director based on availability and expertise. Some LAs are assigned to two sections of the same course.

Use of LAs:

• Lecture

  • LAs attend every lecture section course meeting throughout the semester (with the exception of exam days)

  • LAs move around the lecture hall during tutorial activities and help facilitate group interactions and thought processes

  • LAs are interacting with students approximately 40% to 60% of the lecture period

• Physics Help Center

  • LAs staff a walk-in “Help Center” where students can work together with LA support

  • The Help Center is staffed by 2 LAs, M-Th 10am-6pm and F 10am-12pm; when possible, a new LA is paired with an experienced LA

  • The Help Center is located in an open space near physics faculty offices, and LAs are encouraged to bring students to faculty if they get stuck

• Tutorial homework grading

  • LAs can sign up to grade tutorial homework papers consisting of open-ended conceptual questions; LAs discuss the questions and interpretation of sample responses with faculty before they begin grading

  • Flexible time commitment

  • LAs request hours at the start of the scheduling process and can be assigned between 5 and 15 hours/week

LA Weekly Preparation: All LAs for the entire introductory sequence (~30-35 LAs) meet weekly for two hours, Friday afternoons 12:00-2:00pm, along with all instructors teaching in the sequence. The first 15-30 minutes is dedicated to whole-group discussions, presentations, and announcements. Following this, LAs split up by course. All instructors and LAs assigned to the same course prepare together – e.g., the group preparing for introductory Mechanics consists of 16 LAs and 3 instructors, who collectively support a total of 5 course sections.