Analyzing LA-Faculty Partnerships

Weekly preparation sessions are places where LAs interact closely with coordinators and faculty. These interactions can be very collaborative or more mentor-mentee and play important roles in the types of partnerships that develop between LAs and coordinators and faculty.

Types of partnerships that exist along a continuum:

● Mentor – Mentee: One-directional with limited LA input on classroom dynamics and reflection on student understanding;

● Faculty driven collaboration: Faculty elicit feedback from LAs and guide how LAs will be involved in the course; LAs do not co-design instructional materials;

● Collaboration: Faculty elicit feedback & and then, with their LA, co-design and co-implement instructional materials;

The following behaviors can indicate whether your weekly preparation sessions are collaborative or more mentor-mentee.

  • Sessions exclusively focus on LA content understanding and course logistics: Mentor-mentee

  • LA suggests a modification to an activity during the weekly preparation session: Collaborative

  • Instructor asks LA for feedback about how a particular activity went: Collaborative

  • Sessions involve role playing where the instructor plays the role of a student in the classroom: Mentor-mentee

  • Sessions involve the instructor asking the LA where the students are struggling: Faculty driven collaboration

  • Instructor asks LA to come up with a new mini activity to break up the lecture. Collaborative

Using a rubric to analyze the Weekly Preparation Sessions

(The Preparation Session Observation Protocol, Version 1)

M.S. Sabella, A.G. Van Duzor, & F. Davenport. Leveraging the expertise of the urban STEM student in developing an effective LA program: LA and instructor partnerships, 2016 Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings [Sacramento, CA, July 20-21, 2016], edited by D. L. Jones, L. Ding, and A. Traxler, doi:10.1119/perc.2016.pr.067.

F. Davenport, F. Amezcua, M. S. Sabella, and A. G. Van Duzor, Exploring the Underlying Factors in Learning Assistant - Faculty Partnerships, 2017 Physics Education Research Conference Proceeding [Cincinnati, OH, July 26-27, 2017], edited by L. Ding, A. Traxler, and Y. Cao, doi:10.1119/perc.2017.pr.021.