Background
Learning assistants (LAs) are students trained to facilitate learning activities to support less experienced students in their learning. LAs work closely with faculty as part of the instructional team, providing faculty with important insights about their students? learning.
Since 2018 the Center for Computing in Science Education (CCSE) and LINK -
Centre for Learning, Innovation and Academic Development have worked to integrate Learning Assistants into courses and programs across UiO.
This work has been based on the research-based Learning Assistant Model developed by the University of Colorado Boulder. Educators and researchers from Boulder and the Learning Assistant Alliance with extensive experience building and running learning assistant programs will now be visiting the University of Oslo to facilitate this workshop and help interested course instructors and administrators learn how to use and support learning assistants in their teaching.
The workshop will have a major focus on how to use learning assistants to facilitate active learning activities in different types of courses and learning environments. Instructors, administrators, and students who are interested in integrating more active learning activities into their courses are very welcome to sign up!
We also know that it is often easier to do course design in a team, so we welcome teams of instructors, administrators, and student learning assistants from a single institute or course to sign up together.
Target group
The workshop targets course instructors in particular. However, we encourage teams/groups of teachers, administrators, students and (potential) learning assistants from particular courses or institutes to sign up for the workshop together.
Workshop Sessions Include
- Essential Elements of the LA Model
- Best practices for working with LAs in your course
- Designing your weekly instructional team meetings with LAs
- Building and running a pedagogy course for LAs
- Building an LA Program across your department and campus
Please follow the link to the workshop detailed program and schedule.
Facilitators
Laurie Langdon
directs the Learning Assistant (LA) Program at University of Colorado Boulder and is a co-founder of the international Learning Assistant Alliance (LAA). She collaborates with the CU Boulder LA Program leadership team to design, teach, and iterate on the pedagogy course for new LAs, the LA Mentor course and Returning LA Communities for experienced LAs, and various forms of support and professional development for faculty who work with LAs in their courses. In her LA Alliance work, Dr. Langdon leads faculty workshops and conferences focusing on developing and maintaining accessible learning environments through the use of LAs.
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Valerie Otero
is a Professor of Physics Education Research at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is co-founder and executive director of the International Learning Assistant Alliance and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. She co-authored several physics curricula and faculty professional learning models. Her work in institutional change spans multiple disciplines and learning contexts. Otero has advised the National Academy of Sciences, the American Physical Society, and NASA on issues in education and continues to work to find ways to highlight students’ voices in the classroom.
Eleanor Close
is an Associate Professor of Physics at Texas State University, director of the TXST Physics LA program, and co-PI on the TXST Faculty-Student STEM Communities Project that is supporting course redesign teams and expanding the LA model into other departments. She also teaches the LA Pedagogy course. Her research focuses on the LA experience and LAs’ identity development, including physics teacher identity and reconciliation of multiple identities from different communities of practice. She has been involved in planning and delivering workshops and conferences through the Learning Assistant Alliance since 2013.>
Betsy McIntosh
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is the Associate Director of Learning Assistant (LA) Development at University of Colorado Boulder where she fosters communities that help undergraduates develop the pedagogical and practical skills that will serve them in their roles from their first semester as an LA through graduation. Dr. McIntosh serves as the LA Pedagogy Course Coordinator and an instructor for hybrid online and face-to-face implementations of the course, co-teaches the LA Mentoring courses, and supports LAs after their first semester through Returning LA Professional Development meetings. Dr. McIntosh works with LA-utilizing faculty through consultations, feedback on their LA course proposals, and faculty development sessions focused on leveraging the power of LAs for creating inclusive, supportive, student-centered learning environments. She has been involved in planning and delivering workshops within the Learning Assistant Alliance since 2018.