About the LA Model

LAs are Co-Designers in the Transformed Classroom

Instead of a top-down approach of an instructor lecturing to students, the LA model creates an instructional team (instructor and LAs) designed to guide students to deeper learning through equitable participation and active exploration. LAs facilitate small group discussion and guide students to articulate and defend their ideas in the transformed classroom environment. LAs are supported in this work by a pedagogy course with an LA pedagogy instructor and a weekly meeting with the course instructor.

The Essential Elements of the LA Model

LAs interact with students by facilitating in-class discussions and activities. They focus on eliciting student thinking and helping students develop a shared understanding. Through their in-class interactions, they build relationships with students, allowing for enhanced support outside of class.

LAs meet weekly with the course instructor to prepare for class, develop deeper content knowledge, and discuss how students are experiencing the course. LAs co-design with instructors and help implement class activities.

LAs enroll in a special pedagogy course to support their development and growth as LAs. In this course, LAs learn evidence-based strategies, student-centered and inclusive teaching practices, and practical strategies. With their pedagogy course instructor, they set weekly goals and measure outcomes.

The LA Model was developed and first implemented at the University of Colorado Boulder in 2001. Dr. Valerie Otero and Dr. Dick McCray incorporated Learning Assistants into the Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences department with the goals of:

• transforming the undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) curriculum,
• recruiting and preparing future STEM teachers,
• engaging faculty in discipline-based educational research literature, and
• changing departmental and institutional culture to value evidence-based teaching.

Since then, the LA Model has spread worldwide, transforming the higher education landscape.

References

1. Gray, K. E., Webb, D. C., & Otero, V. K. (2010). Are Learning Assistants Better K‐12 Science Teachers?. In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 1289, No. 1, pp. 157-160). AIP.
2. Otero, V. K. (2015). Nationally scaled model for leveraging course transformation with physics teacher preparation. Recruiting, and Educating Future Physics Teachers: Case Studies, and Effective Practices, 107-127.
3. Otero, V., Pollock, S., & Finkelstein, N. (2010). A physics department’s role in preparing physics teachers: The Colorado learning assistant model. American Journal of Physics, 78(11), 1218-1224.
4. Otero, V., Pollock, S., McCray, R., & Finkelstein, N. (2006). Who is responsible for preparing science teachers?. Science, 313(5786), 445-446.

Learning Assistants (LAs) are undergraduate students who, through the guidance of weekly preparation sessions and a pedagogy course, facilitate discussions among groups of students in a variety of classroom settings that encourage active engagement.

LA-Supported courses involve opportunities for students to work together toward a learning goal, for students to articulate and defend their ideas, and for instructors to make instructional decisions based on what students say and do.