Honors College Thesis
 

Exploring Learning Assistant Beliefs in the Context of Pedagogical Training and Instructional Practice

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https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/honors_college_theses/tm70n330d

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  • Learning assistant (LA) programs are gaining increasing popularity as a means to shift instructional practice in STEM classrooms. In these programs, trained undergraduate students join the instructional team and support student-centered active learning pedagogies. Their professional development is typically supported through a seminar. In facilitating small group collaborative learning, LAs need to make many in-the-moment decisions. These decisions draw from the fundamental beliefs that LAs bring to their practice about teaching and learning. This study examines the instructional beliefs of LAs in a unit where LAs have been incorporated throughout the core curriculum. We have collected free responses from 26 LAs, both at the beginning and end of the mandatory professional development course regarding the strong beliefs that guide them in their instructional practice. We analyze this data using a qualitative methodology to uncover these beliefs and coalesce them to identify a set of the salient phenomena. These identified phenomena are: positive instructional climate, LA positionality, a negotiation of objectives regarding answers, different types of pedagogical questions, varying tolerance for student confusion, and asset vs. deficit-based approaches to feedback. We anticipate these findings will be helpful in guiding the steady improvement of the LA professional development courses as well as provide information to instructors and administrators who work with LAs. Findings suggest encouraging practices that promote metacognition in LAs and facilitate a shift towards a more respectful view of LAs and their varied epistemological beliefs.
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