Abstract
Using learning assistants as student partners in creating change supports sustainable curricular improvements.
Highlights
AND BACKGROUNDThe curriculum design process traditionally exists in the hands of expert instructors and practitioners, outside the influence of students themselves
In examining a learning assistant (LA) program with a student-partnership lens, we focus this study on one group of LAs at Michigan State University (MSU) who work in a flipped, introductory, calculus-based mechanics course offered in the physics and astronomy department called Projects and Practices in Physics (P-Cubed) [29]
We aim to answer the following research questions in this paper: (i) Has a community of practice developed around LAs in P-Cubed? (ii) How has the practice of feedback been shaped by P-Cubed LAs? (iii) How can the LAs’ influence be characterized as a student partnership, and what characterizes this partnership and its outputs?
Summary
The curriculum design process traditionally exists in the hands of expert instructors and practitioners, outside the influence of students themselves. SAP has been conceptualized by Healey et al, [2] as a “partnership learning community” that can take on four different, overlapping forms: (i) students facilitating the learning, teaching, and assessment, (ii) students conducting subject-based research and inquiry, (iii) students consulting on curriculum design and pedagogy, and (iv) students learning about and enhancing the quality of teaching and learning. This study will focus on a specific case of the third type of partnership—namely, how a community of practice of learning assistants (LAs) in an introductory physics course led to a sustainable student partnership that influenced course structures
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