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Undergraduate Instructional Assistants

Guide To Undergraduate Instructional Assistants

Version 2024.1

Description
Benefits
Effective Practices
Assessments
Resources
Evidence

Undergraduate instructional assistants are undergraduate students who serve as

in classrooms, out-of-class study groups, help centers, and other instructional environments to support and coach individual students and groups of students. They may also be referred to as student assistants or undergraduate teaching assistants or, if incorporated into a formal program such as a

program, or

program, as learning assistants, PLTL leaders, or SI leaders. Undergraduate instructional assistants may or may not be physics majors. This section provides guidance on how physics departments and programs can effectively recruit and train undergraduate instructional assistants to support student learners both in class and out of class, to become partners and change agents for instructional reform, and to create a student-centered learning community. This section focuses on how physics departments can partner with undergraduate instructional assistants to support learning activities, rather than to grade or perform administrative tasks. Your particular institution might restrict what roles undergraduates can play. While this section focuses on undergraduate instructional assistants, many of the included practices are applicable to graduate teaching assistants. For more details on the variety of research-based teaching practices that undergraduate instructional assistants can support, see the section on Implementing Research-Based Teaching in Your Classroom. Often, programs for undergraduate instructional assistants are also used to support high school physics teacher preparation programs. For more details on designing these programs, see the section on High School Physics Teacher Preparation.

Benefits

Partnering with undergraduate instructional assistants is a low-cost, high-yield way to secure more instructional support for the classroom and improve student learning. Undergraduate instructional assistants can support student learning in your department by facilitating the use of research-based teaching and peer learning and by helping

acquire real-time feedback on student understanding. Having near peers as

in the classroom benefits students, who are likely to connect more easily with peers and feel more comfortable asking questions that they might be hesitant to ask their instructor, or even a graduate student. Undergraduate instructional assistants can increase the diversity of instructional teams if attention is paid to diversity elements while recruiting. Studies have shown that engaging undergraduate instructional assistants can increase retention and decrease

in introductory courses. Engaging undergraduate instructional assistants can also help your department to recruit physics majors, as well as to recruit and prepare high school physics teachers. Serving as undergraduate instructional assistants provides many benefits to students, including opportunities for leadership, experiential learning, professional development, personal growth, developing a physics identity, and improving their own knowledge and skills around physics and pedagogy.

The Cycle of Reflection and Action

Where are you and what are you trying to accomplish?

Who should be involved?

What will you do?

How did it go and what comes next?

To be intentional about change, a department must have a clear understanding of its present situation and a vision for what it would like to become. Our cycle of self-reflection questions will help your department start conversations and structure thinking about how to get from where you are to where you want to be.

The Cycle of Reflection and Action will help you put the EP3 Guide to work for your department.

Learn more about the Cycle of Reflection and Action and how it can help your department.

Effective Practices

Strategically design how your department will integrate undergraduate instructional assistants into your curriculum
1. Identify departmental outcomes and objectives that undergraduate instructional assistants can help you achieve. See Benefits above for possible goals. Consider the needs of your department and students. Include all faculty and other
  in departmental discussions of undergraduate instructional assistants, even those who will not work directly with instructional assistants.
  Have departmental discussions about the roles that undergraduate instructional assistants can play in improving learning and teaching in your department. For example, they might help facilitate small group work in classrooms, support student teams outside of the classroom, staff a study center, provide individual tutoring or support, and/or report to
  about student ideas they are seeing and how instructional materials can be improved.
  Have departmental discussions about the scale and scope of how you will engage undergraduate instructional assistants. Consider various options such as hiring a few students to staff a student help room and/or help with a single course; establishing a formal program in your department for recruiting, training, and supervising undergraduate instructional assistants; becoming a site of a national program; or partnering with other departments in your institution to start a multi-department program.
  Consider whether and how your engagement of undergraduate instructional assistants might grow and change over time. For example, you might start small, with one section or course, to gain experience and generate data for faculty and administrative buy-in, and later secure institutional and external funds for a larger-scale program.
2. Identify and build on synergies with other campus offices and programs that support students, such as your teaching and learning center, your student success center or other academic support center, your office of equity and inclusion, your disability services office, and any existing undergraduate instructional assistant programs at your institution. For example, determine whether your institution already has programs such as a
  ,
  ,
  , and/or
  .
  Identify other institutions that are successfully engaging undergraduate instructional assistants, e.g., by contacting comparable institutions in your region or by consulting the map of implementers of
  . Consult with faculty leaders at these institutions to visit their classrooms and student help centers and learn about their experiences establishing and maintaining their programs, as well as the advantages and challenges and the degree to which their approaches are appropriate for your department.
  Consider partnering with other departments to create an undergraduate instructional assistant program that extends beyond physics to support more students and distribute the responsibilities and resources necessary to support the program.
  If you have graduate teaching assistants, consider integrating the training of undergraduate instructional assistants with the training of graduate teaching assistants.
  Consider establishing a partnership with the school of education or other campus resources, such as your teaching and learning center, to improve training in pedagogy and provide pathways to teacher certification for undergraduate assistants.
  Consider combining a program for undergraduate instructional assistants with a high school physics teacher preparation program. See the section on High School Physics Teacher Preparation for details.
  Consider combining funding for a new undergraduate instructional assistant program with a project to redesign your classroom spaces, because appropriate instructional spaces enable instructional assistants to be more effective and vice versa. See the section on The Physical Environment: Encourage Collaboration and Learning for details.
  Consult with relevant members of your administration (e.g., the dean) to discuss your plans, advocate for the benefits of using undergraduate instructional assistants, explore potential campus-wide initiatives or partnerships, and seek support. See Promote the value of undergraduate instructional assistants in supporting student success, below.
3. Recruit faculty, students, staff, and/or partners in relevant campus programs and offices to initiate and/or improve your engagement of undergraduate instructional assistants. Involve faculty with sufficient experience and longevity to effectively advocate for departmental resources and promote the integration of undergraduate assistants into the department culture. For a larger program, consider creating a formal planning and/or leadership team.
  Identify the key roles and personnel responsible for managing and training undergraduate instructional assistants. These roles may be taken on by a single person or multiple people, depending on the scale and scope of your activities. See Train and support undergraduate instructional assistants, below.
  Ensure that faculty and/or staff responsibilities associated with designing, implementing, and managing your engagement of undergraduate instructional assistants are recognized as a part of their regular position duties or are appropriately compensated with release time or as an overload.
  Formally recognize and reward faculty and staff who lead and support the engagement of undergraduate instructional assistants by, for example, taking these contributions into account in tenure, promotion, merit, and annual reviews.
  Provide professional development opportunities to support faculty and staff in developing the skills needed to effectively design, implement, and manage your engagement of undergraduate instructional assistants. For example, consider sending a team to a
  conference.
  If you plan to engage undergraduate instructional assistants in physics classes that serve other departments, consider including faculty and staff from those departments in your planning and/or leadership team.
4. Develop a plan and criteria for which courses and activities will be supported by undergraduate instructional assistants and how this might change over time. Consider whether undergraduate instructional assistants are best suited for introductory courses, advanced courses, or help centers, and when and how they will be incorporated into additional courses. See below for guidance on how to identify courses or course sequences in which to engage undergraduate assistants and approaches to determine how undergraduate assistants will provide support to students outside of class.
  Determine a structure for paying and/or offering course credit for students who serve as undergraduate instructional assistants. Ensure the pay, course credit, and any other incentives are appropriate for the time and effort expected, recognizing that insufficient pay or credit may make these opportunities inaccessible to students who must work to pay for college and/or who are already taking a large course load.
  If possible, make undergraduate instructional assistant positions eligible for work study. This approach can make these positions more accessible to students while reducing costs for your department.
  Meet with your financial aid and human resources offices to learn about policies and practices concerning hiring undergraduate students for instructional assistant positions, how to ensure these positions are eligible for work-study assignments, and ways in which non-departmental funds can be used to support undergraduates in teaching.
  Develop a plan to train and support undergraduate instructional assistants and the
  who engage assistants in their courses. See below for guidance on how to train and support undergraduate instructional assistants and how to support instructional staff transforming their courses and working with undergraduate assistants in the classroom.
  Establish a shared understanding among faculty, students, and staff regarding undergraduate assistant roles and expectations for
  and assistants.
5. Assess existing resources and identify additional resources needed to support undergraduate instructional assistants. Consider funding, space, staffing for managing undergraduate instructional assistants, administrative support, pay and/or course credits for undergraduate assistants, and publicity. Identify how to obtain these resources, preferably in collaboration with relevant campus partners and your administration. See above for guidance on how to seek partnerships to enrich and support your engagement of undergraduate assistants.
  Consider incorporating start-up costs for an undergraduate instructional assistant program into grant proposals.
  Work with your administration and your development or fundraising office to obtain long-term support to develop, sustain, and grow your engagement of undergraduate instructional assistants. Recognize that you will need to start these activities early and plan for regular coordinated effort with these key stakeholders. See the section on How to Be an Effective Chair for guidance on how to manage and advocate for resources.
  Include those leading the engagement of undergraduate instructional assistants in key departmental committees.
  Establish policies, structures, and buy-in to ensure that your engagement of undergraduate instructional assistants will be maintained with continuity when a change occurs in departmental leadership and/or the
  in the courses in which undergraduate assistants serve.
6. Develop a plan to collect appropriate data to support claims of the effectiveness of undergraduate instructional assistants and to periodically assess the outcomes and objectives you developed in 1.A above.
  Because different kinds of data are compelling to different stakeholders, consider collecting both
  and
  . See Programmatic Assessments below for examples.
  Articulate a plan to review your engagement of undergraduate instructional assistants and make necessary adjustments.
  Periodically discuss your assessment plan, data, and review findings with partners and stakeholders.
Integrate instructional assistants into your courses
1. Recruit
  to integrate undergraduate assistants into their courses. If you have a large department, consider developing promotional materials to build interest among instructional staff and/or employing an application process that requires instructional staff to propose a plan for how they will engage undergraduate assistants in their courses.
  Identify courses for which engaging undergraduate assistants could support the existing use of research-based teaching or enable the implementation of research-based teaching not yet in use. See the sections on Implementing Research-Based Teaching in Your Classroom and Supporting Research-Based Teaching in Your Department for details.
  Prioritize courses that could benefit the most from engaging undergraduate assistants, consistent with the outcomes and objectives established above in 1.A.
2. Determine what instructional assistants will do in classes. For example, they might sit in on lectures; facilitate student groups in short discussions during a lecture class or in longer activities during a recitation or
  or
  ; and/or lead
  sessions, laboratories, review sessions, or other activities.
  Consider how the classrooms in which instructional assistants will serve support research-based teaching. If possible, use classrooms that allow students to sit together in small groups and where assistants can easily reach all groups, rather than classrooms where students sit in rows and assistants cannot easily move between the rows. See the section on The Physical Environment: Encourage Collaboration and Learning for details.
  Consider how to effectively engage different types of
  , such as undergraduate instructional assistants and graduate teaching assistants, to take advantage of each group’s unique strengths. For example, as near peers, undergraduate instructional assistants are generally more relatable to other undergraduate students, and are typically better able to understand their institutional context and help students feel comfortable asking questions that they might be hesitant to ask their instructor or even a graduate student. If undergraduate instructional assistants are part of a
  with a strong pedagogy component, they might know more than graduate students about research-based teaching practices. Graduate students, in contrast, typically know more about physics subject matter, as well as how the content of a particular course fits into the broader context of the physics discipline.
  Ensure that the main role of undergraduate instructional assistants is to interact with students to support their learning. See below for guidance on how to train and support undergraduate instructional assistants to do this.
  If possible, avoid having undergraduate instructional assistants grade student work. This can get in the way of students feeling safe with undergraduate assistants as near peers, and graders who are peers are more likely to face conflicts of interest than graders who are not peers. If graders are needed, make this a separate role and hire different students to fill it. Note that some institutions explicitly forbid undergraduates from grading.
3. Clearly communicate to students the roles of instructional assistants in the course.
  Set the expectation that the primary role of undergraduate instructional assistants is to facilitate an environment in which students ask questions and work together to develop their own understanding, not to provide answers. Recognize that this role may threaten students’ expectations and undergraduate assistants’ identities, and support both undergraduate assistants and students in addressing the tensions that may arise in this role. See below for guidance on how to train and support undergraduate instructional assistants to do this.
  Position undergraduate assistants as near peers with expertise in supporting students in developing their own understanding, even if they initially aren’t sure how to solve the problem. Set the expectation that making mistakes and not knowing the answer at the outset is normal, both for undergraduate assistants and for students.
4. Treat instructional assistants as partners who can share student ideas, experiences, and struggles with
  . Recognize that undergraduate instructional assistants are likely to have valuable insights because they interact closely with students, and students may be more open to share their thinking with near peers than with instructional staff or even with graduate teaching assistants. Provide space for undergraduate instructional assistants to share these insights, e.g., in weekly meetings with instructional staff.
  Treat instructional assistants’ expertise as a valuable contribution, both while they are in the classroom and during training.
  Treat instructional assistants as partners who can collaborate with
  to implement pedagogical approaches by leveraging the training in pedagogy that instructional assistants receive.
  Set up specific structures that enable faculty members to collaborate with instructional assistants to reflect on teaching, learning, and instructional innovation. Examples include courses or seminars on pedagogy, weekly meetings, journal club or other informal topical gatherings, physics education research projects, and curricular development or improvement initiatives.
  Have instructional assistants participate in and provide feedback on course redesign initiatives.
5. Encourage
  teaching courses supported by undergraduate instructional assistants to model the methods of instruction the assistants are trained to use.
  Fund
  participation (ideally as a team) in appropriate conferences and workshops that support undergraduate instructional assistant programs and course transformation. See Resources below.
  Create opportunities for
  who are engaging undergraduate assistants (including those in other departments) to support each other by sharing effective practices and innovative approaches, ways to navigate local constraints, and ways to modify approaches to better align with your institutional context.
Integrate instructional assistants into student support activities outside of class
1. Consider various modalities for supporting students outside of class and how undergraduate assistants can be involved. For example, your department could provide a physics help center staffed by undergraduate assistants (possibly in combination with graduate teaching assistants), arrange study groups for students that are facilitated by instructional assistants, or provide one-on-one tutoring sessions with instructional assistants.
  Determine what staff role(s) are needed for student support activities, such as a help center supervisor whose responsibilities may include: training and scheduling instructional assistants, maintaining open and regular communication with
  in supported courses, meeting regularly with instructional assistants, and/or monitoring help center climate for inclusion and student safety. See above for guidance on how to determine the roles needed to support your engagement of undergraduate instructional assistants.
  Integrate student support activities into the other training and community-building efforts developed for instructional assistants, including training in pedagogy; see Train and support undergraduate instructional assistants below.
  Provide a mechanism for instructional assistants who provide student support (e.g., help center staff, one-on-one tutors) to give feedback to
  regarding the questions that students in their courses are asking, ideally on a weekly basis.
  Assess the effectiveness of student support activities through surveys and focus groups with students, instructional assistants, and
  . See the section on How to Select and Use Various Assessment Methods in Your Program for guidance on how to use surveys and focus groups.
2. See the section on The Physical Environment: Encouraging Collaboration and Learning for guidance on how to:
  Provide and manage inclusive and welcoming spaces for students to gather and collaborate;
  Make departmental spaces equitable, inclusive, accessible, and sustainable; and
  Use current and future spaces to exhibit departmental culture, community, and accomplishments.
  Determine whether student support activities will occur in a single dedicated space, a temporary space, or a set of spaces such as classrooms or instructional labs. If appropriate space is difficult to find within your department, consider partnering with other departments and/or student academic support centers and programs on campus.
  Determine where and how most of your students do their work outside of class. Tailor your help structure to reach students in the spaces where they are already working. For example, if most students do their homework in the library, hold help sessions there. If most students do their homework in their homes, provide online synchronous help sessions. If nearly all students live in residence halls, consider holding some help sessions there, unless doing so will exclude commuter students.
  Ensure that student support spaces are easy to find and conveniently located. For example, locate these spaces near relevant classrooms and/or faculty offices if possible, to encourage students to spend time there before or after class, to encourage faculty to drop in, and to enable instructional assistants to obtain faculty support.
  Keep student support space open as many hours as possible, including evening hours, which may be particularly important for commuter students and students who work during the day.
  Provide a clear schedule for when and where student support is available and for which courses. Ensure the schedule shows which instructional assistants will be present, when, and what expertise they have (e.g., the particular course they are working with), because this allows students to find undergraduate instructional assistants they are comfortable working with and develop a consistent working relationship with them. Post this information in student support spaces, in associated course spaces, and on course websites.
  If possible, staff help centers with at least two instructional assistants at all times to ensure adequate access to support and to promote student safety.
  If instructional assistants will be working alone in student support spaces, consider locating the help center in a high-volume public space to avoid isolation and providing ways to reach out to others if they get stuck or need assistance. For example, provide a designated messaging and collaboration platform workspace or chat channel for instructional assistants to connect with each other and
  .
  Ensure that student support spaces are arranged for collaboration. For example, furnish the space with tables suitable for groups of 4-6 students, with sufficient space between the tables for instructional assistants to circulate freely, and provide whiteboards and markers on the tables and/or walls for collaborative problem solving.
  Provide computers for instructional assistants and students to access your institution’s
  , online homework systems, resources for computationally intensive courses, online messaging and collaboration platforms, remote education resources, and quick reference. Consider providing a dedicated computer station for support center staff to provide remote help to students.
3. Develop and promote a code of conduct and/or guidelines for interactions in student support spaces. For example, see the STEP-UP Guidelines for Conduct During Discussions. See the section on Departmental Culture and Climate for guidance on how to establish and enforce a code of conduct and/or community agreements.
  Encourage students to work together on course assignments in student support spaces and to actively build study groups with other students. This both helps students learn collaboration skills and ensures that support is available from instructional assistants when needed. Set expectations for instructional assistants that they should try to facilitate students working together rather than primarily working with them one-on-one. Encourage instructional assistants to actively support students in finding others to work with and forming study groups, recognizing that social and cultural factors may make it less likely for non-traditional students and/or students from
  to be organically included in certain study groups.
  Educate students about behaviors that will help them get the most out of student support activities, e.g., explaining their reasoning to receive help in clarifying their own thinking, explaining the context and background for their questions, and planning to spend some time in the help center rather than just hopping in for a quick answer to a homework question.
  Encourage instructional assistants working in student support spaces at the same time to coordinate efforts to assist students and to model collaborative problem solving.
4. Publicize student support activities widely in, e.g., class discussions, course syllabi, course websites, hallway postings, student newspapers, and social media. Post signage in high-traffic areas directing students to student support spaces.
  Recognize and address barriers that may hinder students from seeking support (e.g., stigma, time constraints, and lack of awareness of resources) by building a supportive culture and infrastructure. For example, build student confidence in the classroom, normalize asking for help inside and outside of the classroom, and ensure that support activities are convenient for students to access and attend.
  Consider providing incentives for students to participate in student support activities. For example, provide credit for evidence of their first visit to the help center or for participation in an organized study group or one-on-one tutoring, and/or require a signature from an instructional assistant on exam corrections to show that students discussed the questions with an instructional assistant in the help center.
  Encourage
  to consider holding office hours (sometimes called “student hours” or “free help sessions”) in student support spaces if appropriate for the physical space and occupancy.
Promote and recruit undergraduate instructional assistants
1. Regularly promote and discuss the value of undergraduate assistants with faculty, staff, and administration to ensure long-term support. For example, give regular presentations and updates at department meetings and campus teaching events and create a short report to distribute to your department each year.
  Show undergraduate instructional assistants that you value their work. Explicitly acknowledge and celebrate their contributions to departmental instruction.
  Enhance the visibility of undergraduate instructional assistants to current and prospective students, faculty, and administrators using, e.g., posters and other campus advertising, a dedicated website, your general departmental website, and social media.
  Provide opportunities for instructional assistants and students to share stories of student success in supported courses and out-of-class programs to promote the value of undergraduate instructional assistants to students taking these courses, attract prospective students, recruit students and faculty to participate, and advocate for resources to support undergraduate assistants. Success stories might include, for example, a story of a student who attributed their success on an exam to an instructional assistant’s support in the help center.
  Use data associated with successful student outcomes or student success stories to demonstrate the value of undergraduate instructional assistants. See Programmatic Assessments below for examples of data to collect.
  Engage with relevant campus partners to share successes and advocate for resources. See Seek partnerships to enrich and support your engagement of undergraduate instructional assistants above.
2. Advise students on the benefits of undergraduate teaching experiences and how these can help them develop content knowledge and skills in communication, teamwork, and leadership, as well as enhance the strength of graduate school and/or job applications.
  Provide opportunities for undergraduate assistants to share stories of the value of serving in this role in order to encourage other students to apply.
  Promote serving as an instructional assistant as an option for work-study assignments.
  Promote serving as an instructional assistant to students interested in teaching careers.
  Highlight that undergraduate instructional assistant positions provide training and mentoring in teaching, a valuable career skill for nearly all future professions, and demonstrate how this can be included in student resumes.
3. Create a recruiting, application, and selection process for undergraduate instructional assistants.
  Actively recruit from among students who have recently completed the courses in which the undergraduate assistants serve.
  Encourage students of all majors to become undergraduate instructional assistants.
  Seek recommendations from both
  who have taught the associated courses and your existing cohort of undergraduate assistants, being mindful of potential equity issues if recommendations tend to consistently favor certain groups of students.
  Use equitable and inclusive practices to recruit and select a diverse cohort of undergraduate instructional assistants who can serve as role models for diverse groups of students in your courses. For example, advertise to all eligible students, ensure position requirements are limited to the essentials, schedule meetings when most prospective undergraduate assistants would be expected to be on campus, reach out personally to potentially interested students, and consciously address implicit bias. See the section on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for details.
  Recognize that, depending on their backgrounds and whether or not they have seen people like them serving as instructional assistants, students may not be equally aware of or feel equally welcome in these opportunities, and some may need individual encouragement to participate. Educate advisors,
  , and students on the
  and
  , in order to mitigate their effects on whether a student pursues or is encouraged to pursue opportunities to serve as an instructional assistant.
  Ensure that the selection process for hiring instructional assistants balances the need for an appropriate level of physics content knowledge with recognition that attitude and communication skills may be more important than the grade the student received in the course they will be assisting in. Consider interviewing prospective instructional assistants to assess engagement, commitment, communication skills, and motivation.
Train and support instructional assistants
1. Provide ongoing regular training (e.g., weekly) rather than a one-time workshop. Consider formalizing training for instructional assistants by creating a course in physics education as part of the curriculum.
  Identify who will lead the development and teaching of courses, seminars, and/or other training activities on pedagogy, designed for your undergraduate assistants . See above for guidance on how to determine the roles needed to support your engagement of undergraduate instructional assistants.
  Determine whether training will be incorporated into a course or have some other structure. Include training on both general pedagogy and specific activities (see C and D below). Determine whether to combine these two types of training or provide them separately.
  Determine what training is needed for instructional assistants who will be working in classrooms versus outside of class, e.g., in a help center. Determine how the training for these two groups should be combined and/or separated.
  Ensure that training sessions accommodate instructional assistants’ schedules and are held in appropriate spaces. For example, ensure that training spaces are sufficiently private to allow honest discussion, are located conveniently to reduce travel time, and have access to course equipment if possible and relevant.
  If you have graduate teaching assistants, consider training graduate and undergraduate assistants together, and encourage each group to learn from the other. See 2.B.iii above.
  Provide teaching or service credit to
  members assigned to this training.
2. Provide opportunities for instructional assistants to learn about research-based teaching, research on student learning in physics, communication and facilitation skills, and inclusive teaching practices, as well as to gain confidence in their understanding of physics. See the sections on Implementing Research-Based Teaching in Your Classroom and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for details.
  Provide opportunities for instructional assistants to watch and discuss videos of students in classrooms, e.g., using Periscope lessons.
  Train instructional assistants in group facilitation techniques, and encourage them to proactively interact with students, who may be reluctant to ask questions. Consider incorporating role playing into this training. See the section on Implementing Research-Based Teaching in Your Classroom for practices to teach instructional assistants about how to facilitate students working together effectively in small groups.
  Train instructional assistants to model problem-solving and metacognitive skills for students, for example, by having them practice talking out loud about their thought processes as they collaboratively solve problems.
  Where possible, draw from existing curricula for such training. See Resources below.
  Ensure that the courses in which instructional assistants serve model the kinds of pedagogy in which they are being trained. Provide opportunities for instructional assistants to attend to and reflect on instruction in these courses using the tools and strategies they learn in their pedagogy training.
3. Provide structured time for assistants to work through student activities themselves and to discuss their own understanding of the content, ideas that students are likely to bring to the activities, questions they might ask students about particular content, and approaches they might use to support students in working through particular activities. Recognize that focusing on learners’ ideas about the content will be more effective in helping assistants catch up on needed content knowledge than focusing on the physics content itself.
  If instructional assistants will be supporting students in a help center or other student support space, provide structured time to discuss situations that could arise in the help center and strategies for managing them.
  Provide opportunities for instructional assistants to connect classroom activities to the pedagogy concepts they are learning about in training.
  Provide opportunities for instructional assistants to meet with
  in associated courses and/or other trainers and mentors to discuss pedagogy and course content, share and discuss instructional materials, ask questions, discuss classroom experiences (including what is working and what is not), and address concerns.
  In training activities, model the kind of instruction you expect undergraduate assistants to use.
4. Articulate the knowledge and skills necessary for instructional assistants to effectively support student learning, including their own understanding of relevant physics content,
  , research-based teaching practices, and inclusive pedagogy. See Resources below.
  Discuss the complexity of the learning process with instructional assistants. For example, ensure that instructional assistants know that students exhibiting signs of frustration and confusion is not inherently a bad thing, and in fact can be an indication of learning.
  Support instructional assistants in navigating their roles, recognizing that they may feel tension due to frustration from students, uncertainties in their own content understandings, and their own limitations in supporting others. Provide explicit scaffolding and encouragement to instructional assistants as they navigate this tension. For example, provide opportunities for instructional assistants to discuss classroom challenges from the previous week and for
  and/or experienced instructional assistants to share some of the tension they feel as instructors and how they navigate it.
  Include discussions of essential professional skills such as teamwork, leadership, ethics, and professionalism.
  Ensure that training is responsive to the interests and questions of instructional assistants.
  Provide opportunities for undergraduate instructional assistants to receive constructive feedback on their work with students, e.g., through the practices recommended in the section on How to Select and Use Various Assessment Methods in Your Program for classroom observations and student feedback forms for formative assessment. Pay particular attention to the guidelines in these links for mitigating the potential for feedback to be damaging to instructional assistants. For example, avoid using standard forms for student evaluations of teaching from your institution, which are likely to elicit unhelpful and biased responses.
  Support instructional assistants in reflecting on their own teaching practice, e.g., through the practices recommended in the section on How to Select and Use Various Assessment Methods in Your Program for teaching portfolios and teaching reflections.
  Help instructional assistants reflect on and package their experiences for resumes and job applications and interviews.
  Create activities that help build community among instructional assistants, e.g., a group orientation, informal social activities, an end-of-term celebration, and/or a poster session.
5. Ensure that
  model equitable, inclusive teaching and work effectively with students from diverse backgrounds. See the section on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for details.
  Ensure that
  and instructional assistants view struggling students as needing support to reach their full potential, rather than as inherently lacking the intelligence needed to pursue physics.
  Ensure attention is paid to preparing instructional assistants to support students who may be different from themselves.

Programmatic Assessments

Identify which of the above Effective Practices you are implementing and track the results of implementing them.
Conduct an inventory of mechanisms that your program currently uses to recruit, train, and engage undergraduate instructional assistants, as well as their effectiveness. Compare this to mechanisms used by other STEM disciplines at your institution and/or physics departments at comparable institutions with undergraduate assistants. See the section on How to Select and Use Various Assessment Methods in Your Program for guidance on how to conduct inventories.
Compare data on student learning and student success in courses that do and do not have undergraduate instructional assistants, and track the data over time. Relevant data may include scores on research-based assessments,
, student grades, responses to surveys of student attitudes about physics and STEM learning, and persistence of diverse groups of students. See the section on How to Select and Use Various Assessment Methods in Your Program for guidance on how to assess student learning. Recognize that it may take time to see a signal in this type of data, especially if you have small classes, and that there may be significant differences in student success in on- and off-sequence terms that should be considered in interpreting results.
Recognize that if you are engaging undergraduate instructional assistants effectively, they will enable other changes in instruction, and assess these other changes as well. It is not necessary to isolate the direct impact of assistants in the classroom from the impact of other changes they enable, because these other changes are benefits of engaging assistants. For example, engaging undergraduate instructional assistants may lead to improvements in overall student assessment of the course and/or
. See the section on How to Select and Use Various Assessment Methods in Your Program for guidance on how to assess teaching effectiveness.
Assess the perceptions of students who interact with undergraduate instructional assistants on the impact of these assistants in their courses. See the section on How to Select and Use Various Assessment Methods in Your Program for guidance on how to use student feedback forms for formative assessment and how to use surveys, interviews, and focus groups to learn about your students.
Survey
and graduate students who interact with undergraduate instructional assistants on their perception of the impact of assistants in their courses, including whether assistants have improved student learning and student attitudes toward their courses.
Track interactions between students and undergraduate instructional assistants, both in individual courses and/or help centers, e.g., by using a card reader or a sign-in/sign-out system. Data gathered could include the number of students who received support for each supported course and where and when that support was provided, e.g., in class, in a help center, or online. Find ways to do this that minimize effort and maximize privacy for students and assistants. For example, use a help room sign-in sheet where students put a check next to their course number so you can track how many students from each course use the help room. Use these data to monitor and improve the support provided.
Compare data on overall student success in your program before and after you began using undergraduate instructional assistants. Relevant data may include
, student grades, persistence in the major, and persistence of diverse groups of students. See the section on How to Select and Use Various Assessment Methods in Your Program for guidance on how to track department metrics.
Survey faculty and staff on their perception of the impact of undergraduate instructional assistants on your courses and your program, including how assistants have supported the adoption of research-based teaching and reduced
workload.
Assess the reputational impact of engaging undergraduate instructional assistants, including press or other publicity, internal or external recognition including awards, impacts on recruiting, and the reputation of your program on campus.
Assess the financial impact on your department of engaging undergraduate instructional assistants. Consider the total costs of instruction in your department, and ways in which engaging undergraduate instructional assistants may free up
time and other resources.
Survey undergraduate instructional assistants on their experiences serving as assistants, including their experiences working with students, their pedagogical preparation, their own mastery of the physics content, their mastery of teaching practices and other professional skills, whether they were treated with respect and felt useful as partners in educating students, and the impact on their possible career choices.
Analyze the demographics of the students who serve as undergraduate instructional assistants, likely in partnership with your office of institutional research, and correlate with survey responses to determine how well your recruiting, training, and engagement of assistants is serving the needs of students from various demographic categories. For guidance on how to collect and analyze demographic data respectfully and protect anonymity, see the Guidelines for Demographic Questions in the supplement on How to Design Surveys, Interviews, and Focus Groups.
Survey
who teach courses that engage undergraduate instructional assistants, as well as faculty and staff who manage instructional assistants and/or provide pedagogy training on their perception of the impact of serving as an undergraduate assistant on students, including pedagogical preparation, impact on mastery of physics content, mastery of teaching practices and other professional skills, and impact on possible choices of career.
Track whether serving as undergraduate instructional assistant has an impact on the career choices of assistants. Use data on recruitment to teaching tracks or pursuit of teaching careers after graduation.
Assess the financial impact on students of engaging undergraduate instructional assistants. For example, improved student success such as a reduction in
reduces the time it takes to earn a degree and saves overall tuition expenditures.
Create assessments (e.g., institutional data on grades/majors, surveys, interviews and focus groups, student evaluations) for each of the goals you developed in Effective Practices 1.A.i. Review these assessments with the leadership or management team developed in Effective Practices 1.C.i to determine whether your program is meeting its goals, and if not, what changes or additional support will be required.
Assess the health of the institutional partnerships and support for undergraduate instructional assistants that you developed in Effective Practices 1.B. Discuss whether these partnerships need to be reviewed and/or expanded. Periodically discuss with these partners whether existing agreements remain appropriate, or whether changes should be made. For example, consider funding for assistants, sharing responsibility for pedagogy training of assistants, and whether administration of assistants is internal to the department or at the institutional level.
Within your department, discuss the extent to which undergraduate instructional assistants are serving in the most appropriate courses and are adequately supported in order to meet the goals you developed in Effective Practices 1.A.i.

Resources

National organizations that support the development of undergraduate instructional assistant programs:

Learning Assistant Alliance: A national organization that supports departments and institutions in developing
through an International LA Conference, regional LA workshops, virtual workshops, institutional workshops, site visits, and the LA Campus software for managing Learning Assistant programs.
Periscope: A free collection of video lessons for use in the training of undergraduate instructional assistants, as well as other
and
, in which participants watch and discuss videos of physics classrooms that use effective practices, apply lessons learned to actual teaching situations, practice interpreting student behavior, and become more effective teachers. Periscope includes a collection of lessons aligned with the Learning Assistant Alliance’s exemplary Learning Assistant Pedagogy course.
Peer-Led Team Learning International Society: Resources for implementing
, including an international conference, a Short Guide to the Practice of Peer-Led Team Learning, and training resources for peer leaders.
International Center for Supplemental Instruction: Training and resources for implementing
, including accreditation, leader training, program consultations, and materials for training undergraduate instructional assistants.

See Resources in the section on High School Physics Teacher Preparation for programs that include resources for pedagogy courses to future high school teachers, which could also be used in training for undergraduate instructional assistants.

See Resources and Evidence in the section on Implementing Research-Based Teaching in Your Classroom for resources for learning about research-based teaching that can be used in training activities designed for undergraduate instructional assistants.

See Resources and Evidence in the section on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for resources for learning about equity, diversity, and inclusion that can be used in training for undergraduate instructional assistants.

Evidence

There is substantial evidence for the impact of

[1],

[2],

[3], and help centers [4] on a variety of measures of student success.