Leveraging education research and partnerships in launching learning assistant program

At the University of Detroit Mercy, the Physics Program is investigating how a Learning Assistant (LA) program may be developed in alignment with the active learning initiatives throughout the College of Engineering & Science (CES). In leading the investigation of current Undergraduate Teaching Assistant (UTA) practices across different STEM disciplines, we see an opportunity for the Physics Program to explore how an LA program would best fit into our own institutional context. We aim to gather data and develop important partners throughout CES to design research-informed program updates. The focus of this project is to investigate current Teaching Assistant (TA) roles, faculty attitudes toward the LA model, and the LA model's alignment with existing practices across Detroit Mercy. This presentation will share the research design and our future plans to partner with other programs and administration in implementing an LA program.