Saturday-Monday, April 27th – 29th, 2019
University of Maryland
College Park, MD
A. James Clark Hall Building
Registration closing on April 20, 2019
Come learn about the learning assistant (LA) model as a mechanism for improving undergraduate STEM education. The LA model seeks to create a collaborative and active learning environment for undergraduate students through the support of undergraduate peer educators, or learning assistants (LAs). The LA model was first developed at the University of Colorado, Boulder in 2003 to transform undergraduate science courses while also recruiting talented science and math majors into teaching. The LA model has since expanded across the country.
This workshop will bring together STEM faculty from around the Mid-Atlantic region (and beyond) who are interested in better 1) enacting student-centered pedagogies, 2) preparing LAs to teach with student-centered pedagogies, 3) assessing student learning in LA-supported courses, and 4) starting, expanding, or sustaining LA Programs. The lead organizers of this workshop are Dr. Chandra Turpen, Dr. Ayush Gupta, and Dr. Laird Kramer. At this LA Regional Workshop, you will have the opportunity to participate in sessions on: how to design and implement pedagogy seminars for LAs, how to get the most out of weekly course-specific instructional team meetings, how to critically examine your assessment practices relative to your instructional and programmatic goals, and how to monitor and support quality student collaboration. This workshop will bring together diverse perspectives and experiences in order to better support emerging, existing, and expanding LA programs across the region. Sessions will be interactive with ample time for participant discussion.
Engineering Emphasis: At multiple points in the schedule, we offer sessions focused on integrating LAs into engineering design courses. These sessions will highlight the unique instructional challenges that emerge in these courses such as cultivating competence with design thinking and attending to equity concerns within design teams. There are optional opportunities to observe LAs working in the Introduction to Engineering Design Course (ENES100) at UMD on Monday.
Please complete registration for this event and submit payment of $150.00 though the LA Alliance. We are able to offer a limited number of scholarships to instructors with financial need, please write to Chandra Turpen (turpen at umd.edu) to request a scholarship. Workshop registration costs cover food for participants and printed workshop materials.
Participation is capped at 60 people. Please register by April 20th.
The workshop schedule and description of activities can be found here.
Information about travel and lodging can be found here.
We look forward to spending this time with you focused on improving the quality of undergraduate STEM education!
Your workshop leaders,
Dr. Chandra Turpen & Dr. Ayush Gupta
University of Maryland
Dr. Laird Kramer
Florida International University