Why should you use learning assistants?
Working with learning assistants offers several advantages – here are some important benefits for you and your students.
- Increased student activity: Learning assistants contribute to a more interactive learning environment and higher student engagement.
- Personal support: Your students have a reliable contact person who can share their own experiences and provide support.
- Belonging and inclusion: Your students experience greater community and well-being through support from learning assistants.
- Improved learning outcomes: Your students achieve greater subject understanding and better grades.
- Reduced dropout: Increased support and follow-up help more of your students complete their studies.
- Better insight into the student group: You gain valuable information about student needs and challenges through collaboration with learning assistants.
- Individualized learning: Your students can benefit from learning assistants adapting activities to their personal learning styles and pace.
- Support in large courses: You will notice a positive impact in courses with large student populations, where learning assistants can provide increased follow-ups.
This is revealed by the experiences of educators from HF and from research. You can read more about the research on LINK's pages BetterTeaching (Canvas).
What should you consider when using learning assistants?
For you as an educator to succeed in using learning assistants in your course, it is crucial that you and the learning assistants maintain good communication, and that the tasks and activities assigned to the learning assistants have a natural place in the learning design of the course.
It is important that learning assistants receive sufficient information about the subject they will be involved in and that the tasks they perform are well integrated and thoughtfully included in the course's learning design.
The students hired as learning assistants are often young and new to the work-life. Therefore it is vital that they receive support along the way and feel confident in their responsibilities.
Through their work, learning assistants gain valuable insights into how your students perceive the teaching, what they find challenging, what they find easy, and which activities they consider meaningful and educational. This information is valuable for you as an educator, so maintain a good dialogue with your learning assistant throughout the process and ensure you gain the insights they possess.
Check with your department if there is a possibility of employing learning assistants for your course. It is up to the department to allocate funds and to clarify if there is financial capacity for this. Some departments may also have specific requirements regarding the types of courses learning assistants should be associated with.