Studenter med undervisningsoppgaver: opplevelser, utfordringer og oppfølging

Abstract

Learning assistants are assigned a diverse set of tasks in the Norwegian higher educational system, particularly in facilitating student-centered teaching in the natural sciences. The present work is an investigation into the experiences of learning assistants in science at a Norwegian university through a thematic analysis of ten interviews with undergraduate and graduate learning assistants. The analysis identified concerns related to the employment of learning assistants, such as lack of predictability, lack of clear expectations as well as time management and workload balance concerns; tasks-specific concerns such as assessment of student assignments, initial lack of subject knowledge and role conflicts, as well as concerns related to the students’ learning opportunities including student attendance and student participation in classes. The interview data show the importance of communities of practice among learning assistants and documents that learning assistants to various degrees experience support from course leaders ranging from nothing to weekly support. Differences between undergraduate and graduate learning assistants appearing in the data are discussed where appropriate. The findings from the interviews are combined with insights from international literature to formulate a set of recommendations for course leaders, academic leaders as well as educational developers. The present work may serve to stimulate discussion on the implementation of research-based training of learning assistants with the ultimate goal of improving student learning.