1. Effective Use of Undergraduate Learning Assistants Best Practices in Course Redesign July 9, 2012 Dr. Megan E. Bradley, Professor of Psychology @ Frostburg State University mbradley@frostburg.edu

2. What is a ULA? Undergraduate-level student assistant Learning not teaching Answer questions All email Tutor Some or all grading Need recruitment requirements Need

3. What is a ULA? Need recruitment requirements Need training and continued monitoring Need some sort of “payment” But can be done for free Need continued enticement so good ULAs will repeat experience

4. Your turn What are the issues you see in using ULAs? What recruitment criteria do you think is important? How much training/monitoring is needed before and during?

5. Psyc150: General Psychology Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Maryland Annual enrollment: About 900 Mostly traditional students and 1 st year students

6. ULA Recruitment Obtain list of Psychology majors with top GPAs Submission of names to Department for feedback and approval Contact students via email for initial interest Individual or small group meetings Done before registration

7. ULA Responsibilities Assigned 2 small groups (N = 12) of Psyc150 students for all online work Grade Psyc150 student assignments based on rubrics Online discussions: Moderate & grade using rubric Answer student emails

8. ULA Course Psyc394: Learning Mentor in Psychology Purpose Field experience - Training Review current research on peer learning & leadership/mentorship Experience as peer mentor Taught by Psyc150 instructor (adjunct)

9. ULA Certificate Program 1.6 crs: Pre-requisites 2.3 cr: Psychology “Leadership” Courses 3.3 cr: Psyc394 – Must earn a C 4.6 cr: Electives: Step 2 or 3

10. ULA internship & paid positions Can work as intern for our department ULA + research assistant Become Supplemental Instructor Trained by another office Run 1-3 study sessions/week Become Tutor Trained by tutoring office