Every 10 years, universities in the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) must be accredited to continue receiving national financial aid — a lifeline 63% of undergraduate students use at Florida Atlantic. Without this accreditation, schools like FAU could lose access to federal funding, putting both students and programs at risk. 

To meet these standards, universities develop a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) to improve student success. This year, FAU has allocated a significant percent of its $4.5 million budget for QEP to expand the Learning Assistant (LA) program to strengthen learning outcomes and ensure continued accreditation. 

Originally in 2011, the first QEP selected was Undergraduate Research and Inquiry, which had a “major transformative effect on undergraduate education at this institution,” according to the QEP page on FAU’s website.

The LA program was launched in 2014 by Brittany Adelmann, who now directs the program, and has steadily grown in impact and popularity. Adelmann oversees the restructuring of courses to have trained learning assistants create a peer-assisted, collaborative environment in classrooms. As opposed to the traditional instruction method, instructors have assistants who provide feedback to smaller groups of students.

“The Learning Assistant Program is all about creating a culture of peer-assisted collaborative learning in the classroom,” said Adelmann.

The university hires learning assistants, often graduate students, to help professors teach their curriculum. According to Adelmann, they oversee groups of students and serve as mediators between teachers and students. This differs from traditional teaching assistants as the learning assistants work with collaborative groups in an attempt to engage students more.

“It’s a great source of on-campus employment,” said Jennifer Bebergal, the associate dean of the Center for Teaching and Learning at FAU, who also co-wrote the QEP proposal with Adelmann.  “It’s a wonderful way for our students to have positions on campus.”

Adelmann initially added learning assistants only into two classes in 2014 before expanding it to more math and chemistry-oriented courses. By next fall, learning assistants will be able to assist with 20 courses, following its selection as the QEP. 

According to Adelmann and Bebergal, more than 50 faculty applied to have their classes catered for LA’s over the past year, between a test pilot run and the current applicants following its approval as QEP. From those who applied, three courses saw approval during the test pilot to cater their courses for the program. By the upcoming fall semester, five additional classes will have these assistants.

“We have more interest from faculty than we can support at this time,” Bebergal said.

Adelmann selects faculty members to redesign their courses before adding learning assistants to the curriculum. The redesign offers a more personalized experience for students by learning from other students, and faculty interest has only increased since its creation. Each course selected receives a $2,500 stipend and an additional $1,500 following its first class, according to FAU’s QEP announcement document.

When restructuring Calculus, the first LA course that was created in 2014, the drop, fail and withdrawal rate was cut in half, according to Bebergal. Additionally, there was an 11% increase in students earning A’s in Chemistry II. This stark change means significantly more people were successful in the classes with learning assistants than in the classes without. 

Adelmann and Bebergal developed 13 new active-learning classrooms over the past two-and-a-half years to cater to the LA program on campus. These classes are not focused on the front of the room, where the professor lectures in front of the group. The desks face other students and are often in groups.

“It’s student-centered versus instructor-centered in these classrooms,” Adelmann said. “It’s important to create an environment where students can thrive and actively and collaboratively work together.”

These classrooms do not necessarily have to have LA courses taught in them. Faculty who do not teach with assistants can still use these more collaborative-minded classrooms for their classes.

Of the student applicants, the university hired 99 as learning assistants this semester.

One such learning assistant is Rakia Jaward, a senior pre-med student. She has been a learning assistant for Chemistry 2 for three semesters, which offers her the opportunity to study more while being paid to assist in classes.

“I feel like I get a personal gain as well through reviewing the materials and explaining it to other people, but the students get such a big reward through our help,” Jaward said. 

The LA program has helped her re-review the concepts of Chemistry 2 to study for the Medical College Admissions Test or to help with other pre-med courses.

The LA program currently has courses on the Boca Raton campus as well as at the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, but it plans to offer courses across all campuses and even online. The Center for Online and Continuing Education is helping the expansion of the program online with funding and hiring students for LAs online.

Through more funding and university-wide support, the LA program is set to expand significantly and bring with it higher passing rates to various curricula across fields and campuses at FAU. 

Alexander Tabares is the Copy Desk Editor for the University Press. For more information regarding this story or others, email him at atabares2023@fau.edu or DM him on Instagram @alextabaresof.