Atlas Academic Teaching And Learning Assistants Study: The Use Of Peers As ‘Quality Managers’ In Engineering Class Instruction

Abstract

is a member of Northeastern University's Gateway Team, a select group of full-time faculty devoted to the First-year Engineering Program at Northeastern University (NU). While she concentrates on first-year engineering courses and instructs across all engineering disciplines, Dr. Jaeger also teaches specialty courses in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at NU in Digital Simulation, Facilities Planning, and Human-Machine Systems. Corey Balint, Northeastern UniversityCorey Balint is a junior Industrial Engineering major at Northeastern University who volunteered to assist with this research project after experiencing it first hand. He has been active in FIRST Robotics since his freshman year of high school as both a student and mentor. He also has served on the Executive Board of the Institute of Industrial Engineers since 2007, as well as serving as a peer mentor for the College of Engineering.

Work in Progress: An Online Journal Tool with Feedback for a Learning Assistant Program in Engineering

“…Such use has propagated extensively in the sciences (Jackson & Koenig, 2017) where there is research evidence that the LA Programs effectively enhance the success of the students in courses that use LAs and of the LAs themselves (Close, Conn, and Close, 2016;Talbot et al 2015). While the term undergraduate "Learning Assistant" has been reported in ASEE papers for several decades (e.g., Deess et al, 2003;Jaeger et al, 2010), in the past few years the use of "Learning Assistants" in engineering has come to align with the specific three elements proposed by the Learning Assistant Alliance (Cao et al, 2018;Gallegos al., 2018;Tanu et al 2017;Wendell at al., 2019).…”

Adult Undergraduate Engineering Student Experience

“…Researchers at Northeastern University have implemented peer "quality managers" in engineering courses. 14 These quality managers are selected among responsible, mature students currently enrolled in the course, and they provide additional support to peer students by assuming a temporary responsibility for specific classroom activities, somewhat similar to teaching assistants. Jaeger et al found that these student quality managers had positive outcomes in their relationships with the professor, and that they were willing to be quality managers again in the future.…”

The Effect of Peer-Led Review on Exam Performance in Fluid Mechanics

“…Peer tutoring can take many formats which vary significantly in the amount of time and training required from the instructor and participants. Some peer tutoring activities which are described in science and engineering literature include:  peer mentoring programs where trained students hold office hours 2  peer mentoring programs where trained students assist in class and lab [3][4]  peer led team learning workshops guided by an advanced undergraduate student who has received training 5  peer instruction during lecture where students first answer a conceptual question individually and then discuss the problem in a small group 6-7  think-pair-sharelike peer instruction but not constrained to conceptual questions [8][9][10] Results from these experiences, and many others, consistently show a benefit for both the student doing the teaching and the student learning from their peer 1 . McKeachie and Svinicki 10 also report that learning is increased by peer tutoring for the majority of students and does not hurt the learning of the others.…”