Operationalizing the orthogonal role of a Learning Assistant in the classroom to analyze epistemological development.

Learning Assistants (LAs) are students trained to facilitate discussion among student groups for socially mediated learning. They are distinct from teaching assistants and tutors in that they receive additional pedagogical training based on constructivist models of teaching and learning (e.g., sociocultural theory [1]). Their role in the classroom is to facilitate and guide, often through questioning, in ways that will help students reach understanding on their own. Studies on the Learning Assistant model have demonstrated numerous benefits, such as increased conceptual understanding; an increase in positive affective dimensions such as belonging; and an increase in well-trained and enthusiastic future STEM teachers. While existing education research has illustrated positive impacts on students in STEM classrooms, less work has focused on the personal and epistemological development of the LAs themselves. In this paper we provide an analytical lens through which to assess epistemological development of LAs. This is critical to understanding and promoting LA development, but has been relatively overlooked to date. We define epistemology as the beliefs, ideas, and conceptions one has about the justification, nature, and source of knowledge. Within the Learning Assistant program, there are many avenues for participating LAs to reflect on and potentially rearrange their epistemology. To analyze LA epistemological development, we turn to Baxter Magolda's Epistemological Reflection Model, which describes student epistemological stances for the role of learners, peers, and instructors. In this paper, we adapt the model to account for the unique role of LAs in educational settings. Through analysis of semi-structured interviews and written assignments with LAs before and after participation in the LA program, we find that the role of the LA as narrated by the participants is orthogonal to that of peers, learners, and instructors in the classroom. Further, the role of the LA evolves over time, often as a result of incidents in the classroom that prompt LAs to confront and reorganize their beliefs about teaching, learning, and knowledge. Here, we operationalize the Role of the LA within the context of the Epistemological Reflection Model to articulate the ways LAs are distinct from both instructors and peers and discuss how instructors employing LAs or other near-peers may productively engage with their LAs' epistemological development. This study constitutes an extension on previous work and serves as a jumping-off point for further study on the affordances of pedagogical training for near-peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]