Positioning Undergraduate Teaching and Learning Assistants as Instructional Partners: Balancing Time, Expertise, and Responsibilities

• In Event: "Designing for" to "Designing With" Partners: Emergent Challenges in the Co-Design Process

Abstract

A growing body of literature describes the beneficial outcomes of partnerships between faculty and undergraduate teaching and learning assistants (UTLAs), and opportunities for feedback, co-creation, and collaboration (e.g., Bovill, Cook-Sather, & Felten, 2011; Hufford, 2011). Researchers have begun to characterize UTLA-faculty partnerships and note that levels of collaboration and communication vary (Sabella, Van Duzor, & Davenport, 2016); however, existing research focuses mostly on partnership features and outcomes. Research must look more closely at the moment-to-moment interactions to consider what really goes on when UTLAs and faculty meet and how interactions impact partnerships.

To begin to address this gap, I explored interactions between UTLAs and the faculty they work with, in order to better understand where, when, and how UTLAs were positioned as instructional partners. I used positioning theory (Harré, Moghaddam, Cairnie, Rothbart, & Sabat, 2009; van Langenhove & Harre, 1999) as a framework; thus, I considered the rights, duties, and obligations (positions) distributed among people in changing patterns (storylines) as they engaged in particular kinds of actions (acts). I examined discourse in audio recordings of meetings and e-mail communication between two different Biology faculty and their UTLAs, collected over the course of an entire semester. I supported my interpretations using interviews with the instructor and UTLAs, as well as observations and artifacts from the meetings. I used the constructs of respect, reciprocity, and responsibility (Cook-Sather, Bovill, & Felten, 2014) as a lens through which to explore the data.

An in-depth examination of UTLA-faculty interactions revealed that UTLAs may be positioned as students, informants, consultants, co-instructors, or co-creators, that these positions were fluid and may occur simultaneously, and that respect, reciprocity, and responsibility manifested in various ways across these different positions. Collaborative instructional partnerships may involve UTLAs being positioned in a number of ways, as opposed to only as co-instructors or co-creators. For instance, in order to work towards the shared goal of improving student learning, at times UTLAs may be positioned as students learning content or pedagogy to support their development and preparation as instructors. Thus, UTLA-faculty partnerships are complex and dynamic; even if we rank or characterize partnerships more broadly, considering the variety and fluidity in positioning may help understand the nuances behind different types of partnerships.

A collaborative instructional partnership does not necessarily require that UTLAs and faculty have equal power; rather, UTLAs and faculty should work together to negotiate power fairly and appropriately based on time, experience, ability, and goals (Cook-Sather, et al, 2014). In this study, there was a recurring tension between respecting UTLA time and respecting and valuing their expertise as potential co-creators of exams or activities. Faculty may be wary to ask UTLAs to provide feedback or add to their responsibilities, because they want to avoid overworking them; however, this avoidance limits the role the UTLAs play in the instructional process. Overall, this research helps to elucidate the interactional features of collaborative UTLA-faculty instructional partnerships, the contextual factors that may affect those interactions, and tensions related to integrating undergraduates as instructional partners.

Author

• Hannah Elizabeth Jardine, Catholic University of America