New York College Learning Skills Association

RTDE Issue Contents

Research and Teaching
in Developmental Education

Volume 19, Issue 1, Fall 2002

Using Lower-Division Developmental Education Students as Teaching Assistants
By Walter R. Jacobs, University of Minnesota

Abstract

There has been little research on the experiences of undergraduate teaching assistants, and this small body of information is usually tightly focused on traditional disciplinary concerns like sociology, psychology, and communications. Additionally, undergraduate teaching assistant research tends to focus on upper-division students. This article explores the benefits and drawbacks of using lower-division developmental education students as teaching assistants in developmental social science courses. Included are comments from students enrolled in a course staffed by a sophomore as the teaching assistant. Employing developmental education students as teaching assistants can be beneficial to instructors, students, and the teaching assistants themselves.