Five students from Chemical Science & Engineering finalised their “Learning Assistant: Expert” training this month.
Bram, Iana, Julia, Lucie, and Vinaya received their certificate from Marleen de Haan (CELT) in a ceremony with the vice dean of education Stefan Kooij, the programme director Leonie Krab, and their supervisor in the programme Arnoud Onnink.
The first group of Learning Assistants (LAs) started four years ago as a CSE pilot. The goals were to provide a didactical learning trajectory for CSE students who want to explore teaching tasks, and in the meantime reduce the workload of some teachers. The trajectory to become a Certified Learning Assistant takes two modules. LAs guide project groups and advise on assessments, while in parallel they learn about didactics and reflect on their development in intervision sessions.
Students appreciate LAs; it is easy to approach them and connect to them. LAs also work on establishing a good atmosphere in the group, in making sure all voices are heard (also the very shy ones), and they are available for 1:1 talks too. They facilitate the “onboarding process” of new students.
Most of the current LAs don’t master Dutch, and would not be able to take part in the minor “Leren lesgeven” at a Dutch high school. The Certified Learning Assistant trajectory gave them a chance to learn didactical skills and to find out if this matches their interests, and if they would like to pursue more teaching tasks or even a teacher’s master education. A new group of five CSE LA’s will start in November.
