• Introduction

• Content of the Learning Community

• Structure of the Learning Community

• Rationale for the Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Model

• Compatibility of Teaching and Learning Needs

• Recruitment and Selection of the Teaching Assistants

• Preparation of the Teaching Assistants

• Roles and Conflicts

• The Teaching Team

• Evaluating the Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Model

• The Experiences of the Teaching Assistants

• The Pedagogic Value of the Model

• Printable Text of Article

© Copyright 2000 by Kimberly Eby (keby1@gmu.edu) and Paula Gilbert (pgilbert@gmu.edu). The right to make additional exact copies, including this notice, for personal and classroom use, is hereby granted. All other forms of distribution and copying require permission of the author.

Clearly, the material presented in the learning community is quite varied and complex. We believe that it is critical to give students the opportunity to interact with and engage this material in numerous ways. We most often met as a whole group for discussions, although we did occasionally divide the students into small groups. We almost never lectured formally, although we gave "mini-lectures" during each class session. 

Students chose journal partners and kept journals throughout the semester that responded to and reflected upon each of the course themes. While the journal partnering assignment can be characterized as writing to learn, we additionally assigned two formal papers: the first paper was an analysis and integration of materials presented in the first half of the learning community; the second paper was a research paper related to a study group topic. 

Study groups are an important component in the collaborative nature of this learning community. We have found that providing students with opportunities to work collaboratively helps them see multiple perspectives and understand the nature of differences of opinion, particularly with respect to controversial issues. Finally, students develop a creative project that they present to the class. These presentations have been extraordinary and have ranged from videos to power point presentations, talk shows, dramas, comedies, and visual art displays. A final critical component to the overall structure of the learning community is the focus on service learning and the link that is created between theory and practice. 

All students volunteer for ninety hours in a pre-approved site, on or off-campus. Whether it is with a victim assistance hotline, a school for troubled youth, or the criminal justice system, these community internships have proven to be a highlight for students and the loci of significant learning. Students are supervised and evaluated by an on-site mentor, present their experiences orally to the class, submit a mid-term and final written report, and complete an analysis on the experience as it relates to course material. 

In sum, students learn about violence and gender in multiple contexts through multiple methods: through collaborative and independent work; through analysis and reflection; through theoretical and applied knowledge; and through traditional scholarly methods and creative artistry.

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