Impact of Learning Assistant Model on Undergraduate Physics Learning Assistants and Faculty Dispositions

The Learning Assistant (LA) program within the Department of Physics \& Astronomy at Rowan University continues to develop and progress. In its third funded year of implementation the program continues to place 20 LAs in physics each semester, including 1-2 in local high school classrooms. To further sustainability post funding completion, we offer LAs the option of earning upper-division physics course credit rather than paying them a stipend. One of the research objectives of this program is to continue to look at how serving as an LA may impact college physics students' beliefs about physics and their dispositions towards science teaching. This poster presents findings generated from data triangulation of LA surveys, and LA focus group and faculty interviews. Findings from the surveys and focus group interviews indicate that participation in our LA program continues to have little effect on students' specific views about physics and physics learning, but has a measurable positive impact on their dispositions toward teaching as a profession albeit at a collegiate level. Majority of faculty found the presence of an LA beneficial to their instructional pedagogy, to student learning, and classroom management, but misperceptions persist about the roles of an LA.