Welcome Back!

Welcome Auburn faculty and students to the Fall 2023 semester and the August issue of AULAP's monthly newsletter.

Since beginning our newsletter last Spring, we at the Auburn University Learning Assistant Program plan to continually feature the incredible work of our LA Faculty and Student LAs every month. AULAP has an exciting semester coming up; for Fall 2023, AULAP offers support for 30 courses across all 5 COSAM departments. We've hired over 80 Learning Assistants to support over 5,000 students and look forward to promoting each individual's success.

For students interested in becoming Learning Assistants, recruitment season opens in October; additional information will be provided closer to this period both via our newsletters as well as on the AULAP website. In the meantime, we encourage students to fill out this interest form to ensure they stay up to date.  

Welcome back and War Eagle!

LA Program Orientation: Kickstarting the New Semester 

As the new semester starts back up, that also means that new and current LAs are back on campus and ready to get back into the classrooms working with thousands of students across five different departments in the College of Sciences and Mathematics! On Tuesday August 15^th, just one day before classes started at Auburn University, all current and new Learning Assistants met on campus for an LA Orientation.

This event ran for about two hours and the LAs were provided with a free pizza lunch to kick off the event! Dr. Min Zhong, the lead program coordinator for the AULAP, began the orientation by introducing each of the coordinators for the departments participating in the AULAP. The coordinators are Heather Haskell (Math and Statistics), Rachel Prado and David Cristostomo (Chemistry), Daniel Merrill and Melissa Halford (Physics), and John Fronimos (Geosciences). By ensuring that the students met with and were introduced to the faculty over the department they were assigned to as a LA, allowed them to know who to contact directly should any questions or concerns arise during their time as a LA. A big focus of the orientation was informing the students of the classes they must enroll in to be able to work as a LA. For new LAs, the required class is a 1-credit hour Pedagogical class, and for returning LAs, they are to enroll in a zero-credit hour reflection course.

Other important topics covered were giving an overview of the AULAP program, information for LAs and their payrolls, and the specific responsibilities of a LA. There were also breakout sessions for the LAs in attendance to meet with their other fellow departmental LAs, as well as the specific people that they will be working with this semester. The orientation wrapped up with final questions, and a big group photo of the LAs and the department coordinators!

LA Faculty Spotlight: David Crisostomo 

To kick off the start of the new academic year, the Auburn University Learning Assistant Program would like to continue our recognition of the incredible students and staff that are vital to our shared success. A member of the Auburn family since 2017, Dr. Dave Crisostomo is the professor we have the honor of featuring in this month's LAP Faculty Spotlight.

Dr. Crisostomo’s interest in lab research began during his schooling as he pursued a B.S. in chemistry from Notre Dame and a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt. At the time, supervising labs and serving as a TA felt like obligations, but, after attending an education seminar, Dr. Crisostomo gained a valuable new perspective that changed his approach to teaching. Focusing on the students and how they learned the material became a rewarding mindset that would lead him to his role today.

Dr. Crisostomo’s classes here at Auburn follow a flipped classroom style; students watch lectures at home to build fundamental knowledge before coming to class to practice application. With foundational chemistry classes reaching 200 students, Dr. Crisostomo uses anywhere from 4 to 8 Learning Assistants in his classes to walk around and assist students who may need extra guidance. He confers with them each week, provides practice sheets, and works with his LAs to create practice problems they think would be the most beneficial to the students.

During our interview, Dr. Crisostomo explains the role his LAs fill as “facilitating [an] active learning classroom.” He goes on to say: “In a large class [without LAs] it would be impossible to teach the way that I teach now.” Dr. Crisostomo explains how he often matches up struggling students with LAs who have similar majors and encourages successful students interested in helping others to apply to LAP.

Dr. Crisostomo also remarks about the unique experience LAP offers. He explained how he has never seen another program like it, one where undergraduate students are so involved. He recalled his time as a graduate student having to lead lab sessions alone. Beyond the benefit they pose to him as a professor, Dr. Crisostomo acknowledges positive student feedback regarding his LAs. Often students will mention LAs by name in course evaluation and elaborate on their ability to cater to their individual needs.

With over 50 LAs hired during his time at Auburn, Dr. Crisostomo continues to be an enthusiastic proponent of LAP. “Having LAs really changed how I teach,” he said, “[the] LA program lets me teach the best way.”

For general inquiries about LAs and the program, contact Dr. Min Zhong.
For additional information specific to departments, please contact the departmental LA coordinators.