Quality Enhancement Plan: Learning Assistant Program

The Learning Assistant (LA) Program

Education Reimagined:  Engaging Students through Peer-Assisted Learning

Florida Atlantic’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP),  Education Reimagined, will change the culture of teaching and learning at the institution by investing in and supporting student-centered education. Guided by the principles of the Learning Assistant (LA) program model, courses are redesigned by faculty to include active, collaborative learning experiences, facilitated by trained undergraduate Learning Assistants, called LAs. 

Click here to find the course redesign  Application form. 
 Applications are reviewed each September. 

Click  here to find more information for Fall 2025 QEP/LA Program for faculty!


Click Here to view the QEP REPORT 

Click Here to view SACSCOC QEP rubric


The LA Model is strengthened by three program pillars:  Practice,  Preparation and  Pedagogy. 

Learn more about the LA Program

Become an LA

Dr. Adelmann is in an active learning classroom leaning over a group of students at a table while an LA is in the background assisting another group.
Precalculus & Trigonometry: Spring 2023

About

As part of the newest Quality Enhancement Plan, Florida Atlantic has begun the journey of building a strong, robust Learning Assistant Program. 

In fall 2020, Florida Atlantic University embarked on the selection of the second topic for our Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). In 2011, Undergraduate Research and Inquiry was selected as our first QEP topic. This had a major transformative effect on undergraduate education at this institution and paved the way for the 2021 selection of  Education Reimagined:  Engaging Students through Peer-Assisted Learning.

The Southern Associations of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), requires that an institution’s QEP focus on specific student learning outcomes and/or student success. The plan must enhance:

  • Student knowledge, skills, behaviors, and/or values
  • Key student outcomes such as student retention, completion, time-to-degree, placement in the field, or performance in ‘gatekeeper’ courses

The topic must derive from a comprehensive and ongoing planning process, and it must have the firm backing of university constituencies.

Finally, the institution must invest ongoing resources (financial, personnel, etc.) to ensure that established goals are realized.

In September 2022, a call for proposals from faculty/instructors to be a part of a QEP pilot program was released to the university community.

Learn more about the QEP Pilot

Frequently Asked Questions

Florida Atlantic University is currently undergoing a reaffirmation of accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). As part of this process, a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) is a required component of the reaccreditation process for SACS. The QEP is a plan designed to improve student learning based on institutional assessment, and to accomplish the mission of the institution.

FAU's QEP: Education Reimagined: Engaging Students through Peer-Assisted Learning, will invest in and support student-centered education by including student to student and faculty to student collaboration, guided by the principles of the Learning Assistant (LA) Program Model.

The LA Program helps faculty transform their classrooms from passive learning environments (listening, taking notes) to active, engaging environments. Students have opportunities to apply what they are learning in class and work with trained peers to ensure content understanding before anyone leaves the lecture hall.

The LA program is embedded into the course! Faculty and student leaders work toward redesigning the course to ensure the learning takes place during class time. Every student in the class participates in the LA program as it is embedded in the course during scheduled class time. No additional participation is required- just attend the class!

University Advising Services

Mon. - Fri. 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. | Virtually: Mon. - Fri. 5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Contact Us

location_on
Administration Bldg., Room 339
777 Glades Road
Boca Raton, FL 33431
call (561) 297-3064
mail advisingservices@fau.edu