As we anticipate the new semester and the kinds of resources and support we are ready to provide faculty and students in digital learning contexts, we want to highlight one distinctive element of our approach at Muhlenberg: the role and partnership of Digital Learning Assistants.
The earliest conceptualizations of digital learning at Muhlenberg intentionally prioritized the participation of students as partners, drawing from longstanding and successful models of peer assistantship already in place at the College–in the Writing Program and in Academic Support Services, most notably. With their own learning histories, expectations, and hopes, Digital Learning Assistants–DLAs–have partnered in shaping our work from the outset, and their insights continue to inform work that promotes student agency, voice, and privacy in the spaces of digital learning.
Each semester we share the DLA schedule, included below. We encourage faculty to share it with students in any course where digital tools, platforms, or practices are integrated. DLAs will continue to offer a blend of in-person office hours for peer collaboration in the HiVE and online in Zoom.
This semester we also invite faculty to consider possibilities where a DLA’s reflection and constructive feedback might be meaningful. Some instances where opportunity to collaborate with a DLA might be beneficial include:
- framing an assignment integrating digital tools
- brainstorming and identifying a digital tool for a particular learning activity
- thinking through redesigned digital learning materials with a lens on accessibility and inclusion
- imagining and planning support students might need for a digital learning assignment
DLAs are well prepared and intentionally mentored to collaborate with faculty across the campus, not only in their major. In fact, DLAs do not have to be from your discipline to be able to pay close attention and reflect with you, bring forms of knowledge of digital learning to your conversation, or to share constructive observations that offer a window into one kind of student experience.
If you are interested in working with a DLA partner, please contact Jordan Noyes at jordannoyes@muhlenberg.edu to have a conversation about your proposed project and interests.
Wishing you all well as the semester draws near.