We examine changes in students' rating behavior during a semester-long sequence of peer evaluation laboratory exercises in an introductory mechanics course. We perform a quantitative analysis of the ratings given by students to peers' physics lab reports, and conduct interviews with students. We find that peers persistently assign higher ratings to lab reports than do experts, that peers begin the semester by giving high ratings most frequently and end the semester with frequent middle ratings, and that peers go through the semester without much change in the frequency of low ratings. We then use student interviews to develop a model for student engagement with peer assessment. This model is based on two competing influences which appear to shape peer evaluation behavior: a strong disinclination to give poor ratings with a complementary preference to give high ratings when in doubt, and an attempt to develop an expertlike criticality when assessing peers' work.

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This chapter explores the literature that investigates how physics instructors are supported when building learning environments that capitalize on research-based instructional strategies. The research demonstrates the value of real-time, context-specific, faculty development models that explicitly build on their knowledge and experience. Similarly, the research on Graduate Teaching Assistants highlights the value of their training being situated in teaching practice and the value of Graduate Teaching Assistants feeling like a part of the instructional team, in partnership with faculty members who lead a course. The Learning Assistant model is presented in this chapter as a real-time, context-specific solution to faculty development, where Learning Assistants, Graduate Teaching Assistants, and faculty members serve on an instructional team that is supported by LA program staff in their mission to improve their instruction and increase student voice in the classroom.

For the last four years, the School of Physics at Georgia Tech have been preparing new Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) through a program that integrates pedagogy, physics content, and professional development strategies. Here we discuss various assessments we have used to evaluate the program, among them surveys, GTA self-reporting, and end-of-semester student evaluations. Our results indicate that GTAs who participate in the program find its practical activities useful, feel better prepared for teaching, make use of learner-centered teaching strategies, and receive higher scores in teaching evaluations.