A Quantitative Investigation into Student Outcomes from Learning Assistant Engagement in Economics Class Hours

Abstract

This paper employs an econometric method in estimating student outcomes from learning assistant (LA) engagement in economics class hours. Many US universities have already introduced an LA system into undergraduate courses, primarily in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The author and his colleagues applied the LA model to an economics course at a Japanese university. We expected that LAs would also help economics students learn more readily and energize their in-class learning. Thus this paper investigates the effect of learning assistant support on the students in an introductory macroeconomics course. While circumventing collinearity problems between explanatory variables, the ordinary least squares estimation reveals that the LA model in economics fosters students’ exam performance. Hence this paper provides one piece of evidence supporting the use of LAs not only in STEM education but also in economics.