Development of the RIOT 2 for use in LA-supported classrooms

Abstract

This paper describes the development of the RIOT 2, an observational tool that can be used to study classrooms in which there are multiple members of an instructional team. The RIOT 2 is based on the Real-time Instructor Observational Tool (RIOT), which characterizes the behavior of an instructor over time. While the RIOT was previously developed for classrooms with only one instructor, our team has developed a version to observe classrooms supported by Learning Assistants (LAs). LA are undergraduate peer educators who facilitate discussions in active-learning classrooms. Unlike the RIOT, the RIOT 2 allows for the categorization of LA-instructor interactions. In this paper, we describe the development of RIOT 2 and present some initial data collected using the RIOT 2. While our data are preliminary, they illustrate how the RIOT 2 may be useful for future research and practice. This work is part of a broader research effort to understand how LA-faculty partnerships impact what LAs and instructors do in the classroom.