Allies in Learning and Teaching (ALT)
What is ALT?
Allies in Learning and Teaching is a pilot teacher-learner liaison program. Designed with both students and faculty in mind, student liaisons collaborate with professors to create more equitable and acessible classrooms by facilitating faculty-student communication and offereing insights into pedagogical practices.
How does it work?
Student representatives are trained in the theory and practice of critical pedagogy IdeaLab 258 - Allies in Learning and Teaching, a course running in Spring 2026, to support syllabus literacy, collaborative feedback on the course, peer mediation among students, and offer constructive insight on pedagogical practices for the perspective of a student partner.
Support Syllabus Literacy
During the first visit, designated ALT representatives facilitate a conversation on the syllabus with students. The professor is not in the room for this conversation. This is a chance for students to voice any questions, concerns, or confusion on assignment descriptions, class policies, and/or themes of the course which they might be more confident doing with a peer. Even if they don't initially have questions, this process deepens students' understanding of the course and serves to open communication lines with the faculty going forward. ALT representatives then meet with the professor after class, to discuss the aggregate feedback. The professor has ultimate discretion over their syllabus.
Peer Mediation Among Students
Challenges may arise in small group settings both in and beyond the classroom. ALT
reps
can serve as a neutral third party resource for students to contact for support in
mediating and resolving conflicts. This avenue to peer support avoids escalating conflict
to the professor, enabling students to work through their conflicts independently
and without the anxiety of approaching the person who will ultimately grade them.
Collaborative Feedback
Your ALT reps visit your class for 15 minutes at the midterm and facilitate a group conversation with students about how they have experienced the course so far. Our prompts and questions can be tailored to the class, in collaboration with the professor. The reps then write up a short report on the aggregate feedback and meet with the professor to discuss themes. Midterm evaluations are often richer when students are able to be in conversation with one another about it as opposed to simply conveying their anonymous written answers to professors' questions.
Insight on Pedagogy
There may be moments during the term when you wish you had a student perspective on a new assignment, a classroom dynamic, or a challenge that's come up in your teaching. Your ALT representatives, who are already familiar with your syllabus and the students in your course, are available to consult with you about your questions . For example , they could review an assignment prompt with an eye to how different students - first years, English language learners, seasoned majors - might receive it. Or, you might arrange for them to observe a class session and discuss their observations with you.
For more information, please email alt@skidmore.edu
Sign up for ALT here