Partner Educational Effectiveness Resources

The PEER program allocates funding for the integration of undergraduate peer mentors (UPMs) and undergraduate learning assistants (ULAs) into larger courses at UCSB. The Office of Teaching and Learning provides financial and pedagogical support to instructors and their departments for the enhancement of these courses and department-specific initiatives.

Fall 2025 Funding Applications due Monday, August 4 by 5pm PT

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Roles

 

Undergraduate Peer Mentors

Undergraduate Peer Mentors (UPMs) provide general guidance to students about how to navigate courses or majors. For example, UPMs can work with students to develop study skills in the major or consider how skills and strategies in the course will contribute to other courses in the major, hone students’ abilities to interact with instructors (i.e., visiting office hours or communicating via email) or locate other helpful resources on campus such as the ONDAS or Transfer Student Center, campus identity centers, or CLAS. UPMs may not offer tutoring, provide specific advice about student work, or offer course-specific guidance of any type.

UPMs support groups of 4-6 students (1:4-6 ratio).

UPMs should be hired as Student Assistants (job code 4922).

   

 

Undergraduate Learning Assistants

Undergraduate Learning Assistants (ULAs) facilitate active learning in courses. Their activities can include talking with students about questions that arise during problem-solving activities, facilitating discussions about course content, engaging with students in small groups on particularly challenging elements of a course, and providing guiding advice. ULAs may contribute to formative, ungraded feedback for undergraduates using criteria developed by faculty or graduate student employees. ULAs may not lead discussion sections or grade other students’ work.

ULAs may work with groups of up to 10 students.

ULAs are hired as Remedial Tutors (job codes 2280 or 2290). Per the terms of Article 11 “Fee Remissions”, Section A of the UAW (BX) Contract, as undergraduate students, ULAs do not receive fee remission.

Peer Funding Eligibility

ULAs or UPMs may be used only to support courses that are rethinking pedagogy in an environment where fewer TAs are available. 

To be eligible for funding, department applications must meet the the following conditions: 

  1. ULA programs must align with one of the following models, or provide support to a large number of students through a combination of two of the models.
    • Model 1. ULAs and/or UPMs are incorporated into discussion sections in large courses that have developed new pedagogical models to teach based on reallocations of teaching/staffing resources.
    • Model 2. ULAs and/or UPMs are part of a centralized group that provide support for several required courses in pre-major series or GE courses.
    • Model 3. ULAs provide support outside of class.
    • NOTE: applications that do not clearly meet at least one of the three models will not qualify for funding review.
  2. Departments who received PEER funding during the 2024-2025 academic year must provide evidence of effective assessment of the ULA/UPM program. 
  3. The application must provide a detailed explanation of how implementation of UPMs and/or ULAs contributes to pedagogical innovation and addresses departmental needs connected to supporting students in courses with large enrollments. Applicants will be asked to provide past and predicted enrollments, along with the number of TAs and/or readers assigned to the courses for which support is requested.

Application for Funding

Departments seeking funding for Fall 2025 are encouraged to submit an application by the early decision deadline: August 4, 2025. Funding is limited.

Applications will be reviewed to determine eligibility for funding prior to being advanced for funding consideration. Applicants will be notified of their eligibility status by August 15, 2025. Please note: being deemed eligible for funding does not guarantee that funding will be awarded.
 

*Note that applications must be endorsed by the department chair. Funding requests will be reviewed by the Office of Teaching and Learning.

Please direct questions to Maggie Safronova, Associate Director, Center for Innovative Teaching, Research, and Learning (m_safronova@ucsb.edu)

Guidelines for Faculty and Departments

 

Faculty who receive UPM or ULA funding must:

  • Attend the PEER Faculty Seminar (2 hours, synchronous over Zoom)
  • Recruit, select, and supervise UPMs and/or ULAs
  • Provide discipline-specific training for UPMs and/or ULAs
  • Regularly communicate and meet with UPMs and/or ULAs
  • Collaborate with OTL and provide feedback on the experience of using UPMs or ULAs
  • Submit an assessment report at the end of the quarter

 

     

 

Departments must:

  • Hire all undergraduate peer mentors and peer learning assistants
  • Handle all processing of timecards 

 

OTL Support

Funding

OTL provides approved funding to departments for employing UPMs or ULAs (see funding table below).

 

PEER Faculty Seminar Resources

INT 125 Sample Syllabus

PEER  Department Funding Calculator- use this tool to estimate the costs of your ULA and/or UPM program if you are applying on behalf of your department

End of the Quarter Assessment Report- if funded, participants of PEER are required to submit end of the quarter assessment. 

 

INT 125:  Studying and Supporting University Learning

UPMs and ULAs are strongly encouraged to enroll in INT 125. The goal of the course is to provide students to develop a set of skills that will help them be effective UPMs and/or ULAs.

This is a 2-credit course. UPM/ULAs can contact Dr. Margarita Safronova (m_safronova@ucsb.edu) for more information.

Consultations with Office of Teaching and Learning

Picture of Maggie Safronova

Maggie Safronova

Associate Director
Office of Teaching and Learning
m_safronova@ucsb.edu
See Maggie's profile