Table 4 Supporting quotations from LAs’ Questionnaire responses to the three constructs of SDT including lessons learned during and after remote learning transition

Competence

“Guiding students towards achieving a better grade is a lot more challenging as I initially thought. Students come from different backgrounds with varying levels of assimilation, learning styles and prior knowledge.” (Rashidi)

“I have learned that teaching students multiple ways of solving problems is best because not all the same methods will click with every student.” (Josefina)

“I have learned that there is an art to asking questions, and that phrasing can change a student’s complete outlook on a question.” (Lucas)

“I learned that it is extremely challenging to identify what specific mathematical concepts students may be having trouble with and being able to explain the concept in ways outside of the way that I was originally taught.” (Rachel)

Autonomy

“Upon become a learning assistant, I found that there were multiple subject areas where my learning was actually limited compared to what’s required in my class. Refining these subjects has helped me greatly.” (Dylan)

“You can certainly prepare ahead of time, but there is going be some questions, where you have to say “I’ll get back to you on this,” to prevent from spending the entire time on that one question.” (Ramesh)

“Explaining to the students what the different subjects will be used for in their daily lives helped me relate it back to myself. For instance, I was explaining how the concept of sequences helps us understand that something can be infinitely small and still increasing, which helps us be more open minded and welcoming to challenges in our daily lives.” (Chloe)

“So being able to talk and share mathematics with my students and address multiple ideas and opinions on problems is something I can apply to so many other things.” (Maria)

Relatedness

“This struggle [learning content] yielded the best fruit because we were able to work through the class together as a team instead of a hierarchical dynamic that nobody wants.” (Chloe)

“Whether it be through the email and text, chat or speech, perhaps certain people feel more inclined to ask questions live so I learned to allow for multiple ways to reach out to the students.” (Ramesh)

“I didn’t anticipate students being so reluctant to ask me questions. I thought since I am student just like them they would have no problem asking for help but that is not always the case.” (Josefina)

“Working with different students with different backgrounds, this has thought me to be patient with the students for their grades to be excellent. This is a key virtue that will help in the future.” (Rashidi)