The Knowledge Required for Tutorial Planning: An Empirical Analysis

A significant portion of tutorial interactions revolve around the bugs a student makes. When a tutor performs an intervention to help a student fix a programming bug, the problem of deciding how to help the student appears to require extensive planning. In this article, we identify five considerations tutors appear to take into account when they plan tutorial interventions for students’ bugs. Using data collected from human tutors working in the domain of introductory computer programming, we (1) identify the knowledge tutors use when they reason about the five planning considerations, and (2) show that tutors are consistent in the ways that they use the kinds of knowledge to reason about students’ bugs.     

本科“朋辈导师制”探析

高等院校本科导师制已经成为新形势下大学生培养模式的一大趋势,而本科"朋辈导师制"不但能解决导师资源不足这一问题,而且还能在促使本科生更好成才方面发挥特殊的作用。为了有效地实行"朋辈导师制",必须注意选聘和确定朋辈导师的合理性,朋辈导师"导"的形式和方法的灵活多样性和"朋辈导师制"管理的激励性。     

Effects of staff and student tutors on student achievement

In the problem-based curriculum of the faculty of Law, students of the first year are guided by staff tutors or undergraduate student tutors in small tutorial groups. In this study, academic achievement of staff tutor-guided groups are compared with student tutor-guided groups. After an eight-week course students' level of academic achievement was tested by essay questions. Two methods of assessing students' performance are used: expert judgements and propositional analysis. Results of both methods used indicate that no differences in academic achievement occur. Students guided by student tutors perform as well as students guided by staff tutors. Several explanations are proposed to account for these results.     

关于本科生导师制的再思考

目前,我国不少高校都仿效英国实行了本科生导师制,但其效果并不理想,很多院校仍旧是停留在补学分制之需,与真正意义上的导师制还有差距。要想使导师制真正发挥其应有的作用,就必须注意以下几个问题:提高教师素质,明确导师职责;建立对导师工作合理的激励和考核机制;实现导师制和导生制的双向结合。     

Cognitive Tutors: Lessons Learned

This article reviews the 10-year history of tutor development based on the advanced computer tutoring theory (J. R. Anderson, 1983, 1993). We developed production system models in ACT of how students solved problems in LISP, geometry, and algebra. Computer tutors were developed around these cognitive models. Construction of these tutors was guided by a set of eight principles loosely based on the ACT theory. Early evaluations of these tutors usually, but not always, showed significant achievement gains. Best case evaluations showed that students could achieve at least the same level of proficiency as conventional instruction in one third of the time. Empirical studies showed that students were learning skills in production-rule units and that the best tutorial interaction style was one in which the tutor provides immediate feedback, consisting of short and directed error messages. The tutors appear to work better if they present themselves to students as nonhuman tools to assist learning rather than as emulations of human tutors. Students working with these tutors display transfer to other environments to the degree that they can map the tutor environment into the test environment. These experiences have coalesced into a new system for developing and deploying tutors. This system involves selecting a problem-solving interface, constructing a curriculum under the guidance of a domain expert, designing a cognitive model for solving problems in that environment, building instruction around the productions in that model, and deploying the tutor in the classroom. New tutors are being built in this system to achieve the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) standards for high-school mathematics in an urban setting.     

亲产业型本科生导师制及其应用探索

针对我国现有本科生导师制经验难以在各院校间形成示范模式的问题,考虑到以青年教师为主的导师群体在指导工作中的自我提高需求,从高等教育服务产业的目标出发,提出亲产业型本科生导师制概念,并对其应用模式进行试验探索。试验结果表明:亲产业型本科生导师制对于本科生学习能力、成绩、产业认知、职业信心和学涯规划等方面都具有显著的促进作用,同时有利于青年教师在指导本科生的同时获得锻炼和成长,是一种师生双方都能获益的人才培养制度。     

本科生导师制的调查与评估——以广东外语外贸大学为例

以广东外语外贸大学开展的本科生导师制专项评估为例,通过总结专家组的评估意见和分析学生问卷调查的数据,发现经过多年的实践,本科生导师制在促进学生的思想成长和学业指导等方面起到了积极的作用,学生普遍认可导师的工作态度和指导成效,但同时存在导师职责不清、指导不力、沟通渠道不畅、指导计划不明、指导频率过低、指导效果欠佳等方面的问题。为此,提出进一步明晰导师工作职责、加大导师制的宣传和培训力度、采取多样化的本科生导师配备方式、合理安排导师指导学生的数量、改善导师工作环境和条件、建立以正面激励为主的奖惩和监督机制等改进策略。     

Peer versus staff tutoring in problem-based learning

Effects of student versus staff tutoring on student learning in a problem-based, health sciences curriculum were studied. Academic achievement of 334 tutorial groups guided by staff tutors was compared with achievement of 400 groups guided by student tutors. In addition, students rated their tutor's performance on four behaviors considered critical to facilitating student learning. Overall, students guided by a staff tutor achieved somewhat better. In terms of practical significance, the difference was, however, fairly small. Staff tutors were rated as more knowledgeable and their contributions as more relevant. In addition, they asked stimulating questions to a larger extent. However, an interaction effect was found between the ratings and the year of study: Peer tutors displayed the supportive behaviors more extensively in the first year, whereas staff tutors' ratings were higher as the curriculum advanced. These results were interpreted in terms of the cognitive congruence framework.Parts of this article have been presented to the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Atlanta, GA, April, 1993.     

Effectiveness of peer tutors vs. resource teachers

The purpose of this study was to determine whether mildly handicapped students working on a one-to-one basis with tutors would show a greater academic gain than students working in a small group with the resource teacher. By using a pretest-posttest control design it was found that after a three-month period, students who had tutors did show a more significant gain in reading (especially in the area of reading recognition). Teachers advised that no more than two tutors from one classroom be assigned to the tutor program, and teachers further felt that they could not supervise more than two tutorial pairs.     

The role of questioning in writing tutorials: a critical approach to student-centered learning in peer tutorials in higher education

ABSTRACT

Peer tutoring in higher education aims to enhance student learning, and confidence. In writing centres, peer writing tutors use critical questioning to make the tutorial sessions student-focused and productive. The nature of questions influences the outcomes of the tutorials, yet research has not devoted sufficient time to unpacking what form this questioning takes, and the potential value for students and tutors. This paper explores the kinds of questions asked, the challenges posed to students and tutors, and implications for the learning process. Tutors’ experiences during tutorials and their reflections in written reports are used to unpack and explore questioning in tutorials. The paper highlights questioning as relevant in writing centre spaces due to its central role in shaping student learning about writing. The findings have relevance for peer tutoring in higher education generally, and indicate the importance of peer tutors learning to use questions to engage effectively with students.     

Becoming a tutor: student scaffolding in a game-based classroom

Student interaction in school contexts is a topic that has been researched from many different perspectives. However, the role of students as tutors scaffolding other peers is not normally addressed, since studies are usually focused on the teacher. Moreover, considering the many technologies that can support students’ work nowadays, studies describing specific practices are still needed in order to understand the many possibilities and constraints that can emerge from the use of these tools in the field of education. This exploratory case study aims to extend research on scaffolding between students, presenting data from an ethnographic study where a commercial video game was introduced as part of the curricular activities. Analytically, the scaffolding metaphor is the departing point to describe in detail how the scaffolding process took place, focusing on its purposes and on the role of students as tutors. Our findings reveal how students offered mostly procedural scaffoldings, performing tutor functions such as highlighting relevant features, reducing levels of freedom or controlling the frustration. Results highlight that students can perform scaffolds, and this should be considered as part of the classroom design, making this process visible. Moreover, specific features of the video game enhanced these interactions, which should also be considered when designing game learning environments in the future.     

Peer Tutoring in Crystallography

In the Materials Department of Imperial College we have introduced a peer tutoring scheme for the first-year subject of crystallography. It is a subject which students find difficult since it involves new concepts, in particular the use of three-dimensional lattices and structures. Formally, the subject is taught through lectures, class work and general tutorial sessions. We have trained peer tutors over 2 days, to understand the need to draw out students so that they work through and think out for themselves some of the more confusing aspects of the subject. Within a very short period of time, the tutors had developed so that, rather than seeing their role as a surrogate teacher, they understood their role to be that of a facilitator. The fact that the peer tutors could use real scientific concepts in their role plays helped to provide a focus. It also ensured that the tutors realized that they really could use group process and discussion to solve even technical problems. The scheme, with its possible pitfalls and solutions, is discussed in the context of materials science. It is found that peer tutoring, which is often used in more discursive subjects, provides an excellent way to effect a more questioning approach to a very technical subject.     

本科生导师制改进对策探究——以闽江学院为例

传统的研究生导师侧重于指导学生的科研方向,而本科生导师则侧重于解决学生如何学习、如何对专业产生兴趣等问题。各大高校在历史前进的步伐中积极探索并尝试导师制,力图将人才培养模式推向一个新的台阶。然而现实却不尽如人意,普遍出现导师工作内容界定不清晰、师生匹配不对应、部分导师缺乏责任心和学生态度不够积极主动等问题。     

理工科学生实行导师制的思考与探索

随着高等教育的发展和学分制的推行,国内许多高校在本科生教育阶段实行导师制。我校医药化工学院在2002年开始在本科生中实行导师制,取得了初步成效。从导师制的具体内容、实施办法和措施等方面对导师制的实行进行了探索,提出了导师制中要解决的辅导员与导师配合、导师数量与质量、导师的职责与权利等几个问题。     

高校辅导员制与本科生导师制的冲突与平衡

为了保证培养质量,各高校纷纷实施本科生导师制。本科生导师制和原有的辅导员制产生冲突,主要表现为育人内容的冲突导致多头管理,意识层面原因导致相互推诿,本导配备不合理导致辅导员工作量加大,通过提倡部分辅导员本导化,促进本导专业化和增强本导和辅导员的合作意识等措施可以有效地解决这些冲突,从而达到平衡,促进学生更好地成长。     

高职院校实施导师制的思考

本文从国外导师制产生的背景出发,分析了导师制的特点,提出了高职院校实施导师制的必要性和可行性,并对导师制的实施步骤和导师的工作职责进行认真的分析和思考,同时对导师和学生的工作提出了具体的要求。     

高职院校实施导师制的困境及发展策略

在对高职导师制内涵及在高职院校探索实施导师制育人模式意义分析的基础上,重点剖析了高职院校实行导师制中高职现状的困境、低师生比的困境、导师资源稀缺的困境、配套制度缺乏的困境、导师缺乏动力的困境、学生缺乏主动性的困境,进而总结归纳了推行并完善高职导师制的六项具体策略。     

Learning Natural Selection in 4th Grade with Multi-Agent-Based Computational Models

In this paper, we investigate how elementary school students develop multi-level explanations of population dynamics in a simple predator–prey ecosystem, through scaffolded interactions with a multi-agent-based computational model (MABM). The term “agent” in an MABM indicates individual computational objects or actors (e.g., cars), and these agents obey simple rules assigned or manipulated by the user (e.g., speeding up, slowing down, etc.). It is the interactions between these agents, based on the rules assigned by the user, that give rise to emergent, aggregate-level behavior (e.g., formation and movement of the traffic jam). Natural selection is such an emergent phenomenon, which has been shown to be challenging for novices (K16 students) to understand. Whereas prior research on learning evolutionary phenomena with MABMs has typically focused on high school students and beyond, we investigate how elementary students (4th graders) develop multi-level explanations of some introductory aspects of natural selection—species differentiation and population change—through scaffolded interactions with an MABM that simulates predator–prey dynamics in a simple birds-butterflies ecosystem. We conducted a semi-clinical interview based study with ten participants, in which we focused on the following: a) identifying the nature of learners’ initial interpretations of salient events or elements of the represented phenomena, b) identifying the roles these interpretations play in the development of their multi-level explanations, and c) how attending to different levels of the relevant phenomena can make explicit different mechanisms to the learners. In addition, our analysis also shows that although there were differences between high- and low-performing students (in terms of being able to explain population-level behaviors) in the pre-test, these differences disappeared in the post-test.     

Changing the marks-based culture of learning through peer-assisted tutorials

We describe and evaluate an approach to student learning that aims to instil a culture of formative assessment based on peer-assisted learning. The idea is for suitably qualified undergraduates to assist in the running of weekly first-year tutorials. They mark submitted work, provide written and verbal feedback and lead problem-solving discussions during tutorials. However, contrary to normal practice, the marks they award do not contribute to the students’ end-of-year total; all tutorial work becomes essentially voluntary. We report results from a pilot implementation of the scheme over a 12 month period in an engineering department at a leading academic institution. The scheme was such that a comparative and triangulated assessment was possible among the students and tutor team. Results show no discernible degradation in student attendance, submission rates and performance in either the weekly exercises or end-of-year examinations. Important benefits to the peer tutors are also found.     

Support for distance learners in a Nigerian distance education programme

This paper reports on a research study that draws on the perceptions of students, tutors, field centre coordinators and central management to evaluate the support services provided to students in the National Teachers’ Institute’s distance teacher training programme. Within a conceptual framework that built upon models of teaching and learning at_A_distance, both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used for data collection and analysis. Although the major forms of support provided were found to be relevant to students, the study highlights the need to improve the current level of student satisfaction by strategies that will improve the supply of course materials and tutorial support, enhance students networking and exploit the use of multimedia.