Abstract
The rapid spread of online classes in higher education during and after the COVID-19 pandemic has created a growing need for research that explores the issue of student disengagement in online courses. In this regard, the present study suggests a Peer-Tutoring Online Discussion (POD) class model to increase student engagement in online courses among undergraduate students with diverse sociocultural backgrounds and college majors. The study also examines the impact of the POD approach by exploring the experiences of undergraduate students who took online liberal arts courses that employed the POD model during the 2020 spring semester. Qualitative analysis of discussion data from students indicates that the POD class model includes characteristics that can be especially significant in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as opportunities for relationship-building, self-directed learning based on establishing a rapport, and discussion management that considers time limits.
Highlights
As the demand increases for strengthening students’ basic learning abilities and competence at the higher-education level, peer-tutoring programs that effectively support learning activities have attracted a great deal of attention (Arco-Tirado, Fernández-Martín, & Hervás-Torres, 2020; De Backer, Van Keer, & Valcke, 2015)
While previous research on peer-tutoring programs has predominantly focused on delivering knowledge and improving achievement (Alegre, Moliner, Maroto, & Lorenzo-Valentin, 2020; Roscoe & Chi, 2007; Thurston et al, 2020; Xu, Hartman, Uribe, & Mencke, 2001), researchers have neglected to investigate the interaction between a peer tutor and peer tutees during class discussion. By considering these situations comprehensively, the present study aimed to explore a class model utilizing a peer-tutoring program, based on empirical evidence collected from undergraduate students who successfully completed online discussion courses during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to suggest a Peer-Tutoring Online Discussion (POD) class model to increase online course engagement among undergraduate students with diverse sociocultural backgrounds and college majors
Given the aforementioned obstacles in the process of online coursework, the College of Liberal Studies (CLS) at Delta University, a private university located in the southern part of Korea, has provided online liberal arts courses based on a peer-tutoring approach for student engagement since the 2020 spring semester
Summary
As the demand increases for strengthening students’ basic learning abilities and competence at the higher-education level, peer-tutoring programs that effectively support learning activities have attracted a great deal of attention (Arco-Tirado, Fernández-Martín, & Hervás-Torres, 2020; De Backer, Van Keer, & Valcke, 2015). The first type is a ClassWide Peer Tutoring (CWPT) program, which allows a teacher to organize students into tutor−tutee pairs, with competition between pairs (Greenwood, 1997). The other type of program offers peer tutoring sessions to train selected students to be tutors in the class (Arco-Tirado, Fernández-Martín, & Fernández-Balboa, 2011). The peer tutoring program addressed in this study is closer to the former, and will be detailed further in the Method section below
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