Tutor Reflections Research Articles

‘Sometimes I wonder if our best really is our best’: Tutor reflections on the challenges of shifting to online tutoring during the pandemic

Tutors play an important role in higher education, as they may facilitate learning, promote engagement, and assist with student success. Students also often feel more comfortable seeking assistance from them than from lecturers. Yet, tutors tend to be sidelined in the literature on teaching and learning, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper is framed by an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach and seeks to understand how three tutors in an online academic literacy module experienced the shift to online learning. Data, in the form of personal reflections, were collected online and analysed thematically. It was found that the tutors experienced the shift negatively and they raised practical concerns, as well as interpersonal ones. Implications for tutor training are discussed.

If Your Horse Is Dead, for God’s Sake, Dismount: Shifting the Direction of Our Efforts to Support School-Identified Struggling Readers

“If your horse is dead, dismount,” is Dakota tribal wisdom that reminds us to do the most obvious thing. In this paper, we describe how middle school students in summer school finally challenged us to ‘dismount’ from our traditional remedial reading instruction. In our new approach, middle schoolers chose topics for study and shared what they were learning. Ongoing interviews, along with tutor reflections and researcher observations, showed the criticality of students’ identities in their topic studies. Pursuing questions that were connected to their identities resulted in self-regulatory behaviors, including goal-setting and persistence. Additionally, students labeled as struggling readers demonstrated a broad range of literate behaviors, including reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, and composing. This paper adds to the research that challenges a model of remedial instruction where students are positioned as deficient and instead reframes literacy instruction as a tool for helping students act agentically.

Technology Integration Through Evidence-Based Multimodal Reflective Professional Training

For technology integration to achieve intended instructional objectives, professional development is of paramount importance for in-service instructors. Technology enhanced reflection providing multimodality and evidence-based data has the potential of helping instructors achieve technology integration in their teaching. Thus, this study addressed the lack of professional development programs for in-service English language instructors aiming at technology integration through evidence-based multimodal reflective practices. By following the developmental research methodology, an instrumental case study was conducted using mixed-methods design including both qualitative and quantitative data. The professional training was carried out with eight English language instructors at tertiary level who aimed to integrate technology into their English classes by being involved in evidence-based multimodal reflective practice. In this study, there were five different data sources (instructors’ opinions, recorded lessons, video annotations, face-to-face interaction notes and pages in the learning management system) and seven data collection tools (interviews, tutor reflection template, self-reflection template, peer-reflection template, technology integration questionnaire, online discussion forums and evaluation criteria form). As a result, this professional training particularly designed and implemented for the in-service English language instructors at tertiary level did make a change in their both technology integration and evidence-based multimodal reflective practice. Apart from the change in the instructors’ technology integration, this study had an impact on their understanding, practice and quality of reflective practice involving evidence-based multimodal reflection tools as it helped the instructors to increase depth in their evidence-based multimodal reflective practice.

ÎNVĂŢAREA COLABORATIVĂ ÎN CADRUL UNEI CERCETĂRI ACŢIUNE DEZVOLTATĂ PENTRU A RĂSPUNDE PROVOCĂRILOR IMPUSE DE ŞCOALA ONLINE

The measures put in place to stop the spread of the Covid-19 have had a major impact on the organization of educational processes. School teachers have been faced with overnight digitalization of their activities without always receiving adequate support with this transition. The present paper reports on a participatory action research project in the form of a tutoring program that sought to understand and respond to these challenges. The project took the form of an open learning initiative addressed to teachers in April – June 2020, followed by a data collection and analysis phase. 37 teachers in four Romanian counties benefited from personalized forms of support offered by 20 student- tutors enrolled in the Educational Sciences Department at the West University in Timişoara. All project activities were carried out at a distance, in the vast majority of cases, online. In analyzing the data produced by the project (tutor reflection log entries, qualitative interviews and focus groups with teachers and tutor students) we seek to answer the following research question: How did a collaborative learning process emerge as part of a participatory action research project carried out during the onset of online teaching and learning practices?. The collaborative learning responded to teachers’ immediate and individual needs regarding the development of digital competences, as well as related to pedagogical and emotional support. Through the tutoring program, the expected roles of the educational actors were reversed: since the undergraduate students were not primarily beneficiaries of the educational processes, but took on an active part as facilitators of the teachers’ learning processes. Thus, a competence transfer from the university to the pre- university environment took place, at a faster rate than it would usually happen.

Kak vospitat pionerov samostoyatelnymi i initsiativnymi: pedagogicheskie taktiki “Arteka” i “Orlenka” (1957–1991)

The article discusses attempts to actualize the popular idea of the Soviet child as an active and autonomous subject; specifically, the way this project was realized by counselors and content developers of Artek and Orlyonok, exemplary camps of the USSR, in the 1960–1980s. The study is based on archival documents and retrospective interviews with employees of these children’s centers. The article investigates the reasons that led the ideologists of the Komsomol Central Committee to transform the health facility (where the actions of children were regulated by a strict regime) into a school for so-called pioneers and Komsomol activists (i.e. creative and initiative children) in 1957. Moreover, the reflections of tutors on the methods of implementing this task in the conditions of an “overorganized” institutional order are analyzed. Attention is drawn to the fact that the technology developed in the late Soviet era for raising “self-sufficiency and initiative” in children (triggered by the request of the Komsomol Central Committee) began, over time, to be interpreted by former Artek and Orlyonok employees as a grassroots innovative child-centred approach, defined as radically different from the Soviet pedagogical tradition. To explain the conflict between the appointment of state order and its perception, the article employs the theory of “strategies” and “tactics” developed by Michel de Certeau.

Exploring undergraduate students’ productive struggles in a quantitative literacy course: Implications for the development of tutoring

The present study explores undergraduate students’ productive struggles in a Quantitative Literacy (QL) course, when doing exercises on the statistical concept of confidence intervals (CIs) within the context of odds ratios (ORs) , embedded in everyday authentic contexts. The research methodology employed in this study is lesson study, in which tutors and researchers work together to plan the research tutorial, observe and teach it, and reflect on the instruction in general within the research tutorial. Data for this study comprises video- and audio- recorded transcriptions of the observation and teaching, and reflections of tutors on research tutorials. In addition, samples of students’ work and their achievements in assessments were analysed. Results from the study showed that the students’ struggles were initiated when their prior knowledge was not sufficient for them to understand the concept of CIs in relation to ORs. The results also highlight some of the ways in which tutors can notice and address students’ productive struggles during tutorials. Future researchers should focus on identifying which instructional approaches can promote and support prolific productive struggles for students during tutoring.

Humanising Writing centre Practice: Peer tutor Reflections at a University of Technology

Traditionally, universities of technology (UoTs) have focussed on education to prepare students for the workplace. The Durban University of Technology (DUT) is currently undergoing a pedagogical transformation with the inclusion of a general education curriculum that aims to prepare students for an increasingly complex globalised work environment. This critical paradigm shift in curriculum design foregrounds new ways of teaching, thinking and learning based broadly on humanistic principles. Writing centres in universities are positioned to sustain a teaching and learning environment in which students grow as critical citizens. This article reports on research that explored – through the thematic analysis of tutor reflections – how a humanising pedagogy underpins a responsive writing centre practice within the changing South African context. Thematic analysis of the tutors’ reflections revealed their self-awareness of the significance of communities of practice in their work. These communities of practice could be seen to cultivate a humanising pedagogy within writing centre work, which might contribute to the aesthetic, socio-political and cultural environments in which students live and work.

Tracking the Real‐Time Evolution of a Writing Event: Second Language Writers at Different Proficiency Levels

AbstractThe current study focused on emergent processes during real‐time second language (L2) writing activity in an English as a foreign language university context, examining differences in these processes across individual capacities. Participants included 22 adult Japanese learners of L2 English and their tutor. The data were collected using digital screen capture and eye‐tracking technologies while the learners wrote a 35‐minute argumentative essay. Supplementary stimulated retrospective recalls were also conducted to document the learners’ and the tutor's reflections on the writing event. Results revealed clear differences in L2 writing activity at different periods in time as well as differences in cognitive activity that appear to be mediated by L2 proficiency. Importantly, the obtained patterns differed depending on whether duration or frequency data were considered. These findings thus demonstrate the need to broaden the study of the temporal dimension of L2 writing and to consider more nuanced mixed‐methods approaches in future work.

Dialogic stance in higher education seminars

ABSTRACTA multi-dimensional conceptualisation of dialogue was used to examine how university tutors valued dialogic interaction in higher education seminars. Values were evidenced in tutors’ stimulated recall interviews based on reflections of their seminar practice. As would be expected, the reflective accounts revealed different orientations towards dialogue. However, accounts also revealed how tutors managed dialogic tensions between values, contextual constraints and disciplinary aims. This paper highlights the affordances of data-led tutor reflection on classroom practice as an effective way to raise awareness of talk in seminars and ultimately engage higher education teachers in talking about talk.

Analysis of Online Learning Behaviour from a Tutor Perspective: Reflections on Interactive Teaching and Learning in the Big Data Era1

In the field of education in China, a large number of learning management systems have been deployed, in which vast amounts of data on learners and learning processes have been stored. How can one make use of these data? How can one transform the data into information and knowledge that inform decision-making in teaching and optimize learning? These questions have become a matter of concern for educators and learners. Learning analytics helps to unlock the value of the learning process data, so that the data can become an important basis for prudent decisions and process optimization. 'Learning analytics' was listed in the 2013 NMC Horizon Report as one of the emerging technologies that will have a great impact on learning, teaching and innovative research in higher education in two to three years. The report notes that learning analytics aims to decipher trends and patterns in the teaching and learning process from educational big data. In this paper, an online course on the Moodle platform is used for the research. The study examines reflection on online teaching and learning based on massive records of the learning process from the perspective of a tutor employing learning analytics. It is a brand new form of reflection on teaching and learning. The analysis of interactive course forums can help tutors to focus on key teaching and learning activities, and achieve more accurate analysis than with conventional face-to-face teaching activities. The research indicates that learning analytics is effective in supporting tutor reflection on interactive online teaching and learning.

Play-based, constructionist learning of Pure Data: A case study

Abstract This article examines a teaching approach founded on play-based learning, and underpinned by constructionist learning theory. This study describes a pilot programme introducing Pure Data (Pd) to undergraduate Music Production students as part of an Electronic Music module. The project was allowed to evolve and develop during the module in response to student needs and feedback. The teaching materials and pedagogy are presented along with lesson observations, tutor reflections and student feedback. The resources are evaluated using the Sig-Glue framework, and also examined for other desirable features of play-based resources. It is concluded that the resources incorporate many, but not all features which are conducive to play-based learning, and that students exhibit some behaviours typical of play-based learning. It is suggested that the approach may particularly suit non-programmers. Preliminary insights are offered along with recommendations for improvements and further applications.

A Double Take: The practical and ethical dilemmas of teaching the visual method of photo elicitation

This paper advocates the teaching of photo elicitation in higher education as avaluable data collection technique and draws on our experience of teaching this visual method across two consecutive postgraduate cohorts. Building on previous work(Watt & Wakefield, 2014) and based on a former concern rega ‘risky‘ the topic area of a photo elicitation project for the second year group. The paper compares and contrasts the effects of this change through student and tutor reflections. In Cohort 1, (year one) although the reflections of some of the students gave us cause for concern, the work produced was exceptionally creative and of an excellent standard. The work produced by the following year, Cohort 2, was of much lower quality, in the main lacked creativity which was supported by studentreflection that similarly lacked depth or insight. In comparing and contrasting the two cohorts we discuss the effect of the topic change in potentially affecting student engagement, creativity and quality of work. In taking what pedagogically, we perceived as a less risky topic area, we discuss the potential this had on stifling creativity and student engagement concluding that ours should serve as a cautionary tale that there is a need to be careful in what we wish for; a less risky topic equated to less risky work and affected student engagement.

Turn openings in academic talk: where goals and roles intersect

This study uses Corpus Linguistic (CL) techniques to explore multiple turn openings in conjunction with comparative measures of turn-initial priming (the proportion of occurrences of a form that are turn-initial). Using a benchmark corpus of casual conversation as a point of comparison, six frequent items which have a particularly strong affinity with the turn-opening position – mhm, mm, yes, laughter, oh, no – are identified in a corpus of 250,000 words of spoken academic discourse as key indices of what makes this talk ‘academic’ in respect of role/goal-driven behaviour in interactionally asymmetrical encounters. The paper concludes by arguing that there should be a greater focus on tutor reflection on roles, goals and discourse as part of tutors’ professional development.

Everybody wins? Using the workplace as an arena for learning

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the opportunities provided by the workplace as an arena for learning and academic credit for first year undergraduates at Manchester Metropolitan University Business School. The research focuses on the evaluation of a work‐based learning (WBL) module designed for full‐time business students who are working part time to fund their progress through university.Design/methodology/approachPrimary reflective data were gathered in a structured evaluation from a cohort of 85 participating students at the end of the WBL module. A self‐selected sample of 14 of these students provided additional data through questionnaires and interviews. Material was also captured from tutor reflections and some employers who volunteered comments. Recent literature on WBL was reviewed.FindingsSome recent literature suggests that part‐time work has a detrimental effect on student study and attainment. However the findings of this research revealed both anticipated and unexpected benefits, not just for the students but other stakeholders. Students liked the flexible delivery and the opportunity to learn in the workplace rather than the classroom. Students also reported short and longer term career benefits as a result of doing WBL and a boost in job motivation. In addition, there were development opportunities for tutors, employers and the employing business.Research limitations/implicationsThe research was limited to one cohort and was also undertaken by the tutors and not independent researchers. The sample was self selected and was not representative. Employer feedback was limited and possibly unreliable. However, there is clear evidence of positive enthusiasm for this mode of learning and the rich seam of learning opportunities for all parties in this mode of undergraduate delivery deserves more research.Practical implicationsGiven the economic necessity for full‐time students to engage in part‐time employment, this form of WBL that carries academic credit can greatly enhance the curriculum of business students. Linked to the employability agenda WBL could also be included in the curriculum of students taking non‐vocational degrees and this University is currently exploring this development. Working students are offered an alternative form of learning delivery which supports their complex lives by being flexible and perhaps meets the learning preferences of pragmatists and activists more than the traditional classroom.Social implicationsThere is evidence that students who engage in WBL are more motivated and committed employees. They have also contributed to improvements in their workplaces in areas around waste, “green issues” and health and safety. All students, but particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, can use their part‐time employment as an asset rather than a hindrance to learning, thus supporting widening participation in higher education. Employers are encouraged to use the intellectual abilities of their student employees to mutual advantage.Originality/valueThe design of the WBL unit and the research is original to the authors. All secondary sources are cited.

Student feedback via screen capture digital video: stimulating student’s modified action

A new technique of providing assessment feedback to students is demonstrated via a case study of MBA and undergraduate students. The feedback method uses inexpensive and widely available screen capture digital video technology; it gives the student an impression of being present during the marking process. In addition it enables the tutor to provide a richer range of feedback. For example the tutor can annotate and correct as with traditional methods; demonstrate step-by-step answer formulation; algorithms; show the solution, alternative answers, etc. Primary data was collected from target groups of students and from tutor reflection on using the new feedback medium. Results from a mixed qualitative and quantitative approach in this descriptive-exploratory study suggest that (a) this medium has advantages over traditional methods of communicating feedback, (b) that students enjoy this new form of feedback, and (c) that this encourages them to engage with and learn from the tutor assessment of answers, rather than concentrating only on obtaining marks. It seems that this generation of students find the medium a close fit with other forms of communication they are used to in their technology enriched lives. Feedback via screen capture digital video takes engagement of the two parties, tutor and student, to a higher level of effective communication and helps stimulate students to continually improve and modify action. We have found that the formative assessment feedback mechanism in this case study, even though it is not a dialogue and is asynchronous, does encourage greater student engagement with feedback than prior methods of annotation on student submitted work.

Socratic case-method teaching in sports coach education: reflections of students and course tutors

Despite reported increases in higher education (HE) sports coach education provision there are very few studies which have investigated student self-learning curricula as a mechanism to prepare sports coaches with the complexities of learning how to coach. Using an action research methodology, this article examines how case-method teaching (CMT) was introduced into an undergraduate sports coach education module at a HE institution in the northwest of England. Drawing on data gathered via student focus group interviews, course tutor reflections and in-class observations, our initial findings indicate that CMT offers valuable opportunities for students to engage in real-life coaching scenarios and thus provides a more contextualised view of the complexities of the coaching process. Although we are conscious not to eulogise over the merits of a particular pedagogy after only adopting it for one year, and in one core sports coaching module, our preliminary experiences suggest there is much potential for CMT within formal sports coaching programmes. Finally, despite our positive experiences of adopting CMT within sports coach education, we urge more research and discussion into the merits of CMT, to verify our initial claims.

Whose learning is it anyway? Problem-based learning in language teacher development

This article describes the piloting of a problem-based learning (PBL) approach in a teacher education context. Originating in medical education in the 1980s, PBL is now applied in the teaching of a broad range of disciplines. While increasingly used in teacher education, however, PBL has not been applied, to the author's knowledge, in the area reported on in this paper – language learning materials development. Problem-based learning is rooted in constructivist philosophy, which holds that knowledge is actively constructed within the mind of the learner and influenced by his/her interactions with peers and with the environment. Furthermore, constructivism holds that learning is spurred by ‘the problematic’ (i.e. cognitive conflict). In PBL, cognitive conflict is ‘concretised’, in that a real problem is used to trigger the learning process. This article reports on the piloting of PBL on a materials development module in a Masters in English Language Teaching programme in Ireland. It presents the students’ and tutor's reflections on the approach. These are largely positive as regards the development of professional skills especially teamwork, leadership and achieving compromise. It concludes with recommendations for further research on the use of PBL in language teacher education programmes.

Experiences of learning through collaborative evaluation from a masters programme in professional education

This paper presents findings from a collaborative evaluation project within a masters programme in professional education. The project aimed to increase knowledge of research methodologies and methods through authentic learning where participants worked in partnership with the tutor to evaluate the module which they were studying. The project processes, areas of the course evaluated and the data collection methods are outlined. The findings focus on key themes from evaluating the effectiveness of using a collaborative evaluation approach, including: enhanced student engagement; creativity of the collaborative evaluation approach; equality between the tutor and students; and enhanced research skills. Discussion focuses on the outcomes and effectiveness of the project and tutor reflections on adopting a collaborative approach. This paper highlights lessons from the project relevant to those interested in staff–student partnership approaches and those facilitating postgraduate learning and teaching programmes and educational research courses. Cet article présente les résultats d’un projet collaboratif d’évaluation ayant eu lieu dans le cadre d’un programme de master en formation professionnelle. Le projet visait à accroître les connaissances des méthodes et méthodologies de recherche par l’entremise d’un apprentissage authentique dans le cadre duquel les participantes œuvraient en partenariat avec le tuteur à l’évaluation du module auquel elles prenaient part. Les processus du projet, les parties du cours ayant été évaluées et les méthodes de collecte des données sont présentées. Les résultats se concentrent sur les thèmes principaux provenant de l’évaluation de l’efficacité d’une approche collaborative d’évaluation. Ceux‐ci comprennent : l’engagement accru des étudiantes ; la créativité de l’approche collaborative d’évaluation ; l’égalité entre le tuteur et les étudiantes ; et les compétences de recherche développées. La discussion porte sur : les résultats et l’efficacité du projet de même que des réflexions du tuteur au sujet de l’adoption d’une approche collaborative. L’article met en lumière les leçons tirées de ce projet pouvant être pertinentes pour ceux qui seraient intéressés par les approches de partenariat enseignant‐étudiant et pour ceux qui ont la charge de programmes de 2e ou 3e cycle en pédagogie universitaire ou de cours de recherche en éducation.

Collaborative management education: an online community in Europe?

This paper explains the relevance of recent research projects to the work of the 'European Enhancement of Early Years Management Skills' project. The research explores and compares students' perspectives and experiences of face-to-face and online collaborative learning using a Problem Based Learning approach in undergraduate Management Education for Early Years Education and Care Managers. The first research collected data on perceptions of learning outcomes achieved and reflective individual evaluations at key assessment points via questionnaire, on students' views of the nature and delivery of the course through focus group discussions, on grades attained and on tutor reflections. While no differences were found in grades achieved or in self-reported attainment of course outcomes, collaborative learning was perceived more favourably by online learners than face-to-face learners and these online learners demonstrated a more rapid development of academic literacy. The follow-up research study confirmed the findings that the online students valued collaborative group work significantly higher than the face-to-face students.

Perspectives and practice: speech and language therapy student views of an interprofessional learning experience

AbstractThis article describes a work‐place interprofessional learning experience for Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) students in an acute hospital, using an innovative model of Speech and Language Therapy students learning with students and qualified professionals from other disciplines. The experience was evaluated via a feedback form, use of the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) and group discussion. The study details feedback on the sessions, with participants reporting greatest benefit in terms of teamwork and collaboration. Student and tutor reflections on the learning experience are outlined and related to broader issues surrounding interprofessional learning in work‐place settings.