Tutorial Classes Research Articles

Outdoor exposure in children from Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.

To evaluate myopia risk factors, mainly outdoor exposure and reading habits, in a country with low prevalence of myopia (Buenos Aires Province, Argentina). Consecutive children interviewed in a clinical private practice setting were autorefracted under cycloplegia with cyclopentolate 1%. Their parents consented to fill a questionnaire about schooling, tutorial classes, outdoor exposure, reading habits, and cellphone use, both on weekdays and weekends. The Spanish questionnaire was based on past English questionnaires of myopia clinical trials. The spherical equivalent of the right eye was used for the refractive distribution. The average daily hours spent for each activity were calculated. This study involved 115 children aged 10.48 ± 3.65 years (range 5-18 years), with 56.5% being girls. Children had 8 h of schooling per day in 62.6% of cases, and only 14.8 % had tutorial classes after school. There were 38.3% myopes (<-0.50 D), 24.3% hyperopes (>+2.00 D) and the rest were emmetropes. The mean time that these children spent outdoors per day was 3.94 ± 1.45 h (27.60 ± 10.16 h per week). The total mean time spent reading and writing per day was 1.50 ± 0.98 h, and that spent using cellphones and tablets was 2.43 ± 1.66 h. In an environment with low myopia prevalence, children spend almoast 4 h per day outdoors, much more than the usual recommendation of 2 h a day for myopia prevention.

PROMOTING GUIDED-DISCOVERY LEARNING THROUGH WHATSAPP TO STUDENTS IN OPEN UNIVERSITY

Long-distance learning uses an online platform to transfer the knowledge. It has become a breakthrough in this modern era. The online learning brings many benefits to students, but it is also challenging to be implemented by the tutors in distance education universities. This paper tends to investigate the use of the guided-discovery learning (GDL) method in the psycholinguistics online tutorial class. The participants are the students of the English Education program in Universitas Terbuka, who take Psycholinguistics subject with online tutorial service. The methodology of this research is qualitative by using a case study. The researchers use the WhatsApp application as the platform in conducting the course. The students are required to follow the lesson step by step through WhatsApp. Based on the finding, this research reveals that there are two perspectives of the use of GDL toward psycholinguistics online tutorial class. The first perspective is in students that has two major advantages. The second can be seen from the learning perspective which also has two benefits of the use of GDL.

Strategies for Academic Improvement in the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana

Reputable universities worldwide are centres of academic excellence. In the same vein, the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) per its vision statement aspires to become an internationally reputable institution of teacher education and research. Additionally, one of the core values of UEW is academic excellence. This paper focuses on ways through which students can attain academic excellence in the University. The paper achieves its aim by discussing some measures of academic excellence from the point of view of previous literature and the experiences of the author. The paper suggests several interventions for the Management of UEW to adopt and implement which is believed would go a long way to improve the academic achievement of its students, now and in the future. Among the key interventions to be considered for implementation is mandatory/voluntary enhanced tutorials in Communicative Skills, data analysis and deeper insight into research methods as well as the organisation of two week preparatory classes for failed students in a paper. Regarding the funding of the mandatory/voluntary tutorial classes that are to be held on weekends, the faculties and departments could bear the costs on their own or from a proposed corporate social responsibility fund to be set up by the University if it deems that appropriate and feasible.

Modeling Physical Interaction and Understanding Peer Group Learning Dynamics: Graph Analytics Approach Perspective

Physical interaction in peer learning has been proven to improve students’ learning processes, which is pertinent in facilitating a fulfilling learning experience in learning theory. However, observation and interviews are often used to investigate peer group learning dynamics from a qualitative perspective. Hence, more data-driven analysis needs to be performed to investigate the physical interaction in peer learning. This paper complements existing works by proposing a framework for exploring students’ physical interaction in peer learning based on the graph analytics modeling approach focusing on both centrality and community detection, as well as visualization of the graph model for more than 50 students taking part in group discussions. The experiment was conducted during a mathematics tutorial class. The physical interactions among students were captured through an online Google form and represented in a graph model. Once the model and graph visualization were developed, findings from centrality analysis and community detection were conducted to identify peer leaders who can facilitate and teach their peers. Based on the results, it was found that five groups were formed during the physical interaction throughout the peer learning process, with at least one student showing the potential to become a peer leader in each group. This paper also highlights the potential of the graph analytics approach to explore peer learning group dynamics and interaction patterns among students to maximize their teaching and learning experience.

Summative program evaluation of a Student-Led Seminar Series in the subject of physiology: an outcome-based study.

PurposeActive involvement of students in their learning process is a recommended andragogical approach to increase student engagement. Many new teaching-learning strategies based on active learning have been implemented, but their efficacies to achieve the proposed benefits of attaining knowledge, skills, and attitude have not been evaluated, especially in the field of medical education. We substituted passive learning in the conventional tutorial classes with an active-learning strategy of Student-Led Seminar Series (SLSS) in the subject of physiology over 4 months and performed program evaluation for the SLSS.MethodsSixty-four first-year medical undergraduate students volunteered to participate, who were divided into groups to present seminars on the allocated topics under the guidance of a mentor. At the end of 4 months, program evaluation was done using Kirkpatrick’s model of evaluation—levels 1 and 2, which correspond to reaction and learning, respectively.ResultsStatistically significant improvement was observed in students’ satisfaction, and the self-perceived increase was observed in knowledge, skills, and attitude.ConclusionProgram evaluation of SLSS not only established the significant impact of SLSS as an andragogical approach but also helped us in the improvisation of the program for the next cycle.

Use of microteaching as a tool to improve teaching skills among assistant professors in Medical College

Background: Microteaching is a well-recognized tool for improvement of teaching skills. It scales down the complexities of real teaching, as immediate feedback can be sought after each practice session. The aim of the study was to evaluate the application of microteaching principles for improving teaching skills of Assistant Professors in medical college.Methods: Assistant Professors were asked to prepare a topic for tutorial lesson and engage one batches of II MBBS students (session I). The students assessed the performance of the Assistant Professors and gave immediate feedback to the faculty. The feedback focused on appreciating the good points and giving tips for improvement of group facilitation skills and teaching skills. The Assistant Professors then engaged another tutorial class on different topics (session II).Results: The results of the evaluation after two microteaching sessions showed that there was significant improvement in the teaching skills of the assistant professors. Lesson on the whole was effective.Conclusions: The teaching skills of assistant professors improved after the two sessions of microteaching. The faculty had more confidence in teaching after the study. Microteaching can be used as a tool to improve teaching skills among assistant professors in medical college.

Refleksije studenata masterskih studija Srbistike o kvalitetu nastave na predmetu metodika nastave srpskog jezika kao stranog

The topic of this article is the evaluation of the quality of teaching in the course The Methodology of Teaching Serbian as a Foreign Language, which was introduced in the school year 2021/2022 in the postgraduate program of Serbian language studies at the Faculty of Philosophy in the University of Nis. The goal of the research is to create a clearer image about the quality of teaching of the course itself, as well as to extract specific conclusions about the possible improvements to the course. In the article I used the method of theoretical analysis as well the method of content analysis, in other words the descriptive method with the techniques of surveying and scaling. Although only nine students attended the postgraduate program, and only five elected this course, I received valuable results from two students in particular, surveyed before the start and after the end of the course. The students noted several reasons for their overall satisfaction with the course they attended, namely the appropriateness of the activities and the scope of the course material, as well as the number of ESP points entailed in the course, in other words the compatibility between the actual activities the students performed in the course and those activities entailed in the curriculum. Additionally, other positives included: a systematic, complete and harmonious organization of the lecture and tutorial classes, the use of class materials prepared by the teacher before every class -bibliographies, specific lessons and video-materials, the punctual realization and evaluation of pre-examination obligations, as well as the practice of working with cameras during online classes (established during the appearance and spread of the Corona virus). However, apart from positive remarks the students offered several negative comments, mainly those pertaining to the insufficient time allocated for: 1) the creation of student teaching materials (textbook lessons), 2) work with foreign students, and 3) the exhaustion of attending tutorial classes which were held immediately after the lecture classes.

Current Final Year Medical Students' Response to the Varying Attitudes towards Small Group Tutorial Classes Used in Medical Schools in India.

Current Final Year Medical Students' Response to the Varying Attitudes towards Small Group Tutorial Classes Used in Medical Schools in India.

Bahir Dar Poly Technic College Graduates Tracer Study (The Case of 2018/2019)

One of the Major challenges of technical vocational and education and training institutions is unmet demand of the market and unemployment of country’s socio-economic development activities. In the last decades, The TVET industries developed vocational and skills training programmers as integral parts of broader strategies to promote development and employment. Even though there is no document/study/ which tell how the former graduates /before reinstated of TVET/ exposed to the real market/work and what faces to them, the informal communication expresses their worthiness on the job has a problem. The primary objective of a tracer study is to measure the relevance of technical and vocational training programmes and the number of trainees who have been employed or unemployed in their fields of training, as well as to assess their skill gaps for further training. the data of graduated trainees, employed and un employed trainees are not well compile as a source at department level as well as at college level as well as shortage of logistics cooperativeness of some departments, The study was Utilized a descriptive survey method for generating qualitative and quantitative data. Secondary data also gathered. Overall results of the tracer study shows that respondents were asked to indicate whether they are currently employed or unemployed and looking for employment. The general employment status of respondents is shows that 56 percent of the respondents were employed while 44 percent of the respondents were unemployed. The assessment result revealed that the respondents are unexpectedly dependent on Family relationship (Nepotism) for looking for their jobs rather than formal mechanisms. In order to give solution for unemployment of youths especially for females we should adjust additional tutorial class as well as financial support with relation to all stake holders. The collage also organized Guidance and counseling service for all trainees in a regular programme and awareness creation for the society as a whole.

Pre-Service Teachers Experience in Project-Based Learning Approach: A Case Study of Two Campuses of the University of A (UNA)

Project based learning is becoming more important and relevant as we integrate the technology in the 21st century educational system and the need for sustainable development equipping pre-service teachers to be self-sustained in all the areas of education concepts. This paper explores the experience of project-based learning in pre-service teacher’s educational program. Project based learning enhances awareness of learning and teaching support materials among pre-service teachers. The solicitation of project-based learning in solving educational problems encountered during school-based studies shows the importance of the project-based approach by the pre-service teacher’s reflections. A quantitative research approach was used in this paper. Eighty-seven pre-service teacher of University of “A” took part in the study. The study was guided by constructivism theory. Questionnaires were used in this study for the pre-service teachers and analyzed. Findings confirmed that project-based learning has helped to nurture a positive skills attitude towards the learning and teaching support materials production in a constructive manner. The skills embrace 21st century skill like critical thinking, collaboration skills, communication skills, creativity and innovation skills, directing skills, international or global connections, local connections and information technology (IT) skills. As part of recommendation, it is suggested that at least one to two weeks PBL tutorial classes be provided for pre-service teachers before engaging them on 12 week projects duration.

Exposición al aire libre en niños de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina

ObjectivesTo evaluate myopia risk factors, mainly outdoor exposure and reading habits, in a country with low prevalence of myopia (Buenos Aires Province, Argentina). MethodsConsecutive children interviewed in a clinical private practice setting were autorefracted under cycloplegia with cyclopentolate 1%. Their parents consented to fill a questionnaire about schooling, tutorial classes, outdoor exposure, reading habits, and cellphone use, both on weekdays and weekends. The Spanish questionnaire was based on past English questionnaires of myopia clinical trials. The spherical equivalent of the right eye was used for the refractive distribution. The average daily hours spent for each activity were calculated. ResultsThis study involved 115 children aged 10.48±3.65 years (range 5 to 18 years), with 56.5% being girls. Children had 8h of schooling per day in 62.6% of cases, and only 14.8% had tutorial classes after school. There were 38.3% myopes (<−0.50 D), 24.3% hyperopes (>+2.00 D) and the rest were emmetropes. The mean time that these children spent outdoors per day was 3.94±1.45 hs. (27.60±10.16 hs. per week). The total mean time spent reading and writing per day was 1.50±0.98h, and that spent using cellphones and tablets was 2.43±1.66h. ConclusionIn an environment with low myopia prevalence, children spend almoast 4hours per day outdoors, much more than the usual recommendation of 2hours a day for myopia prevention.

Improving Female Students’ Academic Achievements: Special Evidence from 2nd Year Management Department Students of Bonga University, Ethiopia

Action Research is a formative study of progress commonly practiced by teachers in schools. It enables a teacher to craft most appropriate strategy within its own teaching environment. Action research aims to contribute both to the practical concerns of people in an immediate problematic situation and to further the goals of social science simultaneously. This paper is aims to improve the academic performance of female students with special evidence from 2nd year management department of Bonga University. further, factors affecting the academic achievement of female students were examined. Finally, the role of teachers in improving female student academic performance were investigated. In doing so, the researcher adopted interview, focused group discussion and observations as data collection instruments. In addition, the researcher, prepared schedule composed of Proposed plan, action and evaluation for achieving the goals of this project. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean and Paired sample T- test. The finding of this Action research project revealed that; Lack of proper Tutorial class has significant effects on female students’ achievement with average mean of 3.55, followed by lack of pear learning with mean score of 3.40. further, the overall Average Score of female students Before intervention was 3.98. but, After the researcher and course instructor made intervention which described in methodology parts the overall Average Score of female students has increased to 6.65. The researcher recommends the female students to give due consideration for their education and to read cooperatively with their colleagues. Further, Teachers should encourage female students through providing enough and timely tutorials. Finally, Bonga university shall establish female students club that actively serves all female students of the university through preparing training and conferences on which they exchange experiences with each other if possible with other universities female students.

Self-Directed Learning (SDL) in Higher Education: Practices and Issues

SDL is considered to be a fundamental educational goal. However, higher education institutes are challenged when promoting SDL. Therefore, the present study aims to, explore existing practices of self-direct learning implemented in the Faculty and to identify problems of undergraduates when they are engaging with self-direct learning practices in the Faculty. The study reflects that most of the students are familiar with the term self-directed learning. They had experienced with self-direct learning activities of assignments, class presentations conducted by students, group work or group discussions, practical/laboratory classes, field visits/field work, quizzes, tutorial classes, independent research project, e-learning, independent learning, food processing plant, in-plant training/industrial training, viva and farmer training program. Students express different learning preferences. However, students struggle with some issues when they engage with SDL. The issues are mainly related to course curriculum, teaching process, students’ factors and lecturers’ issues

Improving Female Students’ Academic Achievements: Special Evidence From 2nd Year Management Department Students of Bonga University, Ethiopia

Action Research is a formative study of progress commonly practiced by teachers in schools. It enables a teacher to craft most appropriate strategy within its own teaching environment. Action research aims to contribute both to the practical concerns of people in an immediate problematic situation and to further the goals of social science simultaneously. This paper is aims to improve the academic performance of female students with special evidence from 2 nd year management department of Bonga University. further, factors affecting the academic achievement of female students were examined. Finally, the role of teachers in improving female student academic performance were investigated. In doing so, the researcher adopted interview, focused group discussion and observations as data collection instruments. In addition, the researcher, prepared schedule composed of Proposed plan, action and evaluation for achieving the goals of this project. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean and Paired sample T- test. The finding of this Action research project revealed that; Lack of proper Tutorial class has significant effects on female students’ achievement with average mean of 3.55, followed by lack of pear learning with mean score of 3.40 . further, the overall Average Score of female students Before intervention was 3.98. but, After the researcher and course instructor made intervention which described in methodology parts the overall Average Score of female students has increased to 6.65. The researcher recommends the female students to give due consideration for their education and to read cooperatively with their colleagues. Further, Teachers should encourage female students through providing enough and timely tutorials. Finally, Bonga university shall establish female students club that actively serves all female students of the university through preparing training and conferences on which they exchange experiences with each other if possible with other universities female students. Keywords: Action Research; Academic achievement, Female students; Higher Diploma Program DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-25-01 Publication date: September 30 th 2021

The effects of tutorial class for female students on their academic achievement in Wachemo University, Ethiopia

The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of tutorial class on female students’ academic achievement in Wachemo University. The study employed the experimental research design. Data were collected from 10% (60) of the female students as a sample from the total of 598 female students by using simple random sampling techniques and 11 teachers out of 114 teachers were selected by using purposive sampling techniques. The results revealed that tutorial support has both academic and psychological effects on female students. Academically, tutorial class is effective in improving a student’s academic performance. Psychologically, tutorial support is effective in improving their self-confidence, self-concept, decision-making ability, memory and feeling of happiness. Finally, the study suggested that tutorials are indispensable factors in the achievements of educational goals and objectives. Therefore, students, teachers and other concerned bodies should give special attention to the implementation of effective tutorial class support for female students. Keywords: Academic achievement, effects, tutorial class, female students.

Improving female students’ participation and their academic performance: Ethiopian Technical University

This study was conducted with the objective of improving female students’ participation and their academic performance of students in Ethiopian Technical University. The researcher selected 22 female students and 6 male teachers through purposive sampling techniques. The data gathering tools were questionnaire and interview; secondary data were collected through document analysis. The quantitative data were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and qualitative data were analysed by narration and summarisation. The result indicated that university climate, department choice of students, lack of tutorial classes provided by the university and poor training support for female students to improve academic performance impacted female students’ academic performance. In addition, sociocultural factors, female students’ background area, educational status of parents and perception towards their academic performance affected the academic achievement of female students. Furthermore, socio-economic factors, economic status of parents, female students living outside university and being non-cafe affected female student’s academic performance at the higher education level. Keywords: Academic performance, factors, female students, participation, Ethiopian Technical University.

Effectiveness of the blended design of a first-year biology course

ABSTRACT Growing class sizes and the rapid advancement of information technology have prompted institutions to implement blended learning in their academic offering. There are few reports in the literature on a holistic assessment of the effectiveness of the instructional design of blended learning courses for large classes. We defined effectiveness from a pedagogical and outcomes perspective and interrogated the design of a large first-year biology course with the aim of optimising the blend to benefit all students, but specifically the at-risk and ‘murky middle’ (MM) students. This was achieved by investigating patterns of student engagement with learning opportunities over time and its relationship with performance. The results show that participation in face-to-face tutorial classes was the stronger predictor of student success followed by online formative assessments. Students did not engage meaningfully with optional activities, such as virtual classrooms and pre-reading for lectures, and their engagement with compulsory learning opportunities declined during the semester, with the MM slipping towards those at risk of failing. We conclude that students need carefully chosen compulsory activities that are complementary in design and purpose, while optional activities are best suited for enrichment purposes.

Using an Implementation Trial of an ePortfolio System to Promote Student Learning through Self-Reflection: Leveraging the Success

This paper reports on a pilot study that was conducted during a technical trial of a new ePortfolio system at a large Australian university. Students from a large (n = 325) first-year educational technology course were given the opportunity to use the new ePortfolio system weekly as part of their reflective practice at the end of the hands-on tutorial classes and also through a blogging assignment that required six posts throughout the semester. Although the students reflecting on their work and ePortfolios themselves are not new concepts, this paper reports how assessment practices can be improved using ePortfolios and how students can improve their reflective practice through simple and regular use throughout the 12-week semester that the study was conducted. From the class, 208 students responded to the survey with the results being positive. The students were able to use the system easily and did not report many problems with crashing or freezing. The lessons learnt form an important part of this study for future iterations with these reported in the paper.

A large‐scale community intervention to change gender perceptions in rural Ethiopia

AbstractThis paper reports on our participatory multi‐faceted community‐wide intervention to change gender perceptions and encourage support for girls' education to improve their school attendance and performance. The intervention involved community and education stakeholders in implementing a context‐specific multi‐faceted intervention to improve opportunities for girls in 123 primary schools in the rural Wolaita Zone, Ethiopia. We implemented a repeated‐measures quasi‐experimental design in a sample of 30 schools (15 project and 15 control schools) to evaluate the intervention's effectiveness. Over 3 years we assessed gender perceptions of a cohort of 750 Grade 6 girls, their parents and teachers in project and control schools. In addition, participative group discussions were conducted with various stakeholders. In project schools, we recorded significant changes (e.g., provision of sanitary pads, counselling, tutorial classes and community involvement). Teachers and parents reported improved gender attitudes and support for girls' education; while girls' self‐esteem scores and educational aspirations increased. The findings showed a change in community perceptions of the value of girls' education and some evidence of increased equality in gender perceptions. We concluded that these systemic changes marked the start of a long‐term change process. This intervention showed the value of a participatory approach in a systemic community intervention. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

A Need or a Force? Shadow Education in Hong Kong From Secondary School Parent’s Perspective

It is becoming more common for students in Hong Kong to take extra lessons after school. Several surveys indicate that more than 70% of students need to take private tutoring classes after school in their final year of secondary school (Bray, 2013). This indicates that “shadow education” has become a trend in Hong Kong. There are different types of private tutoring classes in Hong Kong, such as one-on-one tutoring or tutorial classes for groups of five to eight students. These classes aim to help students to perform better in public examination, but it has become more competitive in recent years. Even if students have satisfactory results at school, they may be expected to take extra classes, since doing so has become a societal trend. However, do students really need to take so many classes after school? Does the quantity of private tutoring lessons taken correlate with good academic results? This study investigates why parents in Hong Kong are sending their children to learning centers after school. Do these children really need extra classes, or are they being affected by the surrounding area?