Tutorial Groups Research Articles

A conceptual framework for a proposed intervention: interdisciplinary academic advising and mentoring through personal tutor groups

A conceptual framework for a proposed intervention: interdisciplinary academic advising and mentoring through personal tutor groups

The barriers and enablers to completing the RPS core advanced pharmacist credentialing programme via the CPPE/RPS pilot programme

Abstract Introduction The RPS and CPPE launched a pilot programme in March 2023 to support 300 pharmacists to evidence their advanced practice via an e-portfolio aligned to the RPS Core Advanced curriculum1 in a 12-week period. Successful pharmacists are credentialed as Advanced Pharmacists. The pilot involved CPPE education supervisors (ESs) support, an online learning platform and small group learning and support. Aim To ascertain barriers and enablers to completing an advanced e-portfolio and to identify how to improve the on-going programme. Methods The invitation to complete the anonymous survey in May 2024 was administered via www.onlinesurveys.ac.uk and developed linking to key performance indicators around education supervision support, to understand why candidates were deferring cohorts and to ascertain additional support accessed by candidates. Ethical approval was not required as study is service evaluation. Candidates who responded included those who successfully submitted their e-portfolio ‘submitted candidates’ n=10, candidates who are resubmitting their portfolio after not passing ‘resubmission candidates’ n=8, pharmacists currently completing their portfolio ‘current candidates’ n=44 and those who started but left without submitting ‘attrition candidates’ n=13. Results All submitted candidates scored ES support as very good/excellent; 60% agreed strongly they would not have submitted their portfolio without this support. Each cohort had two small-group tutorials where candidates accessed peer support and joined WhatsApp groups. Only 38% of resubmission candidates, compared to 80% of portfolio submitted candidates attended both group tutorials. Resubmission candidates were less likely to access additional peer support (38% for resubmission candidates vs 60% for submitted candidates) or to join the cohort WhatsApp group (75% for resubmission candidates vs 90% for submitted candidates). Resubmission candidates rated the remedial SMART action planning support highly. Submitted candidates would have found it easier to complete their portfolio with more comprehensive (60%) and timely responses (70%) from their collaborators. This compares to 55% and 59% of current candidates recognising the same issues. Submitted candidates wanted more allocated time during working hours to support completion of the portfolio (60% rising to 80% for current candidates). There is a notable increase for current candidates wanting a longer period to complete their portfolio (75% compared to 40% of submitted candidates). Half of submitted candidates (50%) reported spending more than 5 hours (average) each week on their portfolio compared to 18% of current candidates. Top reasons for attrition include too busy with work, family responsibilities, personal health challenges and no support from the workplace. Candidates across all groups suggested programme improvement ideas including more evidence examples, making the RPS platform less difficult to navigate and use, and more education supervisor support. Motivating factors for completion include recognition of advanced level working and preparation for the consultant portfolio. Conclusion Enablers include education supervision, CPPE resources/facilitated support events, peer support, WhatsApp groups, recognition and career progression. Key barriers include needing more time and lack of dedicated time at work to complete e-portfolio, lack of timely and comprehensive support from collaborators and finding the RPS e-portfolio platform difficult to navigate. Limitations – low numbers and response rate. Data collection is on-going. Reference 1. Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Core Advanced Pharmacist Curriculum, 2022 https://www.rpharms.com/Portals/0/Credentialing/RPS%20-%20Core%20Advanced%20curriculumFINAL.pdf?ver=8gc3s2aE9t1nZN37CSU7Lw%3d%3d (Accessed 28 May 2024)

Logging out or leaning in? Social media strategies for enhancing well-being.

Social media use is endemic among emerging adults, raising concerns that this trend may harm users. We tested whether reducing the quantity of social media use, relative to improving the way users engage with social media, benefits psychological well-being. Participants were 393 social media users (ages 17-29) in Canada, with elevated psychopathology symptoms, who perceived social media to negatively impact their life somewhat. They were randomized to either (a) assistance to engage with social media in a way to enhance connectedness (tutorial), (b) encouragement to abstain from social media (abstinence), or (c) no instructions to change behavior (control). Participants' social media behaviors were self-reported and tracked using phone screen time apps while well-being was self-reported, over four timepoints (6 weeks in total). Results suggested that the tutorial and abstinence groups, relative to control, reduced their quantity of social media use and the amount of social comparisons they made on social media, with abstinence being the most effective. Tutorial was the only condition to reduce participants' fear of missing out and loneliness, and abstinence was the only condition to reduce internalizing symptoms, relative to control. No condition differences emerged in eating pathology or the tendency to make social comparisons in an upward direction. Changes in social media behaviors mediated the effects of abstinence (but not of tutorial) on well-being outcomes. Participant engagement and perceptions of helpfulness were acceptable, but the abstinence group possibly perceived the content as less helpful. In conclusion, using social media differently and abstaining from social media may each benefit well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Designing values-based Learning Development spaces

Learning Development is emerging as a transformative force in the constantly evolving landscape of Higher Education (HE) requiring LD to adapt to the technological, cultural and pedagogical changes while embracing cultural diversity and weaving values into their pedagogical practices in the physical and virtual spaces that are available to them. Learning spaces play a crucial role in education, impacting student engagement, comfort and overall learning outcomes and therefore, it is crucial for LD to thoughtfully design diverse spaces for “Working in partnership with students and staff to make sense and get the most out of HE” one of ALDinHE’s (2024) Five Values of Learning Development and “promote engagement in learning and equity of opportunity for all to reach their potential” (PSF 2023). The poster illustrates how the campus-based LD office and ClassCollaborate for 1:1 and group tutorials in one UKHEI were intentionally designed to develop agentic, empowered learners who engage in meaningful conversations with the tutor and/or their peers, co-construct knowledge and navigate HE through respectful dialogue to make sense of their academic journey, thrive and achieve their goals. These dynamic, sustainable spaces are underpinned by Vygotsky's Social Constructivism (1978) and Laurillard's Conversational Framework (2002) demonstrating Teaching Presence (TP) and Social Presence (SP) fostering critical thinking essential for learning and Cognitive Presence (CP). LD spaces where TP, SP and CP, the interrelated elements of Garrison, Anderson, and Archer’s (2001) Community of Inquiry (CoI) theoretical framework interact, are inclusive places for creating deep and meaningful (collaborative-constructivist) learning experiences taking into account diverse learning needs including social justice issues. It is noteworthy that spaces influence how learning developers facilitate learning and how students learn on a case by case basis and the CoI can be a blueprint for designing future physical and virtual spaces for LD promotion.

Identifying group metacognition associated with medical students’ teamwork satisfaction in an online small group tutorial context

BackgroundCollaborative learning is an essential pedagogy in medical education, within which small group learning constitutes an integral component. Online small group teaching has been widely applied and blended with in-person sessions in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. This study examined whether group metacognition was associated with teamwork satisfaction in an online small group teaching curriculum for medical students.MethodsWe enrolled medical students of the 2nd and 4th years during the 2021 fall semester after they participated in 3 consecutive sessions of online small group tutorials (SGTs), which have been implemented in our medical school for more than 20 years. The students completed a group metacognitive scale (GMS) and a teamwork satisfaction scale (TSS) after the sessions. We analyzed whether group metacognition in 4 dimensions (knowledge of cognition, planning, evaluating, and monitoring) could be connected with medical students’ teamwork satisfaction using partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).ResultsA total of 263 medical students participated in this study. Both GMS and TSS exhibited good reliability and validity. Three of the 4 dimensions of group metacognition (cognition, planning, and evaluating) positively correlated with teamwork satisfaction (path coefficients 0.311, 0.279, and 0.21; p = 0.002, 0.002, and 0.043, respectively) following the online SGT curriculum, whereas the monitoring dimension did not (path coefficient 0.087; p = 0.357). The model achieved an adjusted R square of 0.683.ConclusionWe discovered that group metacognition correlated positively with better teamwork satisfaction, supporting the importance of group metacognitive competency for online collaborative learning.

Individual Reflection Papers as a Means to Support Individual Assessment in Group Examinations in Problem-Based Learning

Even though using group examinations aligns well with the epistemology of problem-based learning (PBL), the dilemma of using joint learning while simultaneously fulfilling individual assessment requirements in higher education make group examinations difficult to use. In this study, the aim was to explore whether an individual reflection paper (IRP) can act as a means to support individual assessment in group examinations in PBL. 152 IRPs were used to assess whether a particular group of students had acquired theoretical and analytical knowledge that would affect results on a group examination. Overall, completed IRPs clearly showed a concurrence between the students’ acquired and requested theoretical and analytical knowledge on the examination, except on a few occasions. These findings are promising and suggest that IRPs can act as a means to support individual assessment in group examinations in PBL and that it is possible to combine joint learning in tutorial groups with individual group work assessment.

Impact of Teaching Methods on Clinical Reasoning in Forensic Medicine: A Quasi-Experimental Study.

To compare the effectiveness of flipped classroom and video-assisted learning techniques with didactic lectures in promoting clinical reasoning skills in Forensic Medicine. Quasi-experimental study. Place and Duration of the Study: Department of Forensic Medicine, Dow International Medical College and Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan, from May to October 2023. The study included 114 third-year medical students divided into three predefined tutorial groups. Over four weeks, within the Forensic Medicine respiratory module, each group was taught one topic per week using a distinct teaching strategy: Traditional lectures (TL) for the first group, flipped classroom (FC) method for the second group, and video-assisted teaching (VAT) for the third group. Students' learning achievements and clinical reasoning skills were assessed through a pre-test, post-test, and revision post-test. Pre-test scores showed no significant differences among the groups (p = 0.655). However, post-test scores differed significantly (F2:111 = 11.93, p <0.001). Tukiye's test indicated that the mean score for the FC group was significantly different from the TL group (p = 0.003) and the VAT group (p <0.001), but there was no significant difference between the TL and VAT groups (p = 0.422). The revision post-test indicated a significant decrease in mean scores across all groups, regardless of the instructional approach (p <0.001). The FC approach for teaching clinical reasoning in Forensic Medicine shows promising results, effectively improving student performance and learning experience. Flipped classroom, Video-assisted teaching, Clinical reasoning, Forensic Medicine teaching.

Enhancing Nursing Staff Clinical Skills of Pain Assessment: Impact of the Educational Course

Objective: To assess the impact of a newly developed educational course in terms of improvement in post-test scores in clinical skills assessment of patients with patient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) and epidural analgesia using the Likert scale among nursing staff working in a tertiary care teaching hospital. Introduction: Nurses require certain clinical skills to assess patient’s pain adequately. This can be achieved through regular on-the-job training and educational workshops. This will enhance nurses’ clinical practice regarding pain assessment and improve pain treatment and patient satisfaction. Methods: After getting approval from the Institutional Review Committee an education course was developed and implemented. A total of 86 nursing staff attended the course. Teaching methodologies included online lectures, small group tutorials, and hands-on workshops using demonstrations of locally developed videos. Pain assessment skills were assessed at the start of the workshop and the end of the session using PCIA and Epidural Likert scale assessment forms on simulated patients in this experimental, pre-and post- (single-arm) study. Results: Eighty-six participants completed the course, of which 50 (58.1%) were female. In the clinical skill assessment of patients using PCIA, the mean difference in PCIA assessment scores of participants before and after the workshop was 13.88 (90.79%), which was statistically significant (p=&lt;0.001). In the epidural skills assessment, the mean difference in the score of participants before and after the workshop was 15.09 (79.47%), which was statistically significant (p=&lt;0.001). Conclusion: The educational course had a significant impact on increasing the understanding of pain assessment among nursing staff with statistically significant improvement in their clinical skills.

Patients' experiences of a digital group education targeting kinesiophobia after myocardial infarction or atrial fibrillation - a qualitative pilot study

Abstract Background Fear of movement (kinesiophobia) is common among patients after a myocardial infarction or atrial fibrillation. The kinesiophobia is developed due to the patients’ beliefs that physical activity may cause re-injury. This negatively affects their ability to perform physical activity which is stated as the first line treatment in present guidelines. Purpose To explore how patients with myocardial infarction and/or atrial fibrillation experience participation in a digital group education targeting kinesiophobia and physical activity. Methods Seven women (55-81 years) with myocardial infarction and/or atrial fibrillation that had occurred at least 6 months earlier, and kinesiophobia, i.e., score of ≥ 37 on the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia Swedish Version for the Heart, were included. They took part in a digital program that was based on problem-based learning and cognitive behavioural therapy and delivered via a video conferencing platform over 8 weeks and supervised by a nurse or physiotherapist. The program covered topics such as myocardial infarction, atrial fibrillation, kinesiophobia, physical activity, and exposure. A digital platform with two-factor authentication for login was developed to provide educational materials, including tutorial group scenarios, streamed lectures, factual texts, and homework assignments. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with the women via a video conferencing platform after the 8-week program and transcripts were analysed using conventional qualitative content analysis. Preliminary results The women felt empowered after the digital encounters and joyful discussions with the group members. The educational materials and their own search for information, which was discussed in the group made them feel enlightened. The kinesiophobia was relieved or gone according to their experiences. This promoted the women to be physically active based on their own preferences. Initially, experiences of stress due to technical problems were felt. The tutor was attentive and enabling in guiding the women during the meetings on the video conferencing platform. Conclusions A digital group education targeting kinesiophobia after myocardial infarction and/or atrial fibrillation was experienced as feasible, enlightening, and empowering in a small group of women. The kinesiophobia was relieved or gone. This promoted them to perform physical activity as they preferred, and which is important for their recovery. More and larger studies are needed to show if a digital group educational program via a video conferencing platform can reduce kinesiophobia and promote physical activity after myocardial infarction or atrial fibrillation.

All hands on deck during the COVID-19 pandemic. Maintaining face-to-face medical education and clinical placements.

Medical students must have robust educational experiences, graduate and commence timely employment. Here, we describe how the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) delivered clinical placements in medical programmes over the first three waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland, including a student-centred, holistic approach to students' educational, social and health needs with strong student involvement, re-organising the university's primary care team, developing COVID-19 PCR testing on site and re-focusing communications and student services. This resulted in re-arranging the students into learning communities, and students and staff electronically recorded their COVID-19 symptom status daily. In-person observed structured clinical examination and other clinical exams progressed. No lockdown of any campus occurred. Over the two senior years, 693 students completed 15,000 weeks of clinical and experiential learning across 104 sites, similar to previous years, including anatomy practicals, procedural skills training, simulated ward rounds and patient encounters, case-based presentations and small group tutorials. The compliance rate with the daily symptom tracker was 91%. The percentage response rate and the number of students providing feedback from October 2020 to April 2021 was as high as 50%. The overall response rate was 33%. By mid-May, 93-95% of students in the two senior years had had at least one dose of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, with 99% fully vaccinated by the start of the next academic year in autumn 2021. Over the period of testing for SARS-CoV-2, just over 22,000 samples were processed, of which 0.79% were positive; no medical student acquired COVID-19 or was associated with nosocomial transmission. The total investment by the RCSI in Dublin, was €9.3m (€1.2 in capital expenditure and €8.1 in operational expenses). Continuing face-to-face clinical placements during a pandemic was possible through a multi-model approach that prioritised two-way communication, compliance with national public health advice and student screening.

311 The Surgical Modern Apprentice – Preparing Final Year UK Medical Students for Foundation Year 1 Using Targeted Small Group Tutorials During an Apprenticeship-Style Placement

311 The Surgical Modern Apprentice – Preparing Final Year UK Medical Students for Foundation Year 1 Using Targeted Small Group Tutorials During an Apprenticeship-Style Placement

Keefektifan Layanan Bimbingan Kelompok Teknik Problem Solving untuk Meningkatkan Kemandirian Belajar dalam Menentukan Karir

Group guidance services are one way of providing guidance to students who have certain problems in a group. Group tutoring services can be said to be effective if students can understand and follow the guidance optimally so that they can increase learning independence. Problem solving techniques are techniques for handling difficulties faced by each individual to reduce a person's sense of lack of understanding in order to achieve success. This research aims to determine the effectiveness of problem solving technique group guidance services to increase learning independence in determining a career. The type of research used in this research is experimental research with a true experimental research design. The objects in this research are the experimental class and the control class. The sample used in this research was taken randomly as a control group with a total of 7 students and 7 students as a class. Data collection techniques used in this research include interviews and observations. The research data was analyzed using the Independent Sample T-Test and the N-Gain test on the SPSS 23 application. The research showed that the average Pretest was 129.74 and Posttest was 138.5. Based on the results of the research that has been carried out, it can be concluded that the increase in respondents' scores from pretest to posttest, giving treatment can improve the results of respondents' answers, there is an increase in learning independence in determining a career after being given treatment.

Graduates' Views of the Ontario Midwifery Education Program

A survey of all graduates of Ontario's Midwifery Education Program was done in 2003 in order to obtain their views about the adequacy of their preparation for professional practice, the satisfaction with program features and future educational aspirations. The respondents (123 of 181[68%] graduates) were nearly all working as midwives, most were working full time and more than half had been preceptors for students since the time of their own graduation. The most highly rated Program features were biological science courses, final year clinical courses, small group tutorials and skilled preceptors. The aspects of the Program that were most stressful were balancing the high demands of the Program with family responsibilities, relocating for clinical placements and having difficulties with preceptors. Overall, graduates felt well prepared for professional practice. All graduates reported undertaking continuing education and many were interested in master's level courses or programs. The crucial role of preceptors in students' educational experiences was reinforced by the survey results. preceptor development continue to be a high priority.

THE INFLUENCE OF GROUP GUIDANCE SERVICES WITH ASSERTIVITY CONTENT ON BULLYING BEHAVIOR IN CLASS X STUDENTS AT SMK NEGERI 3 PANYABUNGAN

&lt;p&gt;This research aims to determine the effect of group tutoring services with assertive content on bullying behavior in class X students at SMK Negeri 3 Panyabungan. The type of research used in this research is experimental research by providing activities to the guidance of the experimental group. The researcher used 10 students as samples in this research. This research uses IBM SPSS Statistics 26. Based on the results of the t test, it can be seen that the significance level is 0.05 with a probability of 1-α and degrees of freedom dk = n-k= 10-1=9, so from the t table we get t = 2.262. Thus tcount&amp;gt;ttable (10.713 &amp;gt; 2.262) or Sig .000 &amp;lt; 0.05. Where the sig (2-tailed) value is smaller than 0.05 so it can be concluded that Ha is accepted and Ho is rejected. Ha was accepted because of the differences between the two tests.&lt;/p&gt;

ASSERTIVE TRAINING THROUGH GROUP GUIDANCE TO INCREASE STUDENT RESPONSE IN LEARNING FOR CLASS VIII STUDENTS OF SMP NEGERI 2 MEDANG DERAS

&lt;p&gt;Responding activities are part of the learning process which is included in student learning activities in class. Many students are just silent and inactive during the learning process in class. Regarding the problem of students' low ability to respond in learning, it has a negative impact on lack of understanding and mastery of learning material and has an impact on student learning outcomes which tend to be low. Group guidance in this research is a process of providing assistance to increase all the potential possessed by a number of individuals and to obtain new information that will be discussed. The aim of this research is to determine the application of group tutoring services to increase student responses in learning for class VIII students at SMP Negeri 2 Medang Sangat for the 2022/2023 academic year. The objects of this research were 7 students in class VIII of SMP Negeri 2 Medangdera who had a tendency to be inactive and did not want to respond to learning. Service implementation is carried out in 2 cycles of group guidance services. The research design in this study is planning, action, observation and reflection. To obtain data and information in this research, observations and interviews were carried out. The data analysis techniques used are data collection, data reduction, data presentation, and drawing conclusions. Based on the results of the data analysis that has been described. It can be concluded that the group guidance service in cycle 1 for students in class VIII of SMP Negeri 2 Medang Sangat went well, there were several students who showed changes in responding during learning activities, but had not yet reached the good category, in cycle 2 showed changes in attitudes that were even better in responding during learning activities to teachers and friends. Based on the results of observations and interviews conducted in cycles 1 and 2, the researcher stated that group guidance services could increase students' responses to learning.&lt;/p&gt;

Does peer tutoring have negative effects? An investigation and intervention on tutors’ implicit theories and beliefs of intelligence

Peer-tutoring (PT) is a widely studied learning strategy. No studies, to our knowledge, have examined the effects of PT on tutors’ metacognitive abilities, particularly in relation to implicit theories of intelligence. Study 1 aimed to determine the effects of PT on tutors’ theory and beliefs of intelligence and self-confidence in their own intelligence. Study 2 aimed to explore the efficacy of a metacognitive training administered to tutors on some metacognitive dimensions for both tutors and tutees. In Study 1, we compared tutors and no-tutors before and after PT; in Study 2 we compared tutors, who completed a brief metacognitive training, with a group of standard tutors, as well as their relative tutees. Participants were assigned to experimental conditions and assessed using various standardised questionnaires. Study 1 revealed a surprising negative effect: after PT, tutors tended to abandon the idea of intelligence as a modifiable construct and adopt a more dysfunctional theory of entity intelligence (Cohen’s d = .66). Study 2 also showed that the PT experience negatively affected tutors’ theory of intelligence (Cohen’s d = .94), but this held only for untrained tutors. We also found a positive indirect effect of the training on tutees’ attitudes towards maths.

Tutorial and Lecture Activities on Deep Online Learning in Dentistry

Online learning has become a new normal in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this learning mode has brought many challenges that can impact the learning experience. The study aims to evaluate student feedback on the online learning model and identify any challenges that require attention to enhance the quality of Dentistry education at Muhammadiyah University of Yogyakarta. This research is a descriptive observational study that utilized a cross-sectional approach. A modified questionnaire comprising 27 questions was distributed to collect the data. It was found that most of the 277 surveyed students agreed that implementing online learning in tutorial activities had a positive impact. Notably, 47.3% of the students found the online tutorial activities to be an excellent way to learn the material, while an equal number of students, 47.3% believed that they developed their tolerance during the online tutorial group sessions. Furthermore, the student responses to the online lecture activities were also positive, with 40.8% of the students finding comfort in the recorded classes, while 37.2% better understood the material through the online lectures. As for student satisfaction, the majority of the surveyed students expressed their satisfaction with the online learning experience regarding the material 52%, learning strategy 40,4%, availability of e-resources 49,1%, and assistance provided 42,6%. Students responded positively to online learning in tutorials and lectures and reported overall satisfaction with online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

DEVELOPMENT OF BOARD GAME MEDIA “GALAKSI BIMASAKTI PROJECT” TO IMPROVE LEARNING OUTCOMES

This study aimed to determine the effect of developing the media board game "Galaksi Bimasakti Project," which is the development of the Snakes and Ladders game. The Galaksi Bimasakti Project has a colorful space design that makes it attractive to students. This game is equipped with pawns, dice, and 3 types of cards: question cards, answer confirmation cards, and punishment cards. The novelty of the Snakes and Ladders concept game is that question cards and answer confirmations have the same number, making it easier for students to find out whether the answers put forward by other players are right or wrong. Other participants will listen and remember the appropriate answers, besides that the attractive design and additional points make students more interested in answering correctly and contributing to their group. In this game the teacher is only a supervisor of the course of the game, in other words the teacher is only a facilitator. The game is carried out by peer tutors in groups so that in preparation for the game. The method used in data analysis is descriptive quantitative using a group design pretest-post-test. The results showed that there was an increase in the class average at the pretest and post-test. Obtained statistical test results of 0.000 stated that there was an influence of the media on learning outcomes after the implementation of the Galaksi Bimasaktit board game.

Multidimensional clustering analysis of mathematical knowledge difficulty based on Gspan

In addition to providing learners with a large amount of teaching resources, online teaching platforms can also provide learning resources and channels such as video courseware, Q&amp;A tutoring groups, and forums. However, currently, there are still shortcomings in depth and dimensionality in mining student learning behavior data on the platform. In view of this situation, based on the learning interaction behavior, this study established the difficulty similarity model of knowledge points, and used spectral clustering to classify their difficulty. In addition, the study intended to use the maximum frequent subgraph under the Gspan framework to characterize learners’ implicit learning patterns. The outcomes expressed that the algorithm put forward in the study achieved the highest accuracy index of 98.8%, which was 1.4%, 4.0%, and 8.6% higher than Apriori-based graph mining algorithms, K-means, and frequent subgraph discovery algorithms. In terms of F1 index, the convergence value of the algorithm proposed in the study was 95.5%, which was about 2.5% higher than the last three algorithms. In addition, learners of all three cognitive levels had the highest maximum number of frequent subgraphs with sizes above 100 when the minSup value was 60%. And when the number of clusters was 3, the clustering accuracy of the three learners was the highest. In similarity calculation, the calculation method used in the study was at the minimum in terms of root mean square error and absolute error average index, which were 0.048% and 0.01% respectively. This indicated that the model proposed by the research had better classification effect on the difficulty of knowledge points for learners of different cognitive levels, and had certain application potential.

Weekly group tutorials enhancing college higher education students’ experience and persistence

ABSTRACT It is recognised personal tutors play a role in supporting university students to complete their studies. However, approaches to tutoring differ widely across higher education, resulting in a paucity of reliable impact evidence. The college higher education provider in this research has weekly group tutorials for undergraduates. This mixed method research explored the impact of group tutorials on students’ experience and persistence with their studies. Phase one of the research consisted of thirteen longitudinal focus groups during the campus closures of 2020 with ten students discussing their learning experience. During the second phase 64 students, 10% of the student population, completed an online survey to discover if the focus group participants’ experiences were held more widely. Survey respondents were asked about their personal tutoring and to rate their withdrawal contemplation in the previous six months. Statistical analysis revealed students who had a weekly tutorial were significantly less likely to contemplate withdrawal. This article reports on these findings and draws on the focus group data to offer potential explanations related to students’ tutoring expectations, experience and relationships. The findings provide impetus for higher education providers to invest in weekly group tutorials embedded in undergraduate students’ timetables to improve experience and persistence.