I don’t need peer support: effective tutoring in blended learning environments for part-time, adult learners

Abstract

Given the rise of social media engagement within society, there are challenges for tutors in blended and online contexts to provide opportunities for social constructivist learning experiences within their institutional learning environments. This article proposes a module approach to teaching, learning and assessment for learners undertaking part-time, vocationally related degrees. A mixed methods approach was adopted to conduct a detailed exploration of eight tutors' practice with data gathered from three principal sources. Interviews with tutors explored their approaches to delivery and considered factors that impacted on quality; students' perceptions of their learning experiences were assessed using an attitude survey; an analysis of the content and communications in the virtual learning environment provided insight into tutors' online practice.Analysis of modules suggested limited online peer-to-peer interaction with tutors noting the difficulties of promoting engagement. The article argues for a constructivist approach in this context with a need for tutors to promote a simple module structure, focused around assessment, that creates space for learning. This structure appeared appropriate for these learners, enabling them to manage the influence of daily events, together with pressures and time constraints of work. Further, available tutor support together with assessment as the focus of learner activities outside face-to-face contexts, were associated with module success. The findings could aid tutors in designing and delivering courses for similar groups of learners.

A Constructivist Intervention Program for the Improvement of Mathematical Performance Based on Empiric Developmental Results (PEIM)

“…Likewise, cooperative work, in general, seems to have positive effects on learning. Cooperative learning helps students adopt different roles, from tutoring to being tutorized, and vice versa ( Youde, 2020 ). Numerous studies ( Johnson et al, 1983 ; Slavin, 1983a , b ; Kagan, 1988 ; Johnson and Johnson, 1989 ; Sharan, 1990 ; Nelson-Le Gall, 1995 ) affirm that students who work cooperatively during their learning process, obtain global benefits at three levels: academic, social and personal.…”

B-Learning in Basic Vocational Training Students for the Development of the Module of Applied Sciences I

“…An example of this is the b-learning teaching method, considered as a didactic process that mixes the best of the expository method with the best of the e-learning method, allowing, among other aspects, to adapt to the rhythms and learning styles of the students, as well as to provoke a change in the roles of the agents involved in the pedagogical act [14][15][16][17][18][19][20].…”

“…When defining it, the authors agree in not considering this teaching method only as a mixture of classroom learning and online learning [16], but rather as a methodological basis that uses the best of the classroom learning teaching process, and the best of e-learning [17]. In order for the b-learning teaching process to be developed with a minimum of guarantees, the characteristics of those involved in the pedagogical act must be analysed [18], identifying the students' learning styles [19], and the changing the role of the teachers and instructors [20], with the student being the organiser of his or her own learning [21], while the teacher must become a guide [22], developing an open Mathematics 2020, 8, 1102 2 of 13 methodology [23], attending to the students individually [24], and promoting a more autonomous educational act in the student himself [25], with the intention of facilitating the expansion of the students' knowledge [26]. The manner and proportion of combining classroom and virtual teaching will depend on the needs and characteristics of the environment where the teaching and learning process takes place [27].…”

Peer Tutoring Effects on Students’ Mathematics Anxiety: A Middle School Experience

“…When the students do not switch roles during the peer tutoring program, that is, in each pair the tutor is always the tutor and the tutee is always the tutee, the learning method is called fixed peer tutoring. When the students do exchange roles, that is, when the students go from being the tutor to being the tutee and vice versa, depending on the peer tutoring session, then the tutoring method is referred to as reciprocal peer tutoring (Youde, 2020). Moreover, peer tutoring methods may be classified according to the age of the participants: same-age peer tutoring involves a pair of students who are of the same age, while cross-age tutoring involves students of different ages (Zendler and Greiner, 2020).…”