1. Do you agree with Price et al. that online tuition is a pastoral activity and not a purely academic activity?
I think that there is an element of the pastoral in on-line tuition, even if it is as simple as providing a contact for the student so that they feel less ‘alone’ as they study. Providing a sympathetic ‘virtual ear’ and an extension for an assignment when a child or parent has been ill, or suggesting ways of catching up with the course material are as important via e-mail as they are by telephone. I have noticed recently that in fact students call me less frequently and are much more likely to e-mail if they have a problem.
2. Do you agree that the absence of what the authors call ‘paralinguistic cues’ in an on-line environment can limit the effectiveness of on-line tuition?
I would agree with this. W223 which I tutor is on-line and participation in tutorials is low across the board (it’s not just my technological failings). A common complaint from tutors is that there may be 2 ‘lurkers’ for every participant.
In a f2f tutorial if a less confident student turns up I can usually get them to participate by using small group exercises or asking them simple questions which they can answer which in turn leads to further participation. It doesn’t always work but there is a fair chance that it will. If a ‘lurker’ is asked to post in an on-line tutorial they always log off.
I would agree that students really dislike asynchronous tutorial sessions on line. They log in, see no activity at that precise moment, assume that nothing is happening and log out without posting. That leads to a vicious circle. I changed to synchronous sessions for this reason which improved things – although I do think that you need about 40 students in a ‘tutorial group’ to achieve the critical mass of participants needed for genuine discussion.
(I’m not suggesting that one tutor has that number of students to support, mark etc – just that tutorials on line need a greater number of potential participants than f2f because participation is by fewer students and they post/comment less frequently. We (W223 tutors) have discussed sharing tutorial responsibilities across tutor groups to create this ‘critical mass’ – which would reduce the ‘personal contact’ valued by students, but might make the sessions more effective).
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Hi Vikki,
In response to your observation:
"I have noticed recently that in fact students call me less frequently and are much more likely to e-mail if they have a problem."
Would you say that this is part of a general trend nowadays to avoid the 'call centre syndrome'? I would never dream of calling a course tutor -and would only email in an absolute emergency. This is partly to do with my own desire to be independent, but also because I think I am conditioned never to bother phoning anywhere if I can do what I need to do online. If the web cuts out the need for human interaction, is pastoral support necessary? I would say that students are far more likely to seek support from their peers, for fear of exposing their 'perceived academic failings'. I suppose this is no different to avoiding going to see lecturers at university for fear of seeming incapable.
Any thoughts?
Pastoral support
Hi Nathan
Thanks for your comments - now I know I'm not just shouting at the pigeons(see first post).
I think that the pastoral need is often still there but students find it hard to articulate and may be put off doing so by the lack of f2f contact. It is far easier to stop behind for a moment after a tutorial than it is to compose an e-mail or make a phone call. I am very aware that the students who most need my suport are often those who also lack confidence, become disheartened and don't request it.
The younger students seem to find the transition to self-directed learning quite hard and stuggle to take responsibility for their learning. They are least likely to make contact although if I call them they welcome it (say after non-submission of an assignment).
The issue I guess is how to encourage the habit of calling or e-mailing if there is a problem. I tend to send a lot of e-mails and call students early on in the course to build a relationship so they feel that they can contact me if they need to.
Vikki
Permission?
Hi Vikki,
I'm still working on my TMA and was just browsing through the H800 blogs. You have made some interesting points in regard to one of the papers I'm using. I wanted to ask you if I could quote you since we haven't discussed blog permission in the forum.
Thanks,
Eugene