Helping them to help themselves? An evaluation of student-led tutorials in a higher education setting

Abstract

This article delivers an evaluation of a pedagogical intervention implemented within a first-year undergraduate university module. The intervention, termed the student-led tutorial (SLT), is based on the concept of the tutorless tutorial and presents a platform for student learning which was designed to increase active learning prior to their participation in more traditional and tutor-led modes of university teaching. To evaluate the efficacy of this method, a mixed-methods approach to the data collection was undertaken. The sample for the study was drawn from students enrolled on a Sport Development degree programme at a university in the North West of England. The first component of this methodological approach entailed the repeat completion of a questionnaire by 62 first-year undergraduate students on two separate occasions. The questionnaire was administered in two phases: a baseline wave at the beginning of a core module and a secondary wave 16 weeks later. In addition to this, a focus group consisting of five students was conducted within two weeks of the second round of questionnaires to gain a more in-depth understanding of students’ experiences and perceptions of the SLT model. The findings demonstrate that SLTs hold the potential to facilitate active learning and aid comprehension and understanding. Students particularly value the social aspect of the SLTs, which enables extended peer-to-peer interaction. The data suggests that students develop a sense of responsibility for and ownership of their learning, yet for the SLT mechanism to be effective, all members of the group must buy-in to the concept. Where commitment and contributions to the group process are uneven and inequitable, resentment and discord within an SLT may be fomented.

Keywords:

• Active learning
• student-led tutorial
• tutorless tutorial

Notes

1. The Sport Development degree programme is concerned with the contexts within which sport participation occurs and the resources and structures that exist to facilitate it. As a discipline, therefore, Sport Development aligns more to the social sciences and management studies than, for instance, the science of human performance in sport. Tutorless approaches have been adopted widely across the Computer Sciences and in medical schools, and similar applications have also been implemented in undergraduate Psychology programmes (Fonteijn 2015). Despite limited mention of the use of tutorless learning platforms within the social sciences, Exley and Dennick (2004) suggest that they offer multidisciplinary utility.

2. Created via an on-line application, a wordle is a graphical representation of the most frequently cited words used within text (Feinberg 2010).

3. When one group distances themselves from another by defining and often stigmatising the other in their own interests, in order to secure and enhance their ‘higher’ position (Roberts 2012).