College students’ engagement in e-tutoring children in remote areas

Abstract

To bridge the digital divide and learning gap among children in remote areas, an online tutoring service has been initiated for after-school learning in remote schools. College students were recruited for the role of teaching and supporting remote learners through online tutoring. This research aimed to study college students’ involvement in e-tutoring children in remote areas. Two major issues were explored as follows: (1) how was the online tutoring teamwork organised and (2) what were the factors that influence students’ involvement in the online tutoring tasks? Findings revealed college students’ engagement in the e-tutoring task include the following: motive to serve, competence building, responsibility and self-discipline for serving, development of positive values from serving.

Keywords:

• service learning
• social engagement
• e-tutoring
• online tutoring
• synchronous interaction

Acknowledgement

This paper is based on work that was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, whose financial support is gratefully acknowledged.