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Online Tutoring: Towards a Signature Pedagogy

Michael Hallissy

H2 Learning

NCI Lunch Time Seminar, April 26th 2013

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INTRODUCTION

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Presentation

• Teaching Online – a perspective

• The Online Tutorial

• MATL Case-study– Data Collection & Analysis

• Implication for Professional Practice• Discussion

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Introduction

• Founding partner in H2 Learning

– Assist institutions embed digital technologies to enhance teaching, learning

and assessment practices

• Former director the MATL in Hibernia College

– Lead tutor in the Certificate in i-Learning

• Completing EdD in Institute of Education, London

• "Building teacher professionalism in teaching-learning interactions

between online tutors and learners during synchronous tutorials – a case

study from Hibernia College” 

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Elements of Teaching Online

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Some Perspective

• OU noted that “active discussion” has long been one of the aspects that is difficult to provide in distance education, with tutorials and summer schools being the usual means of achieving this” (Mason, 2001; 73)

• Since 1988 significant body of research on discussion and online courses in HE

– Majority focused on asynchronous technologies – forums particularly.

• But today new options– Expansion of broadband– New technologies to support live interaction

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Technology and what it can do

Today we have:• Synchronous Computer-mediated conferencing technologies (SCMC)

– AT&T Connect, Adobe Connect, Wimba, Elluminate, Lync etc.

“Computer-mediated conferencing (CMC) is unique among distance education media because of its ability to support high levels of responsive, intelligent interaction between and among faculty and students while simultaneously providing high levels of freedom of time and place to engage in this interactivity.”

(Rourke et al., 1999; 50)

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Synchronous Learning Environments

“Synchronous learning is live, real-time (and usually scheduled), facilitated instruction and learning-oriented interaction.”

(Hyder et al., 2007: p. 1)

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Teaching perspectives it can support

(Watkins et al., 2002)

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THE ONLINE TUTORIAL

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What do we mean by an online tutorial?

• The Oxford/Cambridge University notion of a tutorial (Ashwin, 2005)

• The Higher Education notion of a 1 on 1 tutorial (THES Editorial, 1996)

• The large group face-to-face tutor group (Barrows, 1992)

• An online pre-recorded tutorial – (e.g. a software walkthrough using Captivate) (Marks et al., 2010)

• Multiple types of ‘online synchronous tutorials’ – (Chi Ng, 2007; Kear et al., 2012; Price et al., 2007; Duensing et al., 2006)

• The challenge– Price (2007) found there was an issue in relation to student and tutor

expectations of what is a tutorial?

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The Invisible Student Challenge

• Role of the tutor is to support students to become independent learners and to engage

“In these settings [traditional, didactic educational settings], the

student is expected to know the right answer. He learned a long time

ago that it is best to stay silent if he does not know the answer, or is

unsure of it, for he knows that an admission of not knowing would be

used as evidence of inadequate study or lack of intelligence.”(Barrows, 1992; p. 22)

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Interrogation key part of a tutorial

“However, a general structure appears to be that there

will be an interrogation, whether questioning or

discussion, of the work that the student(s) have

completed in preparation for the tutorial.”

(Ashwin, 2009; 633)

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The challenge for teaching faculty“Teachers should share their knowledge and understanding in discussion only to help students gain a personal and critical perspective on what is learned, not to show off in front of them.” (192)

Faculty domination of classroom interaction– “they think that they’re supposed to – it’s what the institution

expects, it’s what their colleagues do, and it’s what the students demand.” (197)

Creating a democratic classroom

(Brookfield and Preskill, 2005)

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Dispositions for a Democratic Classroom

http://bcfamily.ca/sweet-humility

1. Hospitality

2. Participation

3. Mindfulness

4. Humility

5. Mutuality

6. Deliberation

7. Appreciation

8. Hope

9. Autonomy(Brookfield and Preskill, 2005)

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MATL CASE-STUDY

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MATL Tutorial

• Entire class event (20-30)• Pre-arranged time in the calendar• Tutor and students on line together• Opportunity to “unpack” the lesson content• Recorded and available for download later• Tutor training provided in advance

http://meylah.com/meylah/planning-your-online-tutorial

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Students are NOT always clear of their role

Purpose of the tutorial Percentage

Opportunity for tutor to present new content

57%

Opportunity for tutor to revise content presented in the recorded lesson

93%

Opportunity for students to raise questions and discuss the lesson content

100%

Opportunity for students to work in small groups online

20%

Opportunity for students to present their work to colleagues

21%

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Are they engaged during these sessions?

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Or are they otherwise engaged?

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Challenges facing tutors online

“Instructors who are new to the online environment may struggle with the transition from the central figure in the learning process to a facilitator or guide of that process.”

(Palloff and Pratt, 2011)

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Analysis of online tutorial interactions

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A Tutor Perspective

“I suppose the official purpose of the tutorials is to expand on the lecture and maybe I do see a slightly differently [nervous laughter again] purpose. I didn’t intend it but it is what has emerged and I now see they have a huge purpose in breaking down the isolation of the students and building a community of learners. You know helping the students in that community [develop] perspective taking, problem solving … but just seeing different points of view, sharing of ideas”

Tutor View

“I don’t like the sound of my own voice too much of it [nervous laughter] so I love to give voice to others and to build up the team and that everybody in the classroom is teaching, like using all the resources in the classroom, that it is not just one teacher but everybody has something to teach and to share and to try and draw that ”

Tutor View

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FIAC Tutorial Analysis

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Mapping the Dispositions

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A sample deliberation activity

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Implications for Practice

• Use the dispositions to:

– Inform a signature pedagogy for the MATL tutorials

– Critical discussion to become a key element of all tutorials

– Inform tutor teaching practices online

– Inform the development of a community of practice for tutors

– Create clear ground rules for tutors and learners– “Keep everybody visible and on their toes.”

– Enable tutors to monitor/evaluate their performance

– Ultimately lead to improved learner experiences

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Notion of a Signature Pedagogy

• Observing, analysing, and documenting how teaching and learning occurred in a range of settings

• What are the forms of interaction that leap to mind when we think of the MATL tutorial – is it critical discussion?

“They are the forms of instruction that leap to mind when we first

think about the preparation of members of particular professions –

for example in law, the quasi-Socratic interactions so vividly

portrayed in Paper Chase.”

(Shulman, 2005; p. 52)

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So what do we do around here …?

• Onus on the institution to develop the appropriate signature pedagogy to ensure students do well.

• This will differ between institutions and programme

“Signature pedagogy is ultimately associated with the performance of

the students. If they are not doing well then the signature pedagogy

isn’t appropriate.” [emphasis added]

(Shulman, 2005; p.56)

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IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

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So how might institutions help faculty?

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Engage in Professional Discussions

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Tutorial AnalysisDispositions T1 T2 T3

Hospitality      

Participation – T      

Participation – S      

Mindfulness      

Humility      

Mutuality      

Deliberation      

Appreciation      

Hope

Autonomy      

Perspective displayed by dataInstructor Co-constructor Instructor

Level ColourHigh  Medium  Low  

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Process to codify and share practice

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Sharing of Professional Practice Knowledge

• This process provides the tutors with a set of tools to:

– Capture their knowledge

– Codify their knowledge

– Analyse their knowledge

– Engage in action to improve their practice in the future

– Work on strategies and techniques

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Thus …

By adopting critical discussion as a signature pedagogy for the MATL,

Hibernia College can assist tutors build their own professional practice

knowledge with the ultimate goal of enhancing student learning on the

programme.

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Discussion

http://ff6w.primaryblogger.co.uk/discussion-text-sentence-builder/

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Thank You

Michael Hallissy

H2 Learning

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mhallissy@h2.ie

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References• Ashwin, P. (2005). 'Variation in students’ experiences of the ‘Oxford Tutorial''. Higher

Education, 50, 631–644.• Ashwin, P. (2009). Analysing Teaching-Learning Interactions in Higher Education:

Accounting for Sturcture and Agency. New York: Continuum.• Barrows, H. S. (1992). The Tutorial Process. (Revised Ed.). Springfield, IL: Southern Illinois

University School of Medicine.• Brookfield, S. and Preskill, S. (2005). Discussion as a way of teaching. (Vol. Second). San

Francisco: Jossey-Bass.• Chi Ng, K. (2007). 'Replacing Face-to-Face Tutorials by Synchronous Online Technologies:

Challenges and Pedagogical Implications'. [Online]. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 8 (1), 1-15. Available at: http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/335/764. [Last accessed September 1 2011].

• Duensing, A., Stickler, U., Batstone, C. and Heins, B. (2006, July 2006). Face-to-face and online interactions - is a task a task? Paper presented at the Crossing Frontiers: Languages and the International Dimension Conference. Cardiff University.

• Finkelstein, J. (2006). Learning in Real Time: Synchronous Teaching and Learning Online. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

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References

• Hyder, K., Kwinn, A., Miazga, R. and Murray, M. (2007). Synchronous e-Learning. Santa Rosa, CA: The eLearning Guild.

• Kear, K., Chetwynd, F., Williams, J. and Donelan, H. (2012). 'Web conferencing for synchronous online tutorials: Perspectives of tutors using a new medium'. Computers & Education, 58, 953-963.

• Laurillard, D. (2002). Rethinking University Teaching: A conversational framework for the effective use of learning technologies. (Second Ed.). London and New York: Routledge Falmer.

• Laurillard, D. (2012). Teaching as a Design Science. Building Pedagogical Patters for Learning and Technology. New York and London: Routledge.

• Mason, R. (2001). 'Effective facilitation of online learning: the Open University experience'. In J. Stephenson (Ed.), Teaching and learning online: New pedagogies for new technologies. London: Kogan Page.

• Marks, L., Jackson, M., Marks, D. and Wilcox, D. (2010). Impact of an online tutorial on postgraduate students’ literature research skills. [Online]. Available at: www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_148359_en.pdf. [Last accessed June 10 2012].

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References

• Palloff, R. M. and Pratt, K. (2011). The Excellent Online Instructor. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

• Price, L., Richadson, J. T. E. and Jelfs, A. (2007). 'Face-to-face versus online tutoring support in distance education'. Studies in Higher Education, 32 (1), 1-20.

• Rourke, L., Anderson, T., Garrison, R. D. and Archer, W. (1999). 'Assessing Social Presence in Asynchronous Text-based Computer Conferencing'. Journal of Distance Education, 14 (2), 50-71.

• Shulman, L. S. (2005). 'Signature pedagogies in the professions'. Daedalus, (Summer), 52-59.

• THES Editorial. (1996). Tutorial system on the way out. [Online]. Available at: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=93627&sectioncode=26. [Last accessed June 18th 2012].

• Watkins, C., Carnell, E., Lodge, C., Wagner P. and Whalley C. (2002). 'Effective Learning'. Institute of Education International Network for School Improvement Research Matters Series (17).