Breaking the Ritual: Getting Students to Participate in Discussion-based Tutorials in the Social Sciences

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Research and Development in Higher Education Vol. 30: Enhancing Higher Education, Theory and Scholarship

July, 2007, 651 pages
Published by
Geoffrey Crisp & Margaret Hicks
ISBN
0 908557 72 8
Abstract 

The challenge for tutors in avoiding the pitfalls of the ritualised tutorial and facilitating a positive tutorial learning environment is threefold: First, less confident students should participate in class discussion. Second, confident students should be managed such that they do no monopolise class discussion, and third, students should take responsibility for their efforts in class to avoid the tutorial becoming another lecture. To do this the tutor should foster a positive learning environment and implement a class structure that facilitates wider participation by all students in the class. To participate effectively students need to be familiar with key concepts from the topic reading material. The intervention had two primary components: First, a large portion of the initial tutorial was devoted to introductory activities in which the students got to know each other. Second, subsequent tutorials began with a paired warm-up activity to get the whole class talking immediately, after which each student raised a prepared question for class discussion. Students perceived the intervention as a success in developing a positive tutorial learning environment, which helped them engage with the course content.

Keywords: tutorial, student-directed learning, deep learning.