Discussion Paper
Title:
28
Diversity of Tutors - How does this affect
Student Learning?
Presenter(s):
Rowland Gallop, Viv Bell and Sue
Barnes
University College Worcester
Abstract:
When considering diversity is generally assumed that it is the diversity of students which
is the primary focus. However there is also significant diversity in the ways that tutors
facilitate learning. This session is based on a research project which looked at how the
use of on-line activities could improve the learning of students and looks at the ways in
which the diversity of tutor approach has impacted on the student learning.
The major aim of the project was to move towards a more student centred approach to
learning by developing a set of online activities which provided the focus around which
the students could learn. These activities covered a range of learning levels to engage
with both the full range of Bloom’s Taxonomy (Bloom 1956) and the SOLO Taxonomy
(Biggs 2003) and were further informed by the constructivist activity sequence (JISC eLearning and Pedagogy Strand, 2005).
The students were all in their first year of higher education and as well as developing
subject specific knowledge and skills the activities also focussed on enabling students to
develop the higher level learning skills they will need to be successful at Higher Education
level. To support this we used cognitive scaffolding applied to a conversational
framework approach which was adapted from that of Laurillard (1993) to include
student-student interaction. It was hoped that the development of student centred
activities would encourage and support the students in developing these skills.
This project tested the materials in face to face learning environment and developed the
materials over two semesters by making use of the Kolb (1984) learning cycle in order to
refine the activities in the light of student and tutor feedback.
There were three separate groups of students taught by three different tutors. The
degree of information technology used in the learning varied across the groups, from one
group who accessed all of their activities in electronic format using a VLE, a second group
who used a mixture of paper based and electronic approaches and a third group who
used predominantly paper based approaches.
We will discuss how the diverse approaches and attitudes of the tutors affected the
learning of the students.
Session Timing
Presentation (with questions): 25 minutes
Small group discussion: 15 minutes
Group feedback: 10 minutes
References:
Bloom, B.S. Editor (1956) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Book 1, Cognitive
domain. New York: Longman
Biggs, J. (2003) Teaching for quality learning at university (2nd Edition) SRHE & OU Press
JISC (2005) http://www.jisc.ac.uk/elearning_pedagogy.html - accessed April 2005
Laurillard, D. (1993) Rethinking university teaching: A framework for the effective use of
educational technology Routledge: London
Kolb, D. A. (1984) Experiential Learning: experience as the source of learning and
development New Jersey: Prentice-Hall