Student success in South African higher education institutions (HEIs) is poor and universities have not been successful in implementing strategies to improve students' learning experiences. Tutoring has been identified as an effective strategy to improve student success but is often used inconsistently and without pedagogical justification. The…

The academic success of first-year students' learning in science faculties is by no means assured, especially in an Open Distance Learning setting with its limited number of face-to-face encounters between students and lecturers or tutors. Therefore, such encounters should be highly efficient in view of the considerable amount of knowledge…