A University of Limburg (Denmark) study investigated the effects of tutor expertise on medical student performance using curricular materials that have high or low levels of structure and that are poorly or well matched to students' levels of prior knowledge. The study found neither expert nor nonexpert tutors compensated for lack of curricular…

A study compared the perceptions of remedial optometry students concerning themselves, cognitive strategies used in studying, the studying and evaluation processes, and study habits with their tutors' perceptions. Two predominant problems emerged: the extent of responsibility of the student in academic difficulty and discrepancies in tutor/tutee…

Sixteen students with learning disabilities or at risk of failure in foreign language study participated in a peer tutoring program with Spanish vocabulary. The classwide reciprocal peer tutoring system was found to be a feasible component of foreign language instruction, as high levels of Spanish words were learned and maintained, and incidental…

Describes and evaluates the ARCH (A Real Community Helps) After-School Program, a successful after-school tutoring program in which university, junior college, and high school students became tutors at an inner-city elementary school, contributing to the creation of a positive learning community. (SR)

Four high school students who were peer tutors to students with severe disabilities received social interaction training and were then compared to four controls. The training increased the frequency of initiations of interactions from tutors, increased the proportion of social rather than task interactions, and increased targeted social behaviors…

A study with 46 university students investigated whether participation either in a required first-year course in academic skills development or in required tutoring influenced students' academic self-efficacy, as measured by self-reported abilities and projected grades. Results support the use of required external academic support. (MSE)

Three studies involving tutoring of elementary children are reported. The first demonstrated that eight parents utilized oral reading tutoring procedures successfully after training. The other two found that home tutoring improved math and spelling performance of four children both during tutoring sessions and subsequently in school. (Author/JDD)

Four problem-based tutorial groups (n=23 students, n=4 faculty) in Harvard University Medical School's New Pathway track were studied to determine what interactions characterized student-directed discussion. It was found that students selected most topics discussed, that tutors questioned infrequently, provided limited information, and tolerated…

The Maui Hawaii Educational consortium (the Maui School District and Maui Community College) sought scientifically based evidence for the effectiveness of the "Cognitive Tutor (CT) Algebra I Curriculum" to inform adoption decisions. Decision makers were particularly interested in whether the use of the "CT" program affects…

The accelerating diffusion of broadband Internet access provides many opportunities for the development of pedagogically robust Web-based instruction (WBI). While the supporting technology infrastructure of broadband disseminates, the attention of academic researchers focuses upon issues such as the drivers of student usage of WBI. Specifically,…

A study described the amount of usage and structure of cross-age reading tutoring programs. A survey was sent to 68 schools in northwest Ohio to determine percentage and ranges of usage. Results indicated that less than 22% of the 42 elementary schools that responded to the survey used a cross-age tutoring program. Of the programs in place, less…

This study manipulated the timing and control of error feedback in problem solving and examined their effects on skill acquisition by 40 undergraduate students learning to program in the computer language Lisp under four error feedback conditions. These four conditions included two types of symbol-by-symbol feedback that vary in content, a…

The use of student proctors or tutors for a Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) has been considered essential; however, the cost of tutorial training programs may be prohibitive. In an attempt to develop an equivalent but less expensive alternative, students (N=219) participated in an evaluation of the use of a VAX computer system as a…

In 1988, a survey was conducted to determine the characteristics and extent of peer tutoring programs at two- and four-year colleges in New York. Data were also collected on supplemental instruction, a variant of peer tutoring in which the peer tutor works closely with a faculty member to help students in identified high-risk courses. Of the 270…

This report summarizes a series of eight research studies related to the use of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) with mildly handicapped students at the junior high or high school level. Through videodisc and CAI the studies isolated the effects of the following design variables: (1) review cycles; (2) size of teaching sets; (3) explicit…