Tutorials play a key role in the teaching and learning of engineering sciences. However, the efficacy of tutorials as platforms for providing personal and academic support is continuously being challenged by factors such as declining faculty-to-student ratios and students' under-preparedness. This study adopted reciprocal peer tutorial assessment…

Talk moves simulations were used in tutorials for a mathematics education unit. Pre-service teachers (PSTs) and tutors were surveyed about their perceptions of the purposes, benefits, and drawbacks of the simulations. There was strong support from both groups for the benefits of talk moves in developing PSTs' ability to manage discussions, ask…

Students are considered to be the main "customers" in universities and polytechnics and increasingly they seek to have their needs met. This is one of the main reasons for persistent calls for the improvement of teaching in higher education. Tutors play an important role in the delivery of undergraduate education, although they are often…

The "Community of Inquiry" (COI) theoretical framework suggests that successful higher education experiences are supported by the presence and interaction of cognitive, social and teaching elements. Since the COI model has been widely used for examining quality of asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) educational interactions, its…

This paper presents three evaluated case studies of the use of design activities in the early years of undergraduate engineering courses. Analyses of academic performance in these activities and in a separate test of understanding were correlated with student perceptions of the activities and with measures of learning style. General student…