Students in an undergraduate psychology course on Learning and Cognition used SKO (formerly AutoTutor Lite), an Intelligent Tutoring System, to create interactive lessons in which a pedagogic agent (animated avatar) engages users in a tutorial dialogue. After briefly describing the technology and underlying psychological theory, data from an…

The Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) program at the University of Minnesota is a primary academic support program for historically difficult, introductory college courses that serve as gatekeepers to academic degree programs. Based upon operating principles of other academic support programs and educational theories, PAL is integrated into the courses…

This paper describes a development project aimed at reducing the large number of dropouts in online degree project courses. The idea was that the introduction of group tutorials in virtual seminars, combined with extensive support materials, would reduce dropout rates. Among the students who participated, the dropout rate was reduced by 50%…

In order to increase reading fluency, a research-based tutoring method using repeated reading was implemented over a 10-week period with two second-grade students. Two high school students were trained to be the tutors. In addition, one parent and one older sibling were trained to repeat the tutoring process at night. Treatment integrity was…

This paper defines and describes what comprises an effective tutorial system. The characteristics defined for a system are presented in the form of a checklist. The characteristics listed are as follows: (a) outcomes, (b) assessment, (c) materials, (d) training, (e) installation, (f) user experience data, and (g) time and costs. Each of the seven…

Design techniques for generative computer-assisted-instructional (CAI) systems are described in this report. These are systems capable of generating problems for students and of deriving and monitoring solutions; problem difficulty, instructional pace, and depth of monitoring are all individually tailored and parts of the solution algorithms can…

Describes how a college tutoring program uses a strategy called TEST, which takes the ideas behind effective reading and learning and applies them to interactions between the student, the tutor, and the subject. (SR)

Describes what reading coaches do (provide literacy enrichment without emphasizing the diagnostic and intervention aspects of reading), how this differs from reading tutors, and how reading coaches can help with literacy development in schools. Discusses activities for reading coaches, and benefits of a reading coach program. (SR)

The tutor training sessions at the University of Minnesota Technical College are outlined and an evaluation of the program is included. A bibliography of 38 print and 3 videotape resources for tutor training is also included. Appendixes contain the tutor and tutee handbooks and a study skills kit specifically designed for tutor training.…

Describes a program intended to improve the school attendance of truant students, called the Mentoring and Tutoring Help (MATH) program. Discusses the importance of mentors and their roles in the MATH program, and presents the 18 most critical organizational steps for truancy intervention in the program. (SR)

The paper describes a program developed at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf in which hearing impaired students in the academic mainstream receive tutoring/notetaking support services. A notetaking system is employed in which the notetaker writes from four to six readable copies of notes at one time. The notetaker, a trained normally…

The Learning Assistance Center's peer tutoring program at Stanford University is described in this paper. Ways are suggested to register students as tutees, match them with tutors, operate tutoring sessions, account for and control tutoring hours, evaluate tutoring performance, and train peer tutors. In this program, tutors are Stanford students…

A description of the various forms of academic assistance available to University of Akron students: course tutoring, emergency tutoring, perspective tutoring, structural tutoring, follow-up tutoring, and referral tutoring. (SJL)

The studies summarized in this report on instructional theory and computer based tutorial systems were directed at two aspects of the study of learning and instruction: the theoretical understanding of human memory and the development of intelligent interactive computer systems for instruction. Two major computer-based tutorial systems developed…