Describes the Online Student Resource Centre Web site, developed at Monash University (Australia), which offers stand-alone tutorials. Outlines the process and philosophy of development of the tutorials, based on a constructivist framework, with guided and self-directed learning paths designed to accommodate a range of learning styles. (LRW)

Compared tutoring episodes where tutoring did and did not cause learning in university physics students to inform design of intelligent tutoring systems. Found that when students were not at an impasse, learning was uncommon regardless of the tutorial explanations employed. When students were at an impasse, tutorial explanations were sometimes…

Describes the EEXCEL project, a tutoring/housing project in blight-stricken south central Los Angeles. Shows how the combination of private business, education, and caring individuals demonstrated how easy it is to give hope, to give a future, to at-risk children. (RS)

Discusses the components of peer-mediated instruction and interventions (PMII) (including peer modeling, peer initiation training, peer monitoring, peer networking, peer tutoring, and group-oriented contingencies) and instructional systems that incorporate PMII components with other elements of effective instruction. Explores implications for…

Describes the preparation, implementation, and results of a classroom cross-age tutoring project, which involved third and fourth graders reading books to younger students. Discusses evolution of project: students' lesson plans became more student-centered and complex over time, tutors assumed responsibility for younger children, and their…

Discusses intelligent learning environments for computer-based learning, such as agent-based learning environments, and their advantages over human-based instruction. Considers the effects of multiple agents; agents and research design; the use of Multiple Intelligent Mentors Instructing Collaboratively (MIMIC) for instructional design for…

A successful, large-scale staff development program at a Colorado elementary school is described. The article focuses on initial district administrative support, transition to a teacher-directed program, and the voluntary peer coaching program which kept the excitement alive and ensured that training was firmly incorporated into teachers' daily…

Three review articles, six essays, and nine empirical studies on peer tutoring were assessed. Mainstreamed or integrated classrooms were found to be ideal locations for peer tutoring, providing support for the integration process, positive effects on self-esteem and achievement, aid in classroom management, and a reinforcing system for learning.…

An experiment was conducted at Bentley College (Massachusetts) using native-speaking peer tutors to help foreign language students. The experiment met with some success, however, it is noted that, for major universities, the logistics of administrating thousands of tutor-student meetings is a substantial hurdle. (GLR)

Analysis of 47 case studies of tutoring relationships between college tutors and elementary students suggests that three tutoring patterns can be distinguished. Each of these three tutoring patterns--professional, comradeship, and informal--combines personal trust and social contract in different ways. Implications are drawn for implementation of…

Describes a fourth-grade student who had been in detention hundreds of times but who was attentive and well-behaved during tutoring sessions in reading. Argues that nothing is wrong with school rules, only with their consequences--detentions and suspensions isolate the student. (RS)

A study assessed the effects of three teaching strategies that incorporated a microcomputer component: (1) tutorial, (2) drill and practice, and (3) simulation. Each strategy was compared with one another and with the traditional lecture/discussion method. Student achievement and attitudes were essentially equal in all four methods. (JOW)

Describes The Audio Interactive Tutor (TAIT), an interactive audio/oral computer-assisted study device. TAIT's output consists of explanations and examples along with commands and questions requiring responses from the user. It uses speech recognition to determine the responses made by the user and constructs an evolving model of what the user…

Describes a computer-based intelligent tutoring system for French as a Second Language, called FrenchWriter, which is built on an object-orientated, unification-based natural language processor. Examples are provided of how this hypertext software interacts with students and of what sort of grammatical phenomena it is capable of handling.…

Tested predictions about age-related differences in the tutoring abilities and behaviors of children at three, five, and seven years of age. Found significant changes in tutoring strategies, verbal instruction, and contingency of teaching in the three age groups. (DR)