Describes the experiences of an undergraduate student in a reading methods course during her practicum of tutoring a young child with reading difficulties. Discusses how she finally found a motivational tool that repeatedly engaged the child--tape recording the child as he read a predictable book and playing the tape back for the child to listen…

Describes the architecture of PRABODH, an intelligent tutoring system with six components, designed for teaching language skills to young children and for providing them meaningful practice for developing grammar skills. Discusses PRABODH's language-learning philosophy, results of formative evaluation of its knowledge component, and overall impact…

Presents a conceptual framework for distance learning that focuses on the relationship between the tutor and the learner but also includes relationships with the course team. Highlights include established theories, implications of Vygotsky's theory for the role of the tutor, and the role of language in learning. (LRW)

Compares the influence of text difficulty on the growth of poor readers' reading ability over 18 weeks of 1-to-1 tutoring. Significant differences favored tutored children. Between approaches, the only significant difference was oral reading fluency, which favored students who read material at their reading level. Students who began with lower…

Discusses important aspects of curriculum reform in Romanian secondary education in the 1990s. Reports, for example, that reform has resulted in no improvement in the status of secondary teachers or in student educational access and equity. Curriculum reform has, however, reinforced the use of private tutors, thus creating a de facto…

Describes a study of undergraduates that investigated the influence of training format on knowledge structure development and how differing knowledge structure measurement techniques can be used to best assess training effectiveness. Manipulated the presence of diagrams in a computer-based training tutorial to assess mental model development and…

Discusses the increasing amount of educational content on the Internet for both educational and business applications and reviews basic learning theories, instructional design theories, and factors affecting successful Web-based tutorials. Proposes a model synthesizing instructional design pedagogy and Web design concepts. (Author/LRW)

Presents strategies for improving the quality of student learning in the context of a final undergraduate project in mechanical engineering. Assesses outcomes of changing practice and shows that careful selection of project topics, good balanced groups, and individual tutorials stimulating peer interaction can foster a deep approach to learning.…

Investigates the effects of two parent tutoring reading programs upon children's reading achievement: one that used children's literature books and one that used each child's classroom basal reading materials. Results showed that although parents implemented the tutoring programs as designed, neither tutoring program had a significant effect upon…

Discusses problems with using tutorials for digital art assignments in higher education, including plagiarism, and suggests focusing on concept mastery and customizing assignments for better assessment. Provides three examples, including using shapes to draw a series of objects, designing a thumbnail gallery of 10 images, and creating a computer…

Discussion of learning from hypertext focuses on a study that investigated three approaches for inducing learning goals: a tutorial that provided external and specific learning objectives; a goal-based scenario; and a strategy training leading to internal goal generation. Compared the three conditions regarding learning outcomes and motivational…

Describes use of matrix management to organize learning support services on a college campus. Claims matrix management, which links support services from academic and student affairs, increases access, improves accountability, and encourages new programs. (Author/ABL)

Uses the metaphor of an ecosystem to describe the interactions, as revealed in a series of writing assignments, between an undergraduate being tutored at the writing center and an undergraduate writing tutor and participant in a writing workshop. (MM)

Describes the process required to learn to write Chinese ideographs, and investigates the possibilities for developing a computer-aided language learning tutor. Character stroke sequences are described; a modified keyboard for Chinese character entry is discussed; and interaction between the student and the tutor is examined. (11 references) (LRW)

A study compared the effectiveness of teaching word processing using computer-based tutorial (26 students) versus using a textbook (30 students). Found that (1) the achievement outcomes of the 2 methods were equally effective, (2) student attitudes toward word processing were not affected by the method, and (3) no substantial relationships existed…