Tutorial Engagement in Week 2 - 6228

The first tutorial session for the semester was conducted last week. I divided the class into 5 groups - 4 containing 5 students and 1 containing 7 students. I assigned 4 questions to the 5 groups. The two groups who had the same question were asked opposite sides of the question. Some aspects of the process worked well, others poorly. The feature which worked best was the interaction within the groups. Most students seemed to be engaged in the group discussion.

The aspects which worked poorly were:

• When presenting, students talked to the screen instead of the audiences
• Students put far too much on their overheads
• Students seemed to think that their role was to find the correct answer in the textbook and then read it to the class
• If there was not an answer in the text, students did not know how to approach the question

The things I will do differently next time are:

• Get students to introduce themselves and their group members when they start to present
• Tell students about better presentation techniques
• Let the students know I want their opinions and the reasons for their opinions, not regurgitation of my and Deegan's opinions