Int J Adolesc Med Health 2016; 28(4): 451–453
Short Communication Ronald Chow*
A pilot project of an online cross-age tutoring program: crescent school virtual learning (vLearning) DOI 10.1515/ijamh-2015-0067 Received July 5, 2015; accepted July 7, 2015; previously published online August 7, 2015
Abstract: Traditional classroom teaching is the standard of education. However, there may be some students who feel uncomfortable approaching their teachers and may feel more at ease if they ask for assistance from their peers. There are two types of student-to-student tutoring methods that are supplements to classroom learning: peer tutoring between same-age students and cross-age tutoring between different-age children. Cross-age tutoring programs in which the tutor is 2–3 years older than the tutee have been reported to be more effective than those between same-age students in promoting student responsibility, empowerment and academic performance. A pilot online cross-age tutoring program was launched in September 2014 at Crescent School. A new website was designed, created and implemented with the permission and regular monitoring of the Student Services faculty for the online program – Crescent School Virtual Learning (vLearning). The program was well received and will undergo evaluation in the future. Keywords: adolescents; cross-age tutoring; online program.
Introduction Traditional classroom teaching is the standard of education in most of the Canadian schools. Some students may require individualized help at various times to supplement group teaching. Tutoring is useful to provide such assistance (1). Teachers usually offer sessions before or *Corresponding author: Ronald Chow, Crescent School, 2365 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M2L 1A2, Canada, E-mail: [email protected]
after class for students. However, there may be some students who feel uncomfortable approaching their teachers for fear of asking “silly” questions or being labelled as slow learners. Students may feel more at ease if they ask for assistance from their peers (2). There are two types of student-to-student tutoring methods that are supplements to classroom learning: peer tutoring between same-age students and cross-age tutoring between different-age children (1, 3–5). The more capable, knowledgeable and experienced peer with a supportive role is called the “tutor”, and the less experienced student receiving help is referred to as the “tutee” (5–7). Tutees can work at their own pace without being compared with “fast” learners in a classroom (3). The extra attention and emotional support by the tutors as peers may provide important psychological support that tutees might not otherwise receive from the teachers or family members (3). In a pedagogical role, tutors typically support the learning process by designing curriculum, setting up questions, offering examples and feedback and providing motivation (4). Academic tutoring is a technique used to assist students to better learn a previously taught curriculum (4). Regardless of the types, tutoring provides an opportunity for additional practice, review and clarification of difficult concepts in a unique environment for feedback that would otherwise be unavailable from a teacher in a large classroom (1, 4, 8). Cross-age tutoring programs in which the tutor is 2–3 years older than the tutee have been reported to be more effective than those between same-age students in promoting student responsibility, empowerment and academic performance (9, 10). The tutors assist the tutees, leading to increased general knowledge, subjectspecific knowledge, studying and test-taking techniques and motivation in their studies (4, 10). Additionally, the moderate age and skill difference can provide some cognitive challenges for both peers in their activities, allowing the tutors to also benefit from the sessions in
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452 Chow: An online cross-age tutoring program improving their mentoring skills and their own academic achievements (6). The current same-age classroom teaching may act as a barrier in cross-age tutoring because the latter requires a significant amount of preparation, collaboration and organization for tutors and tutees to convene (11). Structuring a daily cross-age tutoring program, which is the most beneficial to students (4, 5) may be even more difficult to organize.
Methods Crescent School, established in 1913, is an all-boys independent dayschool in Toronto, Canada with over 700 students. The school consists of three divisions: Lower School (Grades 3–6), Middle School (Grades 7–8) and Upper School (Grades 9–12). There have been two weekly face-to-face cross-age tutoring programs (Upper to Middle Schools and Upper to Lower Schools) for 6 years. There is a perceived need for such programs among the Lower and Middle School students; unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts with athletics and other co-curricular activities, the attendance has been unsatisfactory, and it can vary from term to term. To overcome the scheduling conflicts, Crescent School established a pilot online cross-age tutoring program, officially launched in September 2014. Online peer tutoring has the potential to deliver educational content on a daily basis (4, 12, 13). This was initiated by the Upper School students in collaboration with Crescent’s Middle School Student Services, which has been the coordinator of previous peer-tutoring programming within the school. The aim was to overcome the limitation of scheduling, to ultimately allow for tutoring, without the restriction of time and space. The tutees can submit questions whenever and wherever they want, and the tutors can answer the questions at their convenience but within a 12–24-h timeframe. A new website was designed, created and implemented, with the permission and regular monitoring of the Student Services faculty for the online program-Crescent School Virtual Learning (vLearning). Once the website became active, it was publicized at the school that vLearning was available 24 h a day and 7 days a week, and tutees were invited to submit questions in five subjects: science, geography, French, English and history. On any given day, one tutor was assigned per subject, who would visit the site regularly to answer the questions in a timely fashion. A set-rotation assigned tutors to supervise the site for either 1 or 2 days in a given week, allowing them to focus on their own academic endeavors as well. Three senior subject coordinators were also on-duty each day, supporting the tutors in their responses.
Results The number of recruits for tutors totalled 19 Upper School students (primarily Grades 10 and 11 students) for 165 potential Middle School tutees. The tutor and tutee population base offered an age difference of 2–4 years, the optimal age
gap (9, 10). At launch, the novelty proved to be a barrier to the utilization of the program. Tutees were unfamiliar with vLearning as a source for support and did not know how to properly and effectively use the program. To overcome this barrier, announcements at assembly and advertisements with posters and in-house TV notices were employed to remind potential tutees how to access and use the program. Over the course of the school year (September 2014 to June 2015), vLearning responded to over 40 questions, with more questions submitted closer to the end of the school year at the time of examinations. The quantity of tutees that utilized the program matched that of Middle School Cross-Age Tutoring (MSCAT) 2 months after launch in November and outnumbered that of MSCAT by the end of the year in June. The program managed to overcome the substantial scheduling difficulty that hindered the success of cross-age tutoring, as tutees could access support at any time (11). The tutors felt comfortable in answering the questions and were satisfied with their contribution to the tutees’ academic journeys. The informal feedback from tutees was also favorable, particularly regarding the speedy and reliable responses, when compared to that of MSCAT.
Discussion vLearning is a new initiative that successfully overcomes the greatest difficulty in cross-age tutoring programs: scheduling. It has been proven that it was feasible to initiate such a technological program in a day school. The increasing utilization of the program has already exceeded that of MSCAT in its first year. Plans to expand this programming into the Lower and Upper School are already in conversation to serve a larger, broader community, to establish a prospective database and to record the student experiences with the program in addition to conducting satisfaction surveys of tutors, tutees and teachers in the upcoming years.
Conclusion Student-to-student tutoring methods are supplements to classroom learning (1). Cross-age tutoring programs have been reported to be more effective than those between same-age students in promoting student responsibility, empowerment and academic performance (9, 10). A pilot online cross-age tutoring program, vLearning, was well received and will undergo evaluation in the future. Brought to you by | UCL - University College London Authenticated Download Date | 12/21/16 7:45 PM
Chow: An online cross-age tutoring program 453
Acknowledgments: Ms. Jennifer Ferguson (BA, BEd), Middle School Student Services, is the senior supervisor of vLearning. We would like to thank Mr. Aaron Dion (BA, BEd), Head of the Middle School, for his continued support of the program in addition to all of the tutors on the vLearning team.
References 1. Bloom S. Peer and cross-age tutoring in the schools: an individualized supplement to group instruction. Washington, DC: Educational Resource Information Center, 1975:66. 2. Gaustad J. Peer and cross-age tutoring. ERIC Digest 1993;79:1–6. 3. Anderson LB. A special kind of tutor. Teaching PreK-8 2007;37:56–7. 4. Almassaad A, Alotaibi K. The attitudes and opinions of tutees and tutors toward using cross-age online tutoring. Psychol Res 2012;2:247–59. 5. Cairo L, Craig J. Cross-age tutoring phase II: an experiment. Tech Rep 2005;12:23.
6. Weiss R. Academic tutoring: a review for Cypress College. Washington, DC: Educational Resource Information Centre, 2007. 7. Topping KJ. The effectiveness of peer tutoring in further and higher education: a typology and review of the literature. High Educ 1996;32:321–45. 8. Davenport SV, Arnold M, Lassman M. The impact of cross-age tutoring on reading attitudes and reading achievements. Read Im 2004;41:3–12. 9. Barone Schneider R. Cross-age tutoring. Childhood Educ 1997;73:136–43. 10. Gibbs SG. A comparison of the effects of cross-age tutoring and same-age tutoring on the reading achievement of elementary school students. Washington, DC: Educational Resource Information Center, 1982. 11. Ankcorn D. The effect of cross-age tutoring by high schoolers on their understanding and ability to create a short story. Washington, DC: Educational Resource Information Center, 1999. 12. de Vries F, Kester L, Sloep PB, van Rosmalen P, Pannekeet K, et al. Identification of critical time-consuming student support activities in e-learning. Res Learn Technol 2005;13:219–29. 13. Jones RH, Garralda A, Li DCS, Lock G. International dynamics in on-line and face-to-face peer-tutoring sessions for second language writers. J Second Lang Writ 2006;15:1–23.
Brought to you by | UCL - University College London Authenticated Download Date | 12/21/16 7:45 PM
Short Communication Ronald Chow*
A pilot project of an online cross-age tutoring program: crescent school virtual learning (vLearning) DOI 10.1515/ijamh-2015-0067 Received July 5, 2015; accepted July 7, 2015; previously published online August 7, 2015
Abstract: Traditional classroom teaching is the standard of education. However, there may be some students who feel uncomfortable approaching their teachers and may feel more at ease if they ask for assistance from their peers. There are two types of student-to-student tutoring methods that are supplements to classroom learning: peer tutoring between same-age students and cross-age tutoring between different-age children. Cross-age tutoring programs in which the tutor is 2–3 years older than the tutee have been reported to be more effective than those between same-age students in promoting student responsibility, empowerment and academic performance. A pilot online cross-age tutoring program was launched in September 2014 at Crescent School. A new website was designed, created and implemented with the permission and regular monitoring of the Student Services faculty for the online program – Crescent School Virtual Learning (vLearning). The program was well received and will undergo evaluation in the future. Keywords: adolescents; cross-age tutoring; online program.
Introduction Traditional classroom teaching is the standard of education in most of the Canadian schools. Some students may require individualized help at various times to supplement group teaching. Tutoring is useful to provide such assistance (1). Teachers usually offer sessions before or *Corresponding author: Ronald Chow, Crescent School, 2365 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M2L 1A2, Canada, E-mail: [email protected]
after class for students. However, there may be some students who feel uncomfortable approaching their teachers for fear of asking “silly” questions or being labelled as slow learners. Students may feel more at ease if they ask for assistance from their peers (2). There are two types of student-to-student tutoring methods that are supplements to classroom learning: peer tutoring between same-age students and cross-age tutoring between different-age children (1, 3–5). The more capable, knowledgeable and experienced peer with a supportive role is called the “tutor”, and the less experienced student receiving help is referred to as the “tutee” (5–7). Tutees can work at their own pace without being compared with “fast” learners in a classroom (3). The extra attention and emotional support by the tutors as peers may provide important psychological support that tutees might not otherwise receive from the teachers or family members (3). In a pedagogical role, tutors typically support the learning process by designing curriculum, setting up questions, offering examples and feedback and providing motivation (4). Academic tutoring is a technique used to assist students to better learn a previously taught curriculum (4). Regardless of the types, tutoring provides an opportunity for additional practice, review and clarification of difficult concepts in a unique environment for feedback that would otherwise be unavailable from a teacher in a large classroom (1, 4, 8). Cross-age tutoring programs in which the tutor is 2–3 years older than the tutee have been reported to be more effective than those between same-age students in promoting student responsibility, empowerment and academic performance (9, 10). The tutors assist the tutees, leading to increased general knowledge, subjectspecific knowledge, studying and test-taking techniques and motivation in their studies (4, 10). Additionally, the moderate age and skill difference can provide some cognitive challenges for both peers in their activities, allowing the tutors to also benefit from the sessions in
Brought to you by | UCL - University College London Authenticated Download Date | 12/21/16 7:45 PM
452 Chow: An online cross-age tutoring program improving their mentoring skills and their own academic achievements (6). The current same-age classroom teaching may act as a barrier in cross-age tutoring because the latter requires a significant amount of preparation, collaboration and organization for tutors and tutees to convene (11). Structuring a daily cross-age tutoring program, which is the most beneficial to students (4, 5) may be even more difficult to organize.
Methods Crescent School, established in 1913, is an all-boys independent dayschool in Toronto, Canada with over 700 students. The school consists of three divisions: Lower School (Grades 3–6), Middle School (Grades 7–8) and Upper School (Grades 9–12). There have been two weekly face-to-face cross-age tutoring programs (Upper to Middle Schools and Upper to Lower Schools) for 6 years. There is a perceived need for such programs among the Lower and Middle School students; unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts with athletics and other co-curricular activities, the attendance has been unsatisfactory, and it can vary from term to term. To overcome the scheduling conflicts, Crescent School established a pilot online cross-age tutoring program, officially launched in September 2014. Online peer tutoring has the potential to deliver educational content on a daily basis (4, 12, 13). This was initiated by the Upper School students in collaboration with Crescent’s Middle School Student Services, which has been the coordinator of previous peer-tutoring programming within the school. The aim was to overcome the limitation of scheduling, to ultimately allow for tutoring, without the restriction of time and space. The tutees can submit questions whenever and wherever they want, and the tutors can answer the questions at their convenience but within a 12–24-h timeframe. A new website was designed, created and implemented, with the permission and regular monitoring of the Student Services faculty for the online program-Crescent School Virtual Learning (vLearning). Once the website became active, it was publicized at the school that vLearning was available 24 h a day and 7 days a week, and tutees were invited to submit questions in five subjects: science, geography, French, English and history. On any given day, one tutor was assigned per subject, who would visit the site regularly to answer the questions in a timely fashion. A set-rotation assigned tutors to supervise the site for either 1 or 2 days in a given week, allowing them to focus on their own academic endeavors as well. Three senior subject coordinators were also on-duty each day, supporting the tutors in their responses.
Results The number of recruits for tutors totalled 19 Upper School students (primarily Grades 10 and 11 students) for 165 potential Middle School tutees. The tutor and tutee population base offered an age difference of 2–4 years, the optimal age
gap (9, 10). At launch, the novelty proved to be a barrier to the utilization of the program. Tutees were unfamiliar with vLearning as a source for support and did not know how to properly and effectively use the program. To overcome this barrier, announcements at assembly and advertisements with posters and in-house TV notices were employed to remind potential tutees how to access and use the program. Over the course of the school year (September 2014 to June 2015), vLearning responded to over 40 questions, with more questions submitted closer to the end of the school year at the time of examinations. The quantity of tutees that utilized the program matched that of Middle School Cross-Age Tutoring (MSCAT) 2 months after launch in November and outnumbered that of MSCAT by the end of the year in June. The program managed to overcome the substantial scheduling difficulty that hindered the success of cross-age tutoring, as tutees could access support at any time (11). The tutors felt comfortable in answering the questions and were satisfied with their contribution to the tutees’ academic journeys. The informal feedback from tutees was also favorable, particularly regarding the speedy and reliable responses, when compared to that of MSCAT.
Discussion vLearning is a new initiative that successfully overcomes the greatest difficulty in cross-age tutoring programs: scheduling. It has been proven that it was feasible to initiate such a technological program in a day school. The increasing utilization of the program has already exceeded that of MSCAT in its first year. Plans to expand this programming into the Lower and Upper School are already in conversation to serve a larger, broader community, to establish a prospective database and to record the student experiences with the program in addition to conducting satisfaction surveys of tutors, tutees and teachers in the upcoming years.
Conclusion Student-to-student tutoring methods are supplements to classroom learning (1). Cross-age tutoring programs have been reported to be more effective than those between same-age students in promoting student responsibility, empowerment and academic performance (9, 10). A pilot online cross-age tutoring program, vLearning, was well received and will undergo evaluation in the future. Brought to you by | UCL - University College London Authenticated Download Date | 12/21/16 7:45 PM
Chow: An online cross-age tutoring program 453
Acknowledgments: Ms. Jennifer Ferguson (BA, BEd), Middle School Student Services, is the senior supervisor of vLearning. We would like to thank Mr. Aaron Dion (BA, BEd), Head of the Middle School, for his continued support of the program in addition to all of the tutors on the vLearning team.
References 1. Bloom S. Peer and cross-age tutoring in the schools: an individualized supplement to group instruction. Washington, DC: Educational Resource Information Center, 1975:66. 2. Gaustad J. Peer and cross-age tutoring. ERIC Digest 1993;79:1–6. 3. Anderson LB. A special kind of tutor. Teaching PreK-8 2007;37:56–7. 4. Almassaad A, Alotaibi K. The attitudes and opinions of tutees and tutors toward using cross-age online tutoring. Psychol Res 2012;2:247–59. 5. Cairo L, Craig J. Cross-age tutoring phase II: an experiment. Tech Rep 2005;12:23.
6. Weiss R. Academic tutoring: a review for Cypress College. Washington, DC: Educational Resource Information Centre, 2007. 7. Topping KJ. The effectiveness of peer tutoring in further and higher education: a typology and review of the literature. High Educ 1996;32:321–45. 8. Davenport SV, Arnold M, Lassman M. The impact of cross-age tutoring on reading attitudes and reading achievements. Read Im 2004;41:3–12. 9. Barone Schneider R. Cross-age tutoring. Childhood Educ 1997;73:136–43. 10. Gibbs SG. A comparison of the effects of cross-age tutoring and same-age tutoring on the reading achievement of elementary school students. Washington, DC: Educational Resource Information Center, 1982. 11. Ankcorn D. The effect of cross-age tutoring by high schoolers on their understanding and ability to create a short story. Washington, DC: Educational Resource Information Center, 1999. 12. de Vries F, Kester L, Sloep PB, van Rosmalen P, Pannekeet K, et al. Identification of critical time-consuming student support activities in e-learning. Res Learn Technol 2005;13:219–29. 13. Jones RH, Garralda A, Li DCS, Lock G. International dynamics in on-line and face-to-face peer-tutoring sessions for second language writers. J Second Lang Writ 2006;15:1–23.
Brought to you by | UCL - University College London Authenticated Download Date | 12/21/16 7:45 PM
