Tensions in Tutor Support and Learner Support in Tertiary Webbased English Language Education in Chi

1
Tensions in Tutor Support and Learner Support in
Tertiary Web-based English Language Education in
China

• Wang, Tong
• Beijing Foreign Studies University

2
Part 1
Tutor Support - - Tensions and Implications
3
Overview of Research Questions
4
Research Questions at Three Levels

• At conceptual level
• At service provision reception level
• At quality assurance level

5
At Conceptual Level

• How do institutional decision makers
  conceptualize tutor support in tertiary-level
  web-based English education?
• How do tutors conceptualize web-based education?

6
At Service Provision Reception Level

• What are the job specifications for tutors ?
• What support services do tutors need?
• What institutional support services are provided
  for tutors?
• How are the support services received by tutors?
• What tutor support measures are going to be taken
  by the institutional decision makers in the near
  future?

7
At Quality Assurance Level

• How is the overall tutoring quality in
  tertiary-level web-based English education in
  China?
• What institutional quality assurance measures are
  taken to ensure the tutoring quality in
  tertiary-level web-based English education?

8
Tensions in Tutor Support
institution conceptual understanding
institutional practices
vs
tutor enthusiasm in participation in online
education
tutor conviction in online education
vs
tutor commitment
vs
tutor responsibilities
current tutor support repertoire
tutor improvement needs
vs
9
Tension 1
institution conceptual understanding
institutional practices
vs
10
What is said vs what is done

• Importance of tutor support all (8)
• Having a specialized center 5

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Seemingly valid reasons

• All online institutions are in their pilot phase,
  busy setting up the infrastructure with limited
  attention left attending to tutor support system
  design.
• Part-time rather than full-time tutors constitute
  the majority of the teaching faculty in most
  online institutes.
• Tutors can still function in the online system
  without immediate training and support services.

12
Backlash effects

• Tutors knowingly or unknowingly clone on-campus
  practices in their tutoring process, fossilizing
  passive learning habits on the part of the
  learners rather than transforming them into
  self-directed students.

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Implication

• Tutors and tutoring strategies, as learners and
  learning strategies, should also be transformed
  in order to fully avail of the potential and
  possibilities the new education mode offers.
• Only after tutors have in-depth understanding of
  online education and are fully equipped with the
  correct concepts and skills can they effectively
  facilitate students to develop into competent
  online learners.
• Tutor support cannot be overemphasized.

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Tension 2
tutor enthusiasm in participation in online
education
tutor conviction in online education
vs
15
Tutors self-reported motivation in participating
in web-based English education
16
Tutor conviction in the capability of web-based
education in developing qualified English majors
17
Implication

• Understanding and recognition of the new
  education paradigm will not happen automatically
  for any group, tutors included.
• It is paramount that scaffolding (such as tutor
  training, process-based tutor support) needs to
  be introduced to facilitate the transformation of
  tutor conceptions and tutoring practices of
  online education.

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Tension 3
Tutor commitment
tutor responsibilities
vs
19
Faculty make-up among Chinese online institutions
20
To make things worse

• The workload for tertiary English teachers in
  China is heavier in general than that for
  teachers teaching other subjects (The common
  weekly teaching load for each English teacher is
  12 contact teaching hours). If they have to or
  are willing to participate online education, it
  can be imaged that only limited tutor commitment
  and efforts can be assured as they have their
  full-time job responsibilities to take care of.

21
Difficult job specifications for tutors (tutors
perspective)
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Implication

• The three difficult tutoring tasks, also
  considered the crucial components for online
  learning and teaching, have a common feature
  tutors have to commit much time and efforts in
  order to do them well.

23
Implication

• It is important that online institutions design a
  contract system reflective of the extra effort
  tutors need to teach online.
• High level management of parent universities must
  also develop a strategic and in-depth
  understanding of online education.
• It is suggested that this can be partly achieved
  by implementing preferential policies and
  offering more tenure-tracking positions.

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Tension 4
current tutor support repertoire
tutor improvement needs
vs
25
Perceived areas for tutor improvement (tutors
perspective)
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Implication

• All of the above self-perceived tutor improvement
  areas need long-term and systematic support
  schemes.

27
Tutor support services currently provided by
online institutions
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Implication

• Comparing tutors perceived improvement areas and
  the current tutor support provisions, it can be
  concluded that the current tutor support services
  mainly lie at operational level, aiming at
  supporting the tutors to handle their day-to-day
  job responsibilities.
• Long-term support provisions are needed in order
  to address the tutor improvement areas at a
  deeper level.

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Conclusion

• As a distinctive mode, web-based education
  requires support systems that fundamentally
  differ from those used for classroom-based
  education.

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Conclusion

• Web-based education acts to transform teachers
  and tutors roles and similarly requires
  systematic tutor support provisions.
• As a result, process-based research is needed to
  investigate the ecological and contextual factors
  contributing to the tensions.

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Overview Tensions in Tutor Support
institution conceptual understanding
institutional practices
vs
tutor enthusiasm in participation in online
education
tutor perception of online education
vs
tutoring faculty make-up
vs
tutor responsibilities
current tutor support repertoire
tutor improvement needs
vs
32
Part 2
Learner Support - - Tensions and Implications
33
Outline

• Overview of research questions
• Tensions implications

34
Overview of Research Questions
35
Research Questions at Three Levels

• At conceptual level
• At service provision reception level
• At technical level

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Research Questions at Conceptual Level

• How do Chinese tertiary-level institutional
  decision makers conceptualize learner support for
  online English education?
• How do Chinese tutors who are involved in
  tertiary-level online English degree programs
  conceptualize learner support for online English
  education?
• How do Chinese learners who are enrolled in
  tertiary-level online English degree programs
  conceptualize learner support for online English
  education?

37
Research Questions at Service Provision
Reception Level

• What learner support services are needed by
  tertiary-level online English learners?
• What online and offline support services are
  provided by Chinese online institutions for
  tertiary-level online English learners?
• How are the support services received by the
  learners?
• What are the perceived effects of the support
  services by the learners?
• What difficulties do the learners confront when
  utilizing learner support services?

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Questions at Technical Level

• What technical functionalities are employed by
  Chinese online institutions in their learner
  support system for tertiary-level online English
  education?
• How are the functionalities received by the
  learners?
• What technical difficulties do the learners
  confront when utilizing the functionalities?

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Tensions Implications
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Tensions in Learner Support
vigorous institutional learner support efforts
scant learner utilization of the provisions
vs
learner qualities development
vs
academic support
learner participation in online services
learner technical competence
vs
online component in the design of learner support
system
vs
face-to-face component
41
Tension 1
vigorous institutional learner support efforts
scant learner utilization of the provisions
vs
42
Provisions of synchronous communication
43
Provisions of asynchronous communication
44
Provisions of offline services
45
Service contents of learner support provisions
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Whats Used by the Learners?

• Online services unenthusiastic
• 20 participation rate
• Offline services preferred
• Learners still prefer conventional support
  services such as tutorials (79.50 participation)
  and offline lectures (20.90 participation).

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Why?

• Are the low utilization rates due to
• a lack of self-directed learner?
  qualities/strategies?
• ineffective learning strategies?
• learner technical incompetence?
• poor service quality?

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Five major learner difficulties in utilizing
learner support services
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Implication

• Attention is called for to improving learners
  time management skills and self-directed learning
  strategies. It is paramount to develop
  self-directed learners in the first place in
  order to bring the blended learner support
  services into full play.

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Tension 2
learner qualities development
academic support
vs
51
Perceived difficulties by learners in the
learning process
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Implication 1

• Lacking metacognitive and self-directed learner
  strategies is identified as more urgent problems
  with the learners.
• Having considered the expressed learning
  difficulties, learner support needs to meet dual
  objectives to bring about competent online
  learners and effective learning strategies to
  provide continuous academic support in the
  learning process.

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Implication 2

• There is a dangerous misconception of
  over-targeting academic support and neglecting
  the development of all-round learner qualities.
  By so doing, Chinese online institutions may fall
  into the trap of chasing small gains by ignoring
  the fundamental issues of producing qualified
  learners.

54
Implication 3

• In a sense, Chinese online institutions have the
  mission of emancipating the learners from the
  engrained habit of enslaving themselves to
  conventional receiving-type learning to a new
  self-directed constructive learning style. Only
  when this objective is well met can learners make
  a better use of the blended support provisions.

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Tension 3
learner technical competence
learner use of online services
vs
56
Learner access to the Internet
57
Computer skills prior to enrollment
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Implication 1

• It seems that high technical competence and good
  access to the Internet in this survey does not
  successfully facilitate learners to utilize the
  online services. The naïve concept of providing
  learners with technical support would
  automatically help them become competent online
  learners is proved faulty based on the data.

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Implication 2

• To change the deep rooted conventional
  teacher-student-textbook-classroom learning
  concept on the part of the learners as well as
  the tutors or even the administrators and to
  encourage active integrated utilization of
  online and offline support services are urgent
  tasks faced by the online institutions.

60
Tension 4
online component in the design of learner support
system
face-to-face component
vs
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Fact

• The survey findings informed that there was a
  clearly expressed preference among the learners
  to the face-to-face component in the learner
  support system.

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Implication key questions to answer

• How to help students become real online learners?
• How to help students be able to make effective
  use of online services?
• What is the relationship between online support
  and offline support?
• How to integrate them in learner support system
  design?
• What are the roles and functions of online
  learner support compared with offline learner
  support? Is online support the more, the better?
  If not, what support services should go online
  and what should go offline?
• What online functionalities are successful with
  English language education?
• What proper functionalities can be used to
  deliver what types of learner support services
  for the development of what types of English
  language skills?

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Part 1 OverviewTensions in Learner Support
vigorous institutional learner support efforts
scant learner utilization of the provisions
vs
learner qualities development
academic support
vs
learner participation in online services
learner technical competence
vs
online component in the design of learner support
system
face-to-face component
vs
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Thank you!