Abstract
M.Ed.
A personal tutoring established by the ancient universities and adopted
subsequently by both old and new universities has implicitly acknowledged
that High Education students derive both academic and personal benefits
from one-on-one academic guidance and group collaborative work (Mattis &
Dewart, 2007). In the Department of Mathematics, Science, Technology and
Computer Education at the University of Johannesburg both the individual
and group tutoring models are employed to assist students in their academic
programmes. The research question that this study is addressing is: “What
are the students’ expectations of the tutors in a postgraduate Computer-
Based Education programme?”
This research study describes a case study method based on the students’
expectations of the tutors in a post-graduate Computer-Based Education
programme. For some reasons students have a misconception (about the
roles of the tutors) that a tutoring session is a place where they will, with very
little effort on their part, acquire and develop the computer skills needed for
competency in the course. Either they view the tutor as an assistant
lecturer, or someone who can give all the answers to their problems. The
case is to elucidate the students’ perceptions and experiences towards the
role of tutors in the Development of Web-Based Instruction in a Computer-
Based Education course.
Through qualitative data analysis the study revealed that the students in this
study needed to know where to draw the line between the role of tutors and
that of lecturers. The students acknowledged the kind of help that they
received from the tutors during the tutoring sessions. Peer tutoring was
portrayed by the students as having particular significance for them as they
were faced with challenges of inadequate mastery of the necessary
computer skills. It is also acknowledged that peer tutoring has the benefit to
contribute to the improvement of their academic performance.