Dialogue in the classroom and in a peer-tutoring program: how do we connect and learn in online and face to face spaces?

Abstract

University tutorials have been part of course design for decades. Tutorials often promote smaller group discussions, where students collaborate and connect to peers, arguably improving academic outcomes and supporting development of social skills. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, however, many challenges emerged on to how to move towards more cooperative forms of learning, how to support students’ connections to a learning community, whilst still maintaining social distancing. This article discusses students’ experiences of tutorial sessions implemented prior and after the pandemic, in a first-year course at a Chilean university. Overall results indicate that while there were no significant differences in students’ perceptions of learning from tutorials pre and during the pandemic, both groups experienced some opportunities and challenges which are discussed.