Experiences of tutorial sessions as learning support for distance education students

Abstract

This article examines face-to-face tutorial sessions as a means of facilitating the learning of distance education students enrolled for the Advanced Certificate in Education at the Distance Education Unit, University of Pretoria. Since distance education is learner-centred learning, students are assumed to be independent and self-motivated in the learning process. Because distance education students study alone most of the time, there is a need to enhance their learning experience by providing support structures such as tutorial sessions. Students attending the tutorial sessions at the University of Pretoria provide feedback on the session in the form of short questionnaires, but there is still a need to further explore their experiences. This is done by using a qualitative approach to capture nuances of how the students and tutors experience and conceptualise learning support in a tutorial session and whether they think that it is worthwhile attending the sessions. The data were collected through interviewing students and their tutors. The findings of the study suggest that although the students experience tutorial sessions as a worthwhile learning support structure, there is a need to redefine the role of the tutors and to review the academic and administrative support structure of the students so as to improve the quality of the tutorial sessions.