- Labs and tutorials are secondary delivery mechanisms that support the primary learning context.
- Labs and tutorials should be scaffolding and have suitable debriefing and discussion activities associated with them.
- Labs and tutorials can take as much time (if not more) to design, to get the appropriate methods in place, as a primary learning component.
Off the beaten path...
Labs and tutorials are what we consider the secondary delivery aspects of a course. The main lecture, class time is the primary delivery and focuses on the foundations needed for the learning outcomes. The labs and tutorials support the primary class time. It is possible to use labs and tutorials as a way to introduce material (form of flip) and then the primary class time takes it from there. Or, the lab and tutorial follows the primary introduction to provide practice, experiential learning about the material. In the case of the tutorial, the time can be spent on practice or for verifying that the core concepts were understood. The tutorial can also deal with remedial learning associated with assumed skills and knowledge. The tutorial time can be used in many creative ways to augment and support the students (e.g., helping students transition from secondary school, how to work with a new method introduced by the instructor). Tutorials are not limited to doing more drill and questions. At least, they should not be.
Here are some thoughts about labs and tutorials...
- Labs and tutorials need to have suitable staffing; number of resources, skills and knowledge. The helpers must be able to work with the students, be able to explain, be able to help. The helpers must have great bedside manner.
- Have a flexible model for how to use the time and be able to move topics, sessions around, drop some, add some. They should not be rigid and fixed in concrete.
- In the tutorials, the process of how to read a question, assignment should not be overlooked. The students need to know how to read with comprehension, know what is being asked, what the signal words, phrases are, where to start, why start there, what do do. The tutorial help should go deeper than the superficial, here is the answer, do this, do that. Students need to learn how to fish.
- The tutorials and labs are a great way to give guided, monitored training to the TAs and helpers. Develop their instructional skills. It should not be assumed that the helpers know what to do and how to do it. Check them out, develop a plan for them.
- The design of a lab or a tutorial that focuses on a remedial topic, needs to be approached as a full course module. The same thinking, review, and design. How is the lab tied to learning outcomes? What methods are appropriate? Are the students learning more than one thing at a time? Are the labs designed with conscious, deliberate practice in mind?
- Are the labs and tutorials working? How is the learning from a lab assessed? How do you know if a tutorial is working? Do you evaluate the labs and tutorials with the students? Ask for feedback on them specifically?
- As the instructor of record, the one responsible for the course, you should be involved and helping with the tutorials and labs. Perhaps not all of the tutorials (depends on the topic, TA quality). Probably all of the labs though. And, you should participate and set the standards for both at the start of term. You should take the initiative for the first tutorials and lab sessions so that the TAs and helpers can follow your lead, your methods.
- The tutorials should provide value-add. Else, the students have no reason to come. See the note on attending class (LINK). There should also be value-add for the labs.
- Many labs and tutorials will have three tiers. There is the remedial component, novice, naive. There is the normal, average level. There is the advanced, next level. In any class, lab, tutorial, you will have the three levels. The primary class and the supporting elements should have mechanisms in place to deal with each level. Yes, this takes time to figure out and be prepared for, but it is part of the gig. You can choose to teach to only one level, or to embrace the diversity and support the class holistically. Your choice.
Further reading
- Feld, J., Salamanca, N., and U. Zolitz (2020). Are Professors Worth It? The Value-Added and Costs of Tutorial Instructors, Journal of Human Resources, 55, 3, pp. 836-863
- Deacon, C., and A. Hajek (2011). Student Perceptions of the Value of Physics Laboratories International Journal of Science Education, 33, 7, pp. 943-977.