 The preparedness of students entering South African universities has changed considerably over the past few years. Students are expected to possess basic skills necessary to cope with tertiary education before entering the system, although nowadays there tends to be a significant gap between high school and university. This gap is especially noticeable in terms of scientific skills. Many conventional universities do not, however, address these skills explicitly, leaving potentially capable students struggling or even failing to obtain a degree.
At Stellenbosch University, the Science Faculty attempts to address these limitations through the implementation of an additional tutorial program for first-year students in the Biology 124 course. These tutorials focus on improving students’ scientific skills by using biological content as a basis. The environment in which these tutorials are presented is informal, less intimidating than the conventional lecturing environment and is orientated towards an essential component, namely student participation.
An exciting, interactive additional tutorial system for small groups of first year students, incorporating both skills and content-based learning, was implemented in September 2007. Students could voluntarily attend these tutorials in 2008 but the program was, however, made compulsory for selected students as from 2009. The University yearbook incorporates scheduled lectures (3 per week for 50 minutes each) and practical sessions (1 per week for 3 hours each) into the Biology 124 course. These practical sessions may also take the form of a tutorial when modules such as Genetics or Biochemistry do not have practical work to be completed. In these instances, worksheets are completed and demonstrators act as a support medium for students.
The additional tutorial system is separate from the scheduled lectures and practical sessions/tutorials although it does fall within the allotted time given to Biology 124 in the University yearbook. This is achieved by cutting the 3 hours per week, set aside for practical sessions/tutorials, down to 2 hours and utilizing the third hour for an additional tutorial aimed at improving the insufficient scientific skills of certain students who qualify for the program.
All Biology 124 students are assessed by means of a small test during their first class at the beginning of the year. This test combines high school and general knowledge biology. Tutorial attendance becomes compulsory for students who fail this first test (≤50%) until another small test assessing practical or course content poses an opportunity for students to exempt themselves from the tutorial program. Further small tests (15-20 marks) are written throughout the semester and are invigilated by the lecturers. Students can therefore outperform themselves and be exempted from the tutorial program by passing these tests but may also re-enter the program if their test marks drop below standard.
The 2009 biology tutorial programme employs 11 postgraduate tutors, half of whom have been involved in the program for two years, creating some continuity in the group. Tutor responsibilities include tutorial contact sessions with the class (one hour per week), individual consultation periods by appointment in which students can discuss individual problems (three hours per week) as well as a weekly tutor pre-tutorial meeting (one hour per week). In these meetings tutors discuss problems, reflect on the previous tutorial and criticise the tutorial for the following week. These tutor meetings are vital for the success of the program and for the morale within the tutor group.
During tutorials it is the tutors’ task to promote group activities and interactive learning, instilling trust within the group and encouraging teamwork. Furthermore, tutors assess individuals’ input to prevent passive learning, giving continues feedback on the group and individuals and, where necessary, give moral support and encouragement.
One postgraduate student coordinates the logistics of the programme. These tasks include assigning students to tutorial groups, arranging venues for tutorials when necessary, keeping records of students’ attendance and updating records on student progress.
The tutors are responsible for designing and developing a number of tutorials covering a range of skills and biological content. In a brainstorming session at the beginning of each term, relevant course content is linked with a necessary skill to be taught resulting in the construction of a semester program. Tutors work in pairs to develop one tutorial per term keeping them actively involved and dedicated to the formulation of the program. Tutors may consult the relevant lecturer regarding content or techniques that students grapple with. Tutorials designed by tutors have several advantages, some of which include being familiar with what is expected of undergraduate (especially first-year) students, having the ability to present material in a creative but relevant manner as well as being able to encourage productive class discussions. By giving tutors these responsibilities they gain experience in teaching in an academic environment and becoming involved in the learning experience.
There are a number of reasons why biology tutors have become involved in this tutorial program, these include work experience, interpersonal skills, financial remuneration, they enjoy working with students and finally, to lecture similar subjects in future. Furthermore tutor’s feel they are well paid and tutoring does not interfere with their time set aside for their own research. By being a part of the biology tutor program, tutors acquire valuable skills that include gaining teaching experience, becoming more confident at public speaking, getting students involved in their learning experience and conducting small-group discussions.
Tutors uniformly agreed that this additional tutorial program was useful and relevant to their respective groups of first year students. Tutors particularly enjoyed the positive feedback received from students that were more successful after attending their tutorials. Although a compulsory tutorial program has been successful in many aspects, the negativity of some of the students not accepting the reasons for their placement in the program along with the disruptive classes are two facets which tutors dislike most. Tutorial class sizes also vary between 15 and 40 but each class remains relatively constant in numbers despite the movement of students in and out the program. Some students even made use of the tutorial program on a voluntary basis.
Many aspects have improved since the 2008 tutoring program; these include compulsory tutorials, the structuring of tutorials and better correspondence with the lecturers concerned. Two aspects, namely tutorial starting times and assessment tests determining student placement into the tutorial program still need to be addressed. Tutorials should begin directly after the biology practical/tutorial session but starting times are never fixed since the practicals/tutorials vary in length. Either students or tutors therefore end up waiting for the other, thereby wasting time. Assessment tests are not planned by the tutorial program but the results are occasionally used to determine which students will be brought into the program and which students have outperformed themselves. Neither students nor tutors are aware of which assessment test marks count towards the tutorial program and students are unhappy when they excel at one test but still remain in the program.
Tutorials were designed in such a way that each weekly topic followed on from the previous week, creating a continuous flow throughout the semester. The first tutorial was introductory and allowed students to meet each other and their tutors. There was also a short exercise on information uptake allowing students to find their own method of choice. The following week dealt with listening and taking notes giving students the opportunity to decide whether taking notes, listening or doing both during a lecture would benefit their information uptake. Exercises aimed at practicing hierarchical structuring and visual summaries were then implemented in the next two tutorials. These exercises helped students to summarise their class notes in a more structured way that is easier to study. Biology 30 Seconds, a familiar game with a biological twist, was played during tutorial five. This guided students to use the resources at hand, namely the index or glossary of their textbooks, to improve their biology terminology. With predicates looming, the aim of the next tutorial was to focus on improving student reading and answering skills. This tutorial was followed by one which identified different questioning terms and how to go about answering these. To gain insight into what students understood in biology up to this point, a crossword puzzle including all biology work to date was constructed for the next tutorial. To prepare students for examinations, a tutorial on how to formulate their own questions with answers was included. This tutorial guided students to look at the work from a different point of view. As the end of the semester grew near a tutorial entitled “placing biology in context” was created to place all Biology 124 modules into a bigger, inter-connected picture for a better understanding of where everything fits in. The semester was ended off with a debate session on evolution where all students had the opportunity to interact and participate with their newly- gained knowledge from the past semester.
Informal feedback consisted of two components known as “muddiest moment” and “glossiest glow”. Informal assessment forms were completed every week by the students. The “muddiest moment” created the opportunity for students to identify the most unclear point(s) from the week’s lectures, practicals or tutorials. The “glossiest glow” created the opportunity for students to identify the most understandable, clear or enjoyable point(s) from the week’s lectures, practicals or tutorials. This information was then taken into consideration at each pre-tutorial meeting and addressed through making problem areas part of the tutorial program and including aspects which they enjoyed. This also indicated to the students that we as tutors were taking their feedback into account. This information also provides improvement suggestions for tutorials in future. Formal tutorial assessment feedback forms were handed to the students towards the end of the semester and given to the Centre for Teaching and Learning for processing and analyses.
Students were very proud of their predicate marks after attending these compulsory tutorials. Many tutors were thanked for the assistance throughout the semester. Student feedback included remarks such as “tutorials helped me to understand the work better” and “the skill and tools that I acquired can easily be used for other subjects as well”. Some students even confessed to thinking that tutorials would be a waste of time, but were later grateful and glad that they attended since they learned new skills and met new people. One student who did not have biology at school said that this tutorial program helped him a lot to get a good predicate mark, something he thought to be impossible.
The knowledge and social gap dividing matriculants from successful first year students is bridged through experience gained in the biology tutorial program. This bridge is facilitated by highly motivated, successful postgraduate tutors. It has therefore been proposed that tutors’ voices be included in discussions regarding the development and improvement of tutorial programs since they can recall their experiences more vividly and are in direct contact with these first year students in a safe, unthreatening environment. Tutorials such as these should be implemented in more fields of study since they aim to accustom new students to their drastic change in lifestyle and environment in a friendly, helpful manner. It is suggested that similar tutorial programs be included in the University yearbook as a recognised addition to formal lectures. Tutors involved in the biology tutorial program provide perspectives and suggestions here that are important and relevant to the success of the program. If these perspectives and suggestions be taken into account, together with the feedback from students, a highly successful dynamic program may be the result. Students entering higher education for the first time seek opportunities such as these to become part of a continuously evolving system. Within this system they may be recognised as individuals within an adjudging group where they feel comfortable to express themselves, make friends and find new role-model in their tutors who inspire them to take their studies further.
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