E-tutorial support for virtual collaborative learning in practice - An explorative field study

In collaborative knowledge construction scenarios, the learner-tutor interaction plays a major role in successful learning. In such contexts, the support provided by the e-tutor is of importance. Even though support methods are required from a theoretical point of view, the question is whether e-tutors effectively employ these methods in practice in their e-learning courses. To gain further insights into the specific practices of e-tutors, a questionnaire was developed for our study to inquire about primary support methods. The e-tutors who responded described seventy-eight e-learning experiences from 17 different European countries. Results showed that e-tutors use a wide variety of support methods in both a flexible and specific manner. In general, e-tutors tend to intervene personally during collaboration rather than pre-structure collaboration. Furthermore, e-tutors focus more on cognitive activities than they do on social activities. In these collaborative online contexts, it is also hard for e-tutors to detect social phenomena in their e-learning experiences.