Profiles of effective tutors in problem-based learning: scaffolding student learning

Objectives Research on tutoring in problem-based learning has not focused s o far on the variation in tutoring and how this variation can be interprete d by conceptions about effective tutoring. Design This study focuses on the profiles of tutors generated by means of a n instrument, the so-called Tutor Intervention Profile (TIP), and tries to determine which profiles are more or less effective. The TIP contains four dimensions of tutor behaviour: (1) elaboration; (2) directing the learning process; (3) integration of knowledge; and (4) stimulating interaction and individual accountability. Setting The medical school of the University of Maastricht, The Netherlands . Subjects Sixty-seven tutors who run 67 tutorial groups across three units ( courses) in the academic year 1996-97. Results It appeared that high, average and low performing tutors differ in their performance on each of the four dimensions of the TIP. Several differ ent profiles of tutor performance could be distinguished, which were more o r less effective. One group of tutors demonstrated a tutor intervention pro file that was characterized as relying more on the use of expert knowledge, whereas another group of tutors was characterized as relying more on their abilities to stimulate the learning process in the tutorial group. The tut or intervention profile that was perceived by students as most effective sh owed high scores on each of the four dimensions, as expected. Notably, a tu tor stressing the learning process in the tutorial group was perceived as m ore effective than a tutor stressing content (expert tutor). This is especi ally true for a relatively poor scoring tutor. Conclusions The results of this study are consistent with research on human tutoring and research on tutoring in problem-based learning.