Abstract:

In 2009, the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University (Canada) replaced regular session tutorials in Introduction to Criminology (CRIM 101) with i>clicker tutorials. Unlike regular session tutorials (conducted by teaching assistants in small classrooms with small groups of students), these 50 minute i>clicker tutorials are conducted in a large lecture theatre immediately following the weekly two hour lecture, with the entire class (as many as 330 students) in attendance. In 2011, the School of Criminology replaced regular session tutorials in Sociological Explanations of Crime and Deviance (CRIM 104) and Introduction to the Canadian Criminal Justice System (CRIM 131) with on-line tutorials. These 50 minute on-line tutorials are delivered entirely on-line and can be taken at any time and from any computer with an internet connection, during the one-week period that they are open. The authors of this paper invited students enrolled in their Fall 2012 and Spring 2013 offerings of CRIM 101 (i>clicker tutorials), Fall 2012 and Spring 2013 offerings of CRIM 104 and CRIM 131 (on-line tutorials) and the Spring 2013 offerings of Current Theories and Perspectives in Criminology (CRIM 300) and Qualitative Research Methods in Criminology (CRIM 321) (regular session tutorials) to participate in an on-line survey regarding their experiences with regular session, on-line and i>clicker tutorials. The purpose of the study was to evaluate student perceptions of emerging learning technologies, compared to more traditional teaching methods. This paper reports on the design and implementation of the i>clicker and on-line tutorials, the design and administration of the on-line survey, strategies employed to enhance student participation in the survey, and preliminary results from 629 completed survey questionnaires (participation rate = 50 %). Preliminary survey results indicate that students prefer on-line tutorials over i>clicker and regular session tutorials, and that there is generally a high level of student satisfaction when it comes to emerging learning technologies. It was possible for the researchers to identify which facets of regular session, i>clicker and on-line tutorials the students found most appealing (and/or useful), and which facets they did not find appealing and/or useful. These findings have the potential to influence the types of tutorials offered by the university in future, as well as the way in which current offerings might be modified or re-designed. It is anticipated that further research—employing grade sheets from the courses sampled and the data set generated by this on-line survey—will confirm the degree to which student experiences with and perceptions of emerging learning technologies actually correlate with student learning outcomes.

Keywords:

Emerging learning technologies, i>clicker tutorials, online tutorials, on-line surveys.