Distance Tutoring in Mechanics

Abstract

Tutoring has been a central part of the educational system at the long established universities of Cambridge and Oxford in the UK. Previously, at most two students could be tutored in the mathematical sciences, one on each side of the supervisor. Today in the age of computing and Internet, any number of students, in principal, could be supervised at a distance, as each student will be sitting in front of his or her own computer. This paper describes an attempt to carry out tutoring in the subject area of mechanics in small groups and at a distance, i.e. the tutors and the students communicate via an Internet based e-meeting system rather being present in the same physical room. This is used at a KTH (Sweden) mechanics distance course supported with tutoring from AUT (New Zealand) and the reverse tutoring of students at a regular mechanics course at AUT tutored from KTH.