Perception of Collaborative Student-Led Tutorials with Laboratory Experiments in e-Learning

Abstract

In university teaching of fluid mechanics, student-led tutorials are often offered in addition to lectures, exercises, and laboratory experiments. In these, students learn collaboratively in small groups by working together on problems and tutors provide assistance. Due to the Corona pandemic, it was necessary to switch to an online format. Students rated the tutorials very highly and slightly better online than on-site. Conducting real and virtual experiments was rated relatively slightly better in the on-site format. A faculty-wide survey comparing different online tutorial formats shows a clear dependence on available hardware. With optimal equipment, collaborative online formats are rated as well as on-site. Perception and implementation thus also clearly depend on the hardware equipment, but more clearly on the educational setting. Students like student tutors best in online formats with the ability to ask live questions. The tutors coped very well with the requirements. Thus, after some initial additional effort due to the technical challenge, an effective replacement for the presence tutorials could be created, which were evaluated as a good starting point.