Are Tutorials Necessary? 

Alina

Are tutorials better spent in a classroom or relaxing? Some say yes, while others say no, so, are tutorials necessary or not? Tutorials are vital as it allows students to catch up on work, get ahead on work, feel less stressed, and to ask teachers questions or concerns they have. 

Since the beginning of March 2020, all ISM students have been isolated in their homes because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, numerous students have been falling behind in their workload, and causing some students to have to work in their own time and might make some stressed about due dates, the quality of each assignment, and whether or not they have time to finish it. 

Due to being isolated at home and doing school on a laptop, many, if not all students - including myself - get distracted and tend to fall behind. As this has been a widespread problem, even Elementary School has a ‘choice board’ session, very similar to tutorials, set three times a week. Tutorials give students the chance to catch up on work that they need to complete. 

The extra time given in tutorials can make students feel more comfortable and confident in their work they are submitting. This extra time each week gives students the chance to complete work and catch up with the class if necessary. All this ends in the students being more confident in their work and overall less stressed about school.

An hour each week allows students the opportunity to ask any questions or concerns that they may have to any of their teachers. Students can use this time to clarify any unclear concepts or schedule a reassessment. They can also ask questions about assignments, or an upcoming assessment. Permitting the opportunity for students to ask their teachers any questions allows them to fully understand the requirements and what needs to be done.

In my opinion, if tutorials are given up, many students - myself included - will fall behind on work as they won’t have a designated time to catch up, get ahead in school, and ask teachers remaining questions. This is why tutorials are a necessity. 

Clare

Since online school first started March of 2020, students have been getting seemingly more and more stressed with school work, even with extra time. So this raises the question. Are tutorials really all that necessary? I say no. Not only are tutorials unnecessary, they are a waste of resources and especially difficult to utilize during online learning.

One might try to mention that tutorials provide guidance to students looking for extra help and advice on their schoolwork, and while that might be the case typically, that surely isn’t the case with online learning.

Tutorials are an unproductive use of school time for students and teachers. Say you’re a student, and you need help. Why not just go to class and learn in class with your teacher? Any information that you weren’t able to pick up during class could either be learned after school, or maybe without tutorials, schools could extend the time of each class for everyone to pick up on information they missed. 

During online tutorials, there is a lack of student and teacher connection. An article that I recently read by Jennifer L Brinkley said it best. “Students often want to meet prior to or following a course about the course content. They may also sometimes need a shoulder to cry on. These are examples of spontaneous meetings with students, perhaps inside or outside scheduled office hours, where the virtual format would not provide the same type of assistance the student really seeks: face-to-face help and emotional support.”

At this point in time, tutorials may be more bad than good for the students. With no way to truly connect hands on with teachers, it could easily be much harder to learn to utilize your time and stay on task, while fully understanding school work. I personally have only been to tutorials online a few times. I find that it’s more difficult to complete my work in a zoom screen with a bunch of other students and the teacher, versus the ability to go around and get my work done in a more comfortable environment.

So, is Tutorials/Office Hours even worth the 45 minutes? In my opinion, no. Not only are tutorials a waste of time, they are a waste of resources and especially difficult to utilize during online learning.