In the present study cross-age peer tutoring was implemented in a higher education context. Fourth-year students (N = 39) operated as online tutors to support freshmen in discussing cases and solving authentic problems. This study contributes to a better understanding of the supportive interventions of tutors in asynchronous discussion groups. Peer tutor interventions were studied by means of a...

Intelligent Tutoring Systems research has made assumptions that may be violated in illdefined tasks. We describe ethics case analysis, an important educational yet ill-defined task in the domain of bioengineering ethics. We discuss an ITS approach for this task that involves structuring the learning experience and using AI to help guide student peer reviewers.

In an attempt to find ways to improve persistence rates in its distance courses, the Cegep@distance introduced different forms of collaboration (peer interaction and collaborative learning activities) in selected courses. A mixed methodology was used to understand the effects of these interventions, relying on a quasiexperimental design for the evaluation of the effects of peer interaction. The...