Interactive Tutorials in Undergraduate Mathematics: What Are They Good For?

<p dir="ltr">Full-paper in Proceedings of the 25th Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education, Omaha, NE, USA</p><p dir="ltr">Citation: Kim, S. H., & Evans, T. (2023). Interactive Tutorials in Undergraduate Mathematics: What Are They Good For? In S. Cook, B. Katz, & Moore-Russo D. (Eds.), <i>Proceedings of the 25th Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education</i> (pp. 306-314). Omaha, NE</p><p dir="ltr">Abstract: In-person tutorials present a prime opportunity for students to work with others to engage their problem-solving and critical-thinking skills. We investigate the use of interactive tutorials in a large, second-year service mathematics course as part of a quasi-experiment whereby students could either attend in-person tutorials (for a participation mark) or complete the tutorials individually without attending the live sessions and submit solutions for credit. Our analyses of student data and self-efficacy measures suggest that consistent attendance at in-person tutorials may maintain and improve students’ self-efficacy. Median changes to self-efficacy measures for students who attended in-person tutorials were higher than those who completed tutorials individually without attending the live sessions. The difference between the changes to the Emotional Regulation aspect of tutorial self-efficacy was statistically significant (p = .031), highlighting the role in-person tutorials play in supporting students’ mathematical learning beyond academic outcomes.</p>