Student groups as tutors in information systems education: Students' perspectives on collaboration & outcomes

The study explores the potential of the research-Teaching nexus in a peer-Tutoring setting. During the Fall semester of 2016, students in an Information Systems course worked collaboratively on domain topics, assigned to them by the teacher and created educational material for their fellow students. Students' tutoring role was concluding with a class presentation and a discussion session in each course lecture. The study focuses on students' perspectives in the collaborating groups and the audience and analyzes how learning strategies in self-regulation, peer learning, and help seeking affect students' experiences during group work. Analysis of student activity revealed four distinct patterns of collaboration. Findings suggest that students that rely more on group members for help were less satisfied by the communication among them. However, students were in general satisfied with their collaboration, being able to adapt the activity to their needs. Similarly, the teacher and the audience (students attending the student-Tutoring sessions) evaluated positively students' performance as teachers.