Alternatives to the conventional ‘Oxford’ tutorial model: a scoping review

In higher education, one commonly used teaching approach that is intended to develop deep learning is that of the ‘Oxford’ tutorial—a personalized Socratic approach in which an instructor discusses course-related issues with a handful of students. Even though this conventional tutorial model is well supported in the literature, it may be neglected by research-driven academics and is expensive to operate. The latter issue has placed tutorials in the spotlight because higher education institutions are facing huge funding cuts worldwide. In light of these problems, a scoping review was conducted to explore financially viable alternatives to the Oxford tutorial for management education. Articles in highly ranked management education and development academic journals were collected by searching these catalogs and compiling a database of 48 articles published in four premier journals. These articles were reviewed by two independent raters in order to arrive at 8 alternatives to the Oxford tutorial model that can achieve similar objectives of said tutorials while reducing costs. These alternative tutorial models all involve the application of information communication technologies to tutorials and include peer instruction, simulations and games, online collaborative learning, syndicates, flipped classrooms, communication systems, tailored learning, and portfolios. Challenges and implementation guidelines are explained for each alternative tutorial model.