Undergraduate students' use of information elicited during e-mail "tutorials"

This study considers those questions posed by students during e-mail "tutorials" to elicit information from "guest lecturers" and the use of that information by students in their essays. The "tutorials" were conducted for students in the U.K. by a "guest lecturer" in France. The "guest lecturer" was accredited as a tutor on the module for which the students were enrolled, and participated in the module by the provision of lecture notes prior to the e-mail tutorials. Data for the study, drawn from a comparative education assignment set for undergraduate students enrolled on the module, comprised surveys of students' perceived IT capabilities and attitudes towards IT, analyses of students' questions and analyses of students' essays. The findings of the study indicate (I) that tutees tend to pose questions to elicit information or clarification rather than to elicit the viewpoint or opinions of the "guest lecturer" and (2) that two-thirds of tutees essays cited information elicited from the "guest lecturer". (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.