Tutoring in Economic Statistics: The Monash Experience

First-year Economic Statistics at Monash University is a compulsory two-semester course for students enrolled in the B.Ec. degree. Total enrolment is typically around 740 students. Physical constraints have kept tutorial class sizes to an average of 15 students. The majority of tutors are postgraduate students working as part-time tutors. Few, if any, have had any formal training in teaching and for most it is their first teaching experience. Also different cultural and language backgrounds appeared to be contributing to an unacceptable degree of heterogeneity across tutorials. This prompted the Department to initiate a series of workshops to improve the quality of tutorials. This paper describes the process leading up to the first workshop and the conclusions that came out of it. Without claiming that these workshops are a substitute for formal teacher training, we feel they have achieved a degree of success in improving the quality of tutorials and motivating tutors to strive for excellence in teaching.