European E-tutors – Inductive Models for On-line Lecturing 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 © FORMATEX 2005 European E-tutors – inductive models for on-line lecturing in synchronous collaborative environments D. Dolan *1 , B. Holmes 1 , D. Leahy 1 , P. Lynch 1 , T. Ward 2 and Y. Amghar 3 1 TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, Dublin, Ireland 2 YORK UNIVERSITY, York, UK 3 INSA DE LYON, France This paper specifically focuses on e-tutoring in a synchronous environment with reference to the eTUTOR pan-European project. The eTUTOR project aims to analyse a variety of case studies so as to build on existing literature and present practice in order to generate a set of guidelines for e-tutors. The eTUTOR team includes Trinity College Dublin, Ireland; INSA de Lyon, France; UPM Madrid, Spain; University of Thessaloniki, Greece; and Uni- versity of York, in the UK. Each partner is committed to experimenting with e-learning en- vironments and delivery styles specifically in relation to multicultural, synchronous and collaborative situations. Keywords synchronous learning environments; e-tutoring, on-line collaboration 1. Introduction As e-learning evolves and becomes more widespread there is a need to explore best practice and from it distill pedagogy for e-tutors. The eTUTOR project, has undertaken to explore variables in pan-European countries including: Ireland; France; Spain; Greece and the UK. Each partner is delivering on-line learn- ing and building on existing literature and present practice to generate a set of guidelines for e-tutors. The project aims to explore multicultural, synchronous and collaborative situations (MCCS environ- ments) and this paper will specifically examine the collaborative element of e-tutoring process. In an MCCS environment, the higher the possible level of collaboration between key players, the greater the level of preparation that is needed for the scenario and the more important the vigilance of the e-tutor during delivery. In an e-learning environment, teachers and learners collaborate, learners collabo- rate with their peers, technicians collaborate with the students and the teaching team, lecturers collabo- rate with other lecturers (often from different countries) and visiting lecturers, topic experts, and guest students collaborate as well. There may also be collaboration in relation to the design and development stage of the e-learning activity. Of course much of this collaboration takes place in synchronous envi- ronments adding to the potential for both chaos and creativity. It is the role of the e-tutor to tread a fine line between the two. 3. An inductive methodology “… the innovative use of technology often only occurs within the classroom, and not very often between classrooms, across entire schools, or between schools and other in- stitutions and organisations” ([1] Rambol Management, 2004; p. 215). The EU funded study on Innovative Learning Environments for School Education reconfirmed that teachers in schools were still not reaching out internationally, pointing to the fact that education as a profession has not taken on an equal breadth to its depth. Creating breadth from in-depth classroom practice is a balancing act as standards and formulaic teaching practices can hold back innovation, which * Corresponding author: e-mail: Dudley.Dolan@cs.tcd.ie, Phone: + 353 1 608 1048