Pro®les of effective tutors in problem-based learning: scaffolding student learning Willem S De Grave, Diana H J M Dolmans & Cees P M van der Vleuten Objectives Research on tutoring in problem-based learning has not focused so far on the variation in tutoring and how this variation can be interpreted by conceptions about effective tutoring. Design This study focuses on the pro®les of tutors generated by means of an instrument, the so-called Tutor Intervention Pro®le (TIP), and tries to deter- mine which pro®les are more or less effective. The TIP contains four dimensions of tutor behaviour: (1) elaboration; (2) directing the learning process; (3) integration of knowledge; and (4) stimulating interac- tion and individual accountability. Setting The medical school of the University of Maastricht, The Netherlands. Subjects Sixty-seven tutors who run 67 tutorial groups across three units (courses) in the academic year 1996± 97. Results It appeared that high, average and low performing tutors differ in their performance on each of the four dimensions of the TIP. Several different pro®les of tutor performance could be distinguished, which were more or less effective. One group of tutors demonstrated a tutor intervention pro®le that was characterized as relying more on the use of expert knowledge, whereas another group of tutors was char- acterized as relying more on their abilities to stimulate the learning process in the tutorial group. The tutor intervention pro®le that was perceived by students as most effective showed high scores on each of the four dimensions, as expected. Notably, a tutor stressing the learning process in the tutorial group was perceived as more effective than a tutor stressing content (expert tutor). This is especially true for a relatively poor scoring tutor. Conclusions The results of this study are consistent with research on human tutoring and research on tutoring in problem-based learning. Medical Education 1999;33:901±906 Introduction The role of a tutor in problem-based learning (PBL) is to scaffold student learning. This metaphor implies that the tutor provides support so that students think for themselves. A scaffold is a support, like the temporary framework that supports workers during the construc- tion of a building. One assumption underlying scaf- folding is that a cognitive distance exists between what learners know and can do on their own and what they know and can do with the assistance of a more knowledgeable person. Another assumption of scaf- folding is that interaction and dialogue between the teacher and the learner or between peers plays a central role. The metaphor of scaffolding can be translated into a model of learning through incremental assistance by a more knowledgeable person, with the prototypical interaction being one-to-one tutoring. 1 Individual (human) tutoring is regarded as the gold standard of education against which the value and effectiveness of other instructional methods can be measured pro®tably. 2,3 Intelligent tutoring also uses individual human tutoring as a standard. 4 However, although tutoring is regarded as a gold standard, there is little knowledge about the dynamics of the tutoring process. There is some research on scaffolding in the context of individual human tutoring (for a review of research see Hogan & Pressley 1 ). This (descriptive) research has provided us with some information about the dimensions of scaffolding the learning process of students by expert tutors. 1,3,5 Lepper et al., 3 for instance, found that human tutors give roughly equal attention to cognitive, motivational and social factors of Department of Educational Development & Research, University of Maastricht, The Netherlands Correspondence: Willem de Grave, University of Maastricht, Depart- ment of Educational Development and Research, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands Research papers Ó Blackwell Science Ltd MEDICAL EDUCATION 1999;33:901±906 901