Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Tutorials in a Post-Registration Nursing Degree Programme in Hong Kong

We evaluated the effectiveness of tutorials in a post-registration nursing degree course in Hong Kong. We utilised multiple research methods within an overall action research paradigm: a pre/post experimental design, non-participant observation of tutorials, journal keeping by tutors and student interviews. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of tutors’ teaching styles on students’ (n=61) critical thinking processes. The experimental design used Biggs’ (1987) Study Process Questionnaire (SPQ) and Entwistle and Ramsden’s Approaches to Study Inventory (ASI) as dependent variables. Two experimental groups showed a significant change in pre/post test scores. The qualitative data indicated differences in the way in which these two groups operated. These data also indicated that students largely used achieving approaches (being competitive, well organised and concerned with doing well) to their studying. Students’ satisfaction with tutorials was related to the tutorials’ relevance to the preceding lecture as well as to their perceived contribution to course assessment. We conclude that the efficiency of the tutorials could be increased by reducing the number of course assignments, designing a set of specific tutorial activities which combine both didactic and self-directed teaching methods and having explicit instructions when forming tutorial groups.