The integration of synchronous communication technology into service learning for pre-service teachers' online tutoring of middle school students

To well prepare pre-service teachers for their future teaching, researchers and teacher-educators have been employing information and communication technology to improve pre-service teachers' learning of subject-matter knowledge, pedagogies, classroom-management skills, and so on. This study illustrates a service-learning project we conducted to engage 18 Taiwanese pre-service teachers in tutoring middle school students by means of synchronous communication tools. To evaluate this project, we collected data from observations, surveys, postings on a discussion forum, teaching journals, and learning journals. Although the pre-service teachers and students generally held positive attitudes toward the tutoring experience and the pre-service teachers reported various benefits from participating in this project, some tutors were concerned with the effectiveness of online tutoring. Most of the tutors tried to motivate their students by providing appealing materials to, and by facilitating interaction with, the students. Yet, some tutors were troubled by students' misbehavior and low motivation.