Note: To get our thoughts here in good time, the members of the three-person “pair” are posting separately rather than as a group about live tutoring/recorded lecture. In compensation, we’ll keep our separate posts short.
For me, it is premature to begin thinking about experimental design. A necessary first step is to reflect upon my experience in the exercise and to read what other members of our course experienced.
First, a procedural lesson: Ad-hoc organizing a group of three pairs was substantially more work than organizing two. For each pair, we had to negotiate a common time (across gaps of of five hours and ten hours), a common topic, and a common screen-sharing tool. Startup time for any group is significant, so the task the group performs should be large enough to warrant the startup effort.
Second, I didn’t notice many questions either when I tutored or when I learned, yet the experience was distinctly different from watching a video lecture. As a tutor, knowing that the learner could ask questions allowed me to proceed, offering mini-pauses to open up the chance for questions. As a learner, knowing I could ask questions any time made it easier to tolerate uncertainties, because I could resolve them if I later felt lost.
Third, my lack of memory of interaction during the tutorials probably misses the trivially easy and trivially quick sort of interactions (“uh-huh”) that are so practiced I don’t notice them.
Finally, although I don’t recall much interaction during the formal tutorial, there was plenty of interaction establishing and wrapping up the conversation, establishing familiarity and common ground for the formal lesson that was the reason for the call. These interactions had as many benefits as the tutorial itself.