From Teacher-Centred Instruction to Peer Tutoring in the Heterogeneous International Classroom : A Danish Case of Instructional Change

This case study documents a seminar redesign from a teacher‐centered instruction format to collaborative ‘reciprocal peer tutoring’ (RPT) at Aarhus University, Denmark. Departing from concepts by Bourdieu and Vertovec, we argue that teaching concepts should meet the needs of students within Higher Education (HE). Our student sample is diverse, international and multilinguistic, comprising different cultural expectations and knowledge standards. At the same time, the Danish HE tradition, with its low degree of formality and an affinity for collaborative learning, allows for nontraditional instruction styles to accommodate this heterogeneity. The object of our documentation is thus a seminar, before and after didactic restructuring, in a Danish setting. We document both the in‐classroom methods of instruction before and after the implementation of RPT and the methods and instruments used to monitor this change. To do so, we provide insight into student group reports, students’ learning reports, a lesson timetable, seminar evaluations, focus group interviews, teacher‐student communication and course descriptions. Our study contributes on several levels: first, we provide course responsible lecturers with a detailed insight into how a seminar redesign to RPT may be achieved. Second, we provide a basis for introducing such change by documenting the positive assessment as an outcome of the monitoring. We thereby address diversity and in‐classroom heterogeneity on a didactic level