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Abstract Understanding the emotional aspects of pedagogical approaches for primary-aged school children engaged in synchronous audio-led one-to-one online tuition is the focus of this qualitative research study. Data are drawn from the process evaluation element of a large randomized control trial of a 27-week, affordable online mathematics tuition intervention that involved 600 pupils spread across 64 schools in England. Focus groups and interviews conducted with pupils and school staff were used to investigate the pupils' emotional experiences of the mathematics intervention, with reference to the pupil–tutor relationship and the online environment. Our findings suggest that audio-led synchronous one-to-one online tuition provides variable and limited access to emotionally positive pupil–tutor relationships. Whilst our study largely supports the argument that synchronous technologies enhance the sense of communicating with a "real" person (social presence), we conclude that this does not necessarily have a positive effect. We found that the quality of social presence is contingent on the quality of the pupil–tutor relationship. This paper advances our understanding of social presence theory and highlights the need for program developers to facilitate, and tutors, to consider pupil-sensitive collaborative teaching approaches. Highlights • Synchronous 1-2-1 online tuition provided limited access to emotionally positive pupil–tutor relationships. • The emotional quality of the tutor–pupil relationship is interconnected with pupils' sense of their tutors as "real" people. • Social presence is dependent on the quality of the pupil–tutor interpersonal relationship. • Text-based technologies can alleviate emotional and social stress. • Pupil-sensitive collaborative teaching approaches can enhance the emotional and pedagogic experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents ongoing research at the University of Hertfordshire on the use of computer-adaptive tests (CATs) in Higher Education. A software prototype based on Item Response Theory has been developed and is described here. This application was designed to estimate the level of proficiency in English for those students whose first language is not English. Academic staff and students evaluated the prototype introduced here and we summarise their attitude to the user interface and to pedagogical aspects of the prototype. We provide evidence that learners are not disadvantaged by the CAT approach, based on a comparison of performance between CAT and computer-based tests. A group of international students also took part in a focus group session after using the software. During this session, students discussed issues related to computer-adaptive tests, ranging from their perception that very easy tests are “meaningless” to their insights into the fairness of such computer-assisted assessments.In addition, this paper outlines how our current work will be developed further by implementing multimedia resources, developing more subjective tests and adding a stop condition associated with the calculation of standard error. Finally, the benefits and potential limitations of this method of assessment are also presented here. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]