1. TUTOR PROGRAMME, SELECTION AND TRAINING
Prof. Jacqui Kew

2. TODAY’s OUTLINE Why is a tutoring system important
What needs to happen before tutorials can be offered
What happens in a tutorial?
Tutor selection
Tutor training
Tutor evaluation
Is it all worth it??
Questions
Staff:
Quickly recognise what students do not understand
Focus in lecture on understanding WHY something is happening
Tutorials will focus on the WHAT is happening
Become more outcomes based in your lecturing approach
Tutors:
Can become interested in academia – grow your own timber
Improve their own understanding
Responsibility – pervasive skills
Students:
Continuous work, need to keep up to date
Recognise whether they are behind or ahead of the curve
Individual attention
Can discuss/debate issues
Small class versus large class teaching

3. WHO BENEFITS STAFF TUTORS STUDENTS Staff:
Quickly recognise what students do not understand
Focus in lecture on understanding WHY something is happening
Tutorials will focus on the WHAT is happening
Become more outcomes based in your lecturing approach
Tutors:
Can become interested in academia – grow your own timber
Improve their own understanding
Responsibility – pervasive skills
Students:
Continuous work, need to keep up to date
Recognise whether they are behind or ahead of the curve
Individual attention
Can discuss/debate issues
Small class versus large class teaching

4. PLANNING A TUTORIAL SYSTEM
Champion and buy-in from all course convenors
The academic stuff up-front: Tutor selection, tutor training, developing a tutorial pack, creating solutions
The admin stuff up-front: Venues, sign-up strategy (VULA), funds to pay student tutors
Weekly: Tutor meeting, solutions prepared/checked
Per semester: Tutor evaluations – by staff member and by students
Staff:
Quickly recognise what students do not understand
Focus in lecture on understanding WHY something is happening
Tutorials will focus on the WHAT is happening
Become more outcomes based in your lecturing approach
Tutors:
Can become interested in academia – grow your own timber
Improve their own understanding
Responsibility – pervasive skills
Students:
Continuous work, need to keep up to date
Recognise whether they are behind or ahead of the curve
Individual attention
Can discuss/debate issues
Small class versus large class teaching

5. TUTOR MEETING Weekly – 45min
Run by course convenor or lecturer doing that section
Provide tutors with guidelines on what the students will struggle with, how to approach the tutorial
Scaffolding important
Tutors need to guide not just answer – need to figure out what the issue actually is – the STUDENTS not the TUTOR need to be working
Staff:
Quickly recognise what students do not understand
Focus in lecture on understanding WHY something is happening
Tutorials will focus on the WHAT is happening
Become more outcomes based in your lecturing approach
Tutors:
Can become interested in academia – grow your own timber
Improve their own understanding
Responsibility – pervasive skills
Students:
Continuous work, need to keep up to date
Recognise whether they are behind or ahead of the curve
Individual attention
Can discuss/debate issues
Small class versus large class teaching

6. IN A TUTORIAL
Students need to come prepared – hand in work prior to tutorial
Tutors need to mark a small section – to understand the issues
Tutors need to be well prepared
Optional extra – objective tests
Can give seen and unseen tutorials, tutorial activities
Run for hours
Staff:
Quickly recognise what students do not understand
Focus in lecture on understanding WHY something is happening
Tutorials will focus on the WHAT is happening
Become more outcomes based in your lecturing approach
Tutors:
Can become interested in academia – grow your own timber
Improve their own understanding
Responsibility – pervasive skills
Students:
Continuous work, need to keep up to date
Recognise whether they are behind or ahead of the curve
Individual attention
Can discuss/debate issues
Small class versus large class teaching

7. WHAT IS A TUTORIAL NOT ... It is NOT a mini-lecture
It is NOT a space to merely be given the solution
It is NOT a space in which the tutor does all the talking and thinking
It is NOT a space that replaces the need for students to work on their own
It is NOT a space in which the students do the tutorial hand-ins for the first time
Staff:
Quickly recognise what students do not understand
Focus in lecture on understanding WHY something is happening
Tutorials will focus on the WHAT is happening
Become more outcomes based in your lecturing approach
Tutors:
Can become interested in academia – grow your own timber
Improve their own understanding
Responsibility – pervasive skills
Students:
Continuous work, need to keep up to date
Recognise whether they are behind or ahead of the curve
Individual attention
Can discuss/debate issues
Small class versus large class teaching

8. TUTOR SELECTION AND TRAINING
Attitude
Focus of interview
Focus of tutor training
Knowledge
Presentation
skills
Facilitation
skills

9. THE INTERVIEW Focus of interview Attitude Knowledge Presentation
Why do they want to tutor?
Describe an excellent and/or bad tutor you have had
How would they prepare for a tutorial
Attitude
Focus of interview
Knowledge
Presentation
skills
Deep learning
Conceptual understanding
WHY not only WHAT
Make thought process visible
Clarity
Listening
Time lines
Examples
Facilitation
skills

10. Focus of tutor training
Attitude
Weekly hour long meeting
Knowledge
Presentation
skills
3 day training course
Facilitation
skills

11. Preparing for a tutorial
Diversity
Student issues
?ing
Marking
Preparing for a tutorial
3-day workshop
Listening skills
Reflecting
Giving feedback
Board work

12. MAKING YOUR THOUGHT PROCESS “VISIBLE”
Where did you get stuck?
Why?
Why answering in this particular way?
What theory was relevant?
Why?
HOW are you approaching the tutorial?
What mistakes could tutlings make? Why
What is the tutorial asking me to do?
Scaffolding

13. REFLECTING ON A TUTORIAL
Where the students engaged?
Student questions? How did I respond
Did I complete the tutorial?
Type of questions and to whom?
Did they learn? What did the learn?
How much did I/students talk?
What worked well/did not work well?

14. EVALUATIONS
If students think tutors are wonderful – they may not be!!!
Easiest way to get brilliant evaluations is to give the students everything they think they need i.e. Mini-lecture, write out the solution, don’t make them think/ask questions/stretch them
Why do they think the tutor is good – this is important to understand in the evaluations
Visit the tutorials/allow the tutors to visit your tutorial
Staff:
Quickly recognise what students do not understand
Focus in lecture on understanding WHY something is happening
Tutorials will focus on the WHAT is happening
Become more outcomes based in your lecturing approach
Tutors:
Can become interested in academia – grow your own timber
Improve their own understanding
Responsibility – pervasive skills
Students:
Continuous work, need to keep up to date
Recognise whether they are behind or ahead of the curve
Individual attention
Can discuss/debate issues
Small class versus large class teaching

15. FEEDBACK FROM TUTORS Weekly feedback
What did the students struggle with i.e. common marking errors or common questions
What did the students understand
What did the tutor do well, what could they have done better i.e. what worked and what did not work
Staff:
Quickly recognise what students do not understand
Focus in lecture on understanding WHY something is happening
Tutorials will focus on the WHAT is happening
Become more outcomes based in your lecturing approach
Tutors:
Can become interested in academia – grow your own timber
Improve their own understanding
Responsibility – pervasive skills
Students:
Continuous work, need to keep up to date
Recognise whether they are behind or ahead of the curve
Individual attention
Can discuss/debate issues
Small class versus large class teaching