Issues Part 4 - Tutorial Sessions

Tutorial sessions

Tutorial time is time put aside to allow Learning Facilitators (tutors) time to meet with individual students or teams in their Learning families.    This is taking place, but it is infrequent.   The original plan was to have two Facilitators timetabled at the same time.   Between them they would have approx 28 students.   These students would be distributed between the other focus sessions 9there are 8 groups on at any one time.   The two facilitators would then see their students individually; perhaps four or five during a 50min session.    Facilitators have two sessions per week in which to carry this out.

In reality we have a number of issues and questions raised:

• Only one facilitator at a time is seeing students while the other takes the whole group.   In other words groups are not being distributed.   The most likely reason for this is the setting arrangements. 
• The quality of these sessions will vary due to some facilitators not being timetabled enough on the PBL programme, therefore becoming out of touch with day to day progression
• As sets change, as a Learning Facilitator it is difficult to meet with/keep up with student progress in your Learning Family
• To what extent are students having the opportunity to discuss their learning?

If we are to resolve these issues we must consider the following:

• Creating more time for Facilitators to meet with students.
• Only two tutorial sessions (both from the same joint Learning family) should take place at the same time.   The rest of the group will be distributed between the other focus activity groups, therefore we will need to timetable focus groups in big classrooms.  
• Facilitators need to be timetabled for at least half their load on the PBL programme
• Consider the possibility of creating Academic Learning Facilitators who have responsibility for tutoring a group which is set.   This group may change as sets change.   (Pastoral Learning Facilitators would be separate from this and have independent Learning Families).
• During tutor time the following should be considered with the student:
  • Understanding of project; overall expectations and driving question.
  • To what extent is project plan on schedule (is their a plan in the first place?)
  • What has prevented student from achieving milestones in project and associated products?
  • What is the quality of work produced?
  • To what extent is the student organised?  Do they know what they are going to do next?  
  • To what extent is the student recording the development of good habits of learning (how aware are they of this?)?

The nature and length of tutorials will vary according to the graduation stage of the student. 

 

At the risk of the joke becoming boring - my wife is out collecting my daughter from Guides.