Personal Tutorial Systems – Departmental Good Practice
The summaries below highlight some of the good practice noted in departmental PTS model submissions. For further information on any topic please contact the Senior Tutor of the department acknowledged or Christine Edmead.
Role of Senior Tutor
Good practice was shown by several departments in being explicit both in
their models and in the communication with staff about the role and responsibilities
of the Senior Tutor. In some departments such responsibilities included
mentoring new staff in their role as a Personal Tutor (Chem) or offering
support to tutors when a report or monitoring indicated that tutor groups
were not working effectively (Phy)
Information about the departmental PTS
One of the underlying aims of the Personal Tutorial System review was to
address student expectations by improving clarity on the role of the Personal
Tutor, the purpose of tutorial sessions and the expectation that students
will attend such sessions. Most departments have responded by improving
on the information given to staff and students about the purpose and organisation
of the departmental personal tutorial system through staff and student
handbooks and Moodle pages. Two particularly good examples were given by
Mathematics and Mechanical Engineering.
Allocation of tutors
Avoiding the widespread problem of consistency of provision and engagement
of academic staff with the Personal Tutoring System, a few departments
addressed specific issues when allocating tutees to tutors. Natural Science
tutees are allocated a tutor from the department in which they are majoring
in that subject whilst Physics arrange specific tutor groups for students
who are repeating a year in order to provide them with more relevant support.
Some departments have a dedicated International Student Tutor which can be helpful in providing relevant tailored support, but in such cases departments need to ensure it is not unintentionally marginalising international students or denying equivalent support to home students by supporting them separately.
Several departments allocate tutors according to the academic needs of the students (i.e. those entering Pharmacy without A–level Biology or Maths will be allocated a tutor covering biological or mathematical aspects of the course respectively.
Induction
Improving the induction process to support student transition both socially
and academically has been a recent focus of the university. Many departments
have responded by introducing more activities during induction week to
encourage student interaction and integration (Man) whilst others have
included sessions to provide more information on student support and address
student expectations (P&P, ME). Pharmacy and Pharmacology offer a Moodle-based
online pre-induction when new students may meet their peers through engagement
with discussion forums and online e-tivities.
Not to forget progressing students, especially those returning to study after a period away on placement. Several departments including Mechanical Engineering have developed re-induction sessions to support students in adjusting to the demands of the new academic year whilst others hold placement conferences to celebrate and discuss the work students have achieved whilst on placement, using it as an opportunity to link it back to the academic tasks ahead.
Academic Induction
The main focus of the revised Personal Tutorial System was the requirement
for departments to address academic induction i.e. how students were being
supported in the development of skills required for them to be successful
in their studies and future employment. Departments were strongly encouraged
to be explicit in both their PTS reports and in their communication to
staff and students where particular aspects of academic induction were
addressed. This was particularly evident in the submissions from Computer
Science and P&P where topics were mapped to different academic units
although several other departments have also addressed this well. The Department
of Education now run an extended induction period to support both transition
and academic induction.
Tutor / tutee activities
Specific activities for tutors to carry out with their tutees help relationships
within the tutor group to develop (e.g. site visits (Arch), returning coursework
(Health), Essays and problem based learning (P&P)) and also provide
a positive focus to the tutorial sessions. Linking tutorial sessions to
academic units also provides a positive reason for engagement by both staff
and students (ME)
Some departments utilise Personal Tutorials to assess student skills needs through the use of discussion and checklists (Econ, P&P) and are then able to more accurately direct students to relevant sources of support and training. The good practice of holding occasional integrated across years tutorial sessions (yr1&2, 2&3 or 3&4) facilitates mentoring and peer support (Health).Several departments also draw on the expertise of PGT students to run academic skills tutorials or to provide support to UG students (SPS, Health).
The Department of Health put together a useful Support Services diagram to show students the availability of support services but tutors should also be encouraged to direct their tutees to the support web pages. Associated with this it is important to achieve clarity about the limits to the role of personal tutor in relation to student welfare (Chem).
Monitoring
Another requirement of the revised tutorial system is monitoring to assess
the effectiveness of the model in providing support to meet student needs.
Several departments including Biology and Biochemistry survey staff as
well as students to help improve current practice. This is helped by good
record keeping of student attendance at tutorials, copies of tutorial agendas,
brief outlines of topics discussed, work set and follow up actions for
tutor or tutees (B&B). Other departments have procedures in place for
following up on non-attendance of students at tutorials (Phy).
Mechanical Engineering use a Request Tracker (RT) system to ensure quick and efficient responses to student enquiries (ME).
Peer Mentoring
Several departments already have in place very effective peer mentoring schemes.
The purpose of the schemes varies between supporting students during transition
to university life (P&P) with some schemes focusing particularly on
non standard entrants (Psy); offering pastoral and some academic support
(CS); or purely academic peer assisted learning support schemes (MASH-Maths).
Most are student-led and therefore not a great burden on staff time although
setting up a scheme does require certain departmental support. Several
other departments have indicated plans to set up peer mentoring schemes.
If you have any further examples of good practice related to the design,
operation or monitoring of your Personal Tutorial System that you would
be happy to share with other departments then please contact me, C.E.Edmead@bath.ac.uk