It is possible that there will be a difference between your delivery FTE (the time that you spend tutoring modules), and your contracted FTE (all the time that you are paid for). This difference is often used by regular work activities, such as exam or EMA marking.
Before going further, it is useful to say something about FTE. Every tutor is contracted to a FTE figure, which then translates to salary. One day of work equates to a figure of 0.0038461 FTE. You can find out what your FTE figures are by reviewing your workload report, which you can find by accessing to your TutorHome page. For more information about your FTE and how it works, this accompanying blog may be useful: Understanding your FTE.
If there is a difference that cannot be immediately filled with regular work activities, you can opt to carry out a number of additional tuition related activities (TRAs).
This article summarises some of the additional tuition related activities that you could carry out as a tutor. This list is, of course, by no means exhaustive.
How you apply to carry out these activities does depend on what they are. Sometimes university staff will look at your skills audit to find people who have specific interests or skills.
You may be notified of many of these opportunities by email messages. You might also see them advertised on module forum posts. In other cases, you may be approached directly by a line manager, or a member of the university. In all cases, you should discuss additional work with your staff tutor (who is also known as your lead line manager), who has a responsibility of overseeing your work.
You can only carry out additional work if your FTE figure is 1.3 or under. If you are approached, you should remember you have agency. What this means is that you have the authority to decline to complete additional work tasks if you feel you are unable to complete them. You should, however, work closely with your line manager to ensure that your allocated FTE is spent during the course of a workload year.
Covering the work of another tutor
Sometimes cover tutors are needed. You may be asked to take over an existing tutor’s group, mark some of their assignments, or even run some of their tutorials. In each of these circumstances, there will be a FTE figure that can be applied to this work. Sometimes, the most efficient action is to take over a tutor’s entire presentation.
Additional professional development activities
Occasionally, the university will introduce new tools, technologies, or ways of working. In your tutor contract, there is a bit of your pay that is dedicated to ongoing staff development. Sometimes, changes that are introduced cannot be entirely covered by the staff development time that is budgeted for in your tutor contract. In these cases, you may be asked to carry out additional training, which will be accounted in terms of additional FTE time.
Critical reading
Whilst module teams are often closest to a discipline or subject, tutors are invariably closest to students. Module teams sometimes ask tutors for help with critical reading. The type of reading that is required will depend on module. Critical readers will be typically asked to complete a report, but may he also asked to speak with members of a module team. A critical reader may assess the effectiveness of the module materials, the extent to which a module satisfies specified learning outcomes, and whether there is a balance of different types of materials. Critical readers may be asked about adherence to QAA subject benchmarks, and whether the materials are appropriate and representative for a diverse body of students.
How many days of time allocated to critical reading will depend on the module, and the type of reading required.
Facilitating faculty, programme or school wide learning events
Some schools run learning events that take place between modules, or to provide support for groups of students who have a specialist interest that is relevant to a programme of study. A good example of this is a series of face-to-face study events that have been run by the Arts and Humanities department. During this day, tutors designed and facilitated events that appealed to a wide range of students. They also facilitated some useful study skills events, helping to raise awareness of library search skills, and essay writing skills.
Forum moderation
Most module website offers students a number of forum spaces. The module wide forum spaces are often moderated by experienced tutors, who are given a number of days of FTE time. This is often arranged by someone who is known as a curriculum manager, whose role is to act as an interface between the academic team and the bureaucracy of the university.
Module team contributions
Sometimes, tutors are called upon to make contributions to module teams. Examples of additional duties may include the occasional writing of module and assessment materials, such as TMAs and exams.
Monitoring
Tutors play an important role in monitoring the effectiveness of correspondence tuition. Every module has someone who takes on the responsibility of a ‘monitor in charge’. This is someone who takes the role of setting monitor levels, and the collation of monitoring reports, which are used within module result panel meetings. Monitoring is typically performed by tutors, but in some cases, the role of a monitor in charge can also be carried out by a tutor.
The responsibility of monitoring is often rotated amongst a group of tutors, since the act of monitoring the work of others can have a positive effect on our own correspondence tuition practice.
If monitoring is something that is of interest, a practical suggestion is to email your monitor, to express an interest.
Facilitating Professional development activities
On going professional development is an important and integral part of being a tutor. Curriculum changes, technology changes, and so can our ways of working. As tutors develop their own expertise and abilities, there are opportunities to share with others by contributing to professional development sessions. Tutors are, arguably, best placed to teach other tutors.
There are opportunities to contribute to online conferences and events that are run by the central university wide academic professional development team, as well as faculty specific groups such as the ByALsForALs community that is run by the STEM faculty.
Reflections
When you are first recruited it may be to a specific module, or group of modules. Over time, it is possible to build a richer portfolio of related tasks and activities.
A starting point is to know what your FTE is. It is then recommended that you make sure that your skills audit record is up to date. Staff tutors use the skills audit to find tutors to carry out tasks and activities that need to be completed.
When it comes to developing a portfolio of tutor work, a practical recommendation is to take the initiative. Do make the time to contact people. Make sure you get yourself known by colleagues within the school. It is okay to send email messages to express an interest in roles and tasks.