I had a couple of Adobe Connect tutorials that seemed to work well last week.  This was because students asked questions and these replaced the tutorial slides and plans I had made.  Of course, I always have content prepared and if students stay quiet, I tend to go through the plan but this can seem mechanical and unrelated to what they really need - some students are strangers to me (from different groups, have been to tutorials with other tutors before) so I do not know the "gap" between where they are and where the course would ideally like to be.  Students asking questions based on their own concerns enable me to really address the needs but it demands something of students and some are willing to ask questions, make comments etc.

It seems that the Group Tuition Policy has led to quite a lot of students signing up to tutorials but the number that attend seems not to have changed.  For example, for a tutorial last night, I had more than 10 on my list of attendees but only 3 attended - a similar number to the same tutorial last year.

The default time that seems to be suggested for evening OU Live tutorials seems to be 7pm but I have the impression many students would prefer later times.  For example, last week, I had a student saying she could listen and type but not speak as she was eating.  Another student was interrupted by her young child.

It is impossible to please all students and cater for each person's circumstances.  However, when I have autonomy to suggest times to students, I tend to find that 9 pm is the most popular time.

Does anyone have thoughts?