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Patrick Andrews

Tutors and students learning more about each other

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I have been giving most of my TMA feedback by video recently and this seems to encourage more students to contact me (mainly by email).  I think this is a very positive phenomenon as it helps us make contact and learn more about each other.

I also had an email from a student yesterday informing me that her daughter would be in the room during the tutorial.  This was helpful as it made me aware that the student would be trying hard but there might be distractions.  In reality, it seems that it all went well from her point of view and that her daughter even listened in and was happy when her mother answered questions correctly.  I suppose being aware a child was in the room could have affected some of the content if it had been in any way distressing but that was not the case yesterday (and is not really an issue in any of my tutorials I can think of but could be if a tutor teaches other subject).

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Patrick Andrews

Successful Adobe Connect tutorials - the student contribution is key

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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.

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Patrick Andrews

Video on the benefits of tutorials

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A video has been produced to discuss the benefits of attending tutorials.  The speaker was one of my students last year and showed great levels of initiative and drive by travelling for several hours to attend my tutorials.  The video can be found at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ttdUMDBEN4&feature=youtu.be

Permalink 2 comments (latest comment by Patrick Andrews, Saturday, 2 Mar 2019, 13:49)
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Patrick Andrews

Group tuition and attendance

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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.

Permalink 5 comments (latest comment by Patrick Andrews, Tuesday, 10 Jan 2017, 09:33)
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Patrick Andrews

EMA results

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EMA results for several courses I teach (L161, L185 and E303) have recently been released.  There is very strong correlation between high scores and attendance at tutorials (either face to face or OU Live).  Of course, this does not prove causation as the students getting high marks might be those who are most motivated or at least those most able to devote time to the course.  However, it is an interesting link.

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Patrick Andrews

Tutorial times

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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?

Permalink 6 comments (latest comment by Patrick Andrews, Friday, 6 Nov 2015, 09:54)
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