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4 comments:
Let's start with the most obvious, and extreme solution - pay them to attend. Payment needn't be financial. Provide free refreshments, hint that attending tutorials is good for your health, or their grades. Or we could tell them lies and say that they have to attend. There may be some sense in one of the above, and I do realise that it could provide an advantage / disadvantage to some.
I think because I started with electronic tutorials I have quite mixed views about the value of f2f. I think the students who attend do get a lot out of them but generally they are not the students who need to attend. Making them appear compulsory would probably lead to losing students. When I was looking around for somewhere to take my first degree I discounted OU because of the compulsory summer schools as there was no way I could attend them due to my work. I feel that the same applies to tutorials as many of my students work abroad or strange shifts or have family committments that prevent them from attending.
I go much more for the idea of making them something that students want to attend. I think the idea of providing refreshments is a good start. It would make us seem more friendly and welcoming. Students often travel a long way and don't have time to grab a cup of coffee or even find the machine when they arrive in a strange building. I also liked some of the ideas that came up at the earlier staff development day about how we could improve the content of tutorials to make them more exciting and appealing. Because we have such a diverse range of students it is always difficult to provide something totally course linked that is suitable for all so perhaps something topical, interesting and related but different may be better.
I love my face to face tutorials. I think they are the best part of the tutorial role,and it grieves me that contact time is being reduced.
Student attendance at my tutorials this year is holding up at about 45 - 50% which is pretty good, (and it has been less in the past.)
I find tutorials to be the most efficient way of teaching - of hammering home a concept and ensuring that it is understood. Tutorials are immediate fast paced and can be instantly responsive, in a way that cannot be matched on line. Nuances of vocal tonal expression and body language are impossible to perceive in on-line discussion, and comments are open to misinterpretation. Consequently I find on-line teaching far more time consuming, frustrating and unrewarding. Funnily enough student attendance in my group forum is no better than that at face to face tutorials.
I agree tutorials should be welcoming. The rooms at LMU in Leeds are fairly grim. Refreshments are a good idea, and I think I will take tea, coffee a kettle etc next time and guage reaction.
I have been a tutor for about ten years. It seems the university itself places less importance on tutorial attendance, and indeed any kind active of student interaction these days. If contact time is reduced then that message is reinforced - attendance declines and so we have a vicious circle - a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Students who attend always benefit. Something unplanned always emerges, because the students bring so much differing experience. The face to face experience is always richer.
I think the human aspect is also important. To commune with others in the same "predicament" is always valuable.
I would increase face to face tutorial time.
Student results and their feedback always indicates to me that tutorials and summer schools are always the most valued and beneficial part of their OU experience. Tutors are still the human face of the university.
However, I expect they are more expensive to provide than other teaching interaction - and are we still in the business of providing education?
Jenny
I must agree with Jenny. The sharing of ideas, sparking debate and exploring new or different concepts at tutorials is, or should be a vital part of the educational process. Unfortunately many students don't see it that way, even on PG courses. The current trade off ( is it worth it, how does it affect my marks) practice employed by many busy students is pursued solely to pass the course and move on to the next level.
Are there any satisfactory alternatives? I find most electronic tutorials hard work and the feedback from some of the more mature (and less proficient typists) is that they feel excluded by the pace of chat. I have used a chairman and permission to speak approach but all that really seems to happen is that the there is very little digression and consequential new learning. In addition trying to get all , or even some of the students together at a specific time is like herding cats. Ditto teleconferences, in the business environment people contribute because its in their interests, in the university environment students see it as something to be avoided where ever possible.
Having last Saturday trailed all the way to Hull, finding the room, getting locked out in the rain, finding the coffee machine closed etc to be greeted by one student was pretty demoralising and I have some sympathy with Keith's idea of lying to the student about compulsory attendence. The problem is that this may rebound in terms of numbers and cause some resentment. Further, how long would it be before a national conference revealed the R07 tutor's lies?
To echo Jenny's last point - is the OU now selling qualifications (shock horror) or still providing education? Has the OU got to the position where the market decides?
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