Part 2 Teaching approach

2.1 The role of a tutor

By David McDade

Tutor, formally also called an academic tutor, is the term that is used to define the majority of staff that teach students at The Open University (OU). You may see the title Associate Lecturer sometimes referred to as AL or Tutor. Tutors are vital in the contribution that they make to the quality of teaching and learning as well as the support that they provide to students.

Students that come to study at the OU have a wide range of different backgrounds, as well as wanting to study with the OU for a variety of different reasons. For example, students may be working full-time, so studying with the OU provides flexibility. Other students may have various disabilities and they recognise that the OU provides a more suitable environment for study.

We consider the important aspects of the tutor role include the following:

• Welcoming students to the university
• Identifying the needs of students
• Providing correspondence tuition to students
• Providing academic as well as non-academic support
• Providing pro-active support
• Developing study skills
• Monitoring the progress of students
• Providing study advice and academic guidance
• Providing feedback to students
• Working online and using OU systems
• Developing good working relationships with OU colleagues.

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An image of a glass-fronted building on The Open University campus in Milton Keynes.

There are many other facets to the tutor role, for example, possessing good personal attributes. This includes being approachable, being a good listener, being empathetic, non-judgemental, being open and honest, and respecting the values of other people. We examine the skills and attributes of a tutor in more detail in the coming sections, as well as how the tutor role fits into the wider life of the OU, and how this role interacts with other teams, for example, student support, staff tutors and module teams.

Most of the work a tutor carries out involves working online at distance. Important aspects of this include being a good facilitator and having the ability to develop independent learning in students, which we also look at in this section of the course. Additionally, we examine the more detailed personal aspects of the role such as the nature of the OU contract, the support a tutor receives and developmental opportunities that are available.

In this video, Charly, Prince, Joan, Colin and Tammy talk about what they consider their role as an OU tutor is.

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Transcript

CHRIS DOUCE

Can you tell me a little bit about the role of a tutor?

CHARLY LOWNDES

The role of a tutor, to me, I think is about being the point of contact for students who have opted to do the extraordinary thing that is called distance learning, which is what the Open University is all about. And they don't have a door that they can knock on at the end of a corridor. But they do have a telephone, an email, possibly a video conference that they can have with a friendly face and a friendly voice, who is able to guide them, not give them answers to questions but point them where they can find the answers to questions.

Obviously, there's a whole lot more to it than that. For example, giving the student confidence that they may think, who am I to try to be an undergraduate? Well, anybody can be an undergraduate. That's the OU has proved over 50 years.

PRINCE BOATENG

I think one of the main responsibilities of a tutor-- especially at level 1-- is to help develop our students' study skills, which they will then need, you know, further along the line in their studies-- studies skills like English language skills, mathematical skills. you know, in our line-- in the IT department, we also try to help them to, you know, develop their problem-solving skills.

And hopefully, all of these skills will help them down the line as they go through their studies. That's one of the main responsibilities as well.

JOAN JACKSON

I think-- I'm a postgraduate tutor. So I think I follow on from a lot of what Charly and Prince have said, in that we do all of the usual role of a tutor, which is to provide academic support and also some welfare support as well, making sure that students are happy studying the module and sorting out any problems.

We also, as Prince said, really try to develop, in our case, postgraduate skills. So we're moving students on from an undergraduate level, where they're absorbing material, to a postgraduate level, where we're asking them to be much more critical, to learn independently, and to develop some skills really which are transferable-- as Prince said-- through all their modules and to complete their qualification but also transferable skills to the workplace as well. So I'm thinking about things like critical engagement and reflective practise.

COLIN EVERISS

The role of the tutor is they are very much the face of the Open University. They are the human being that they actually meet and they talk to and they discuss, in addition to the textual material and the other meeting material that they have as part of their distance learning.

So you are very much engaged as a person with the student themselves, talking to them, discussing with them, verbally answering their questions in a pretty diverse way, much more than they are getting from a textual book or a video.

CHRIS DOUCE

Tammy, can you tell us a little bit about the work you do as an undergraduate tutor?

TAMMY BROWN

much. Reiterating what has been already said, supporting and helping students develop, facilitating their learning. I think an important point to pick up is that a lot of what we do is we help reduce the sense of isolation by being that friendly face, by being the face of the university. And that point of contact-- that reliable points of contact-- we help reduce that sense of isolation, which helps maintain the engagement of the students.

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2.2 Teaching materials

Tutors at the OU mainly teach with online teaching materials that are already available through the OU Virtual Learning Environment, and on the websites for the module(s) on which they teach. The aim of the OU is to be open and accessible to all, so online teaching materials come in a variety of formats, which are designed to suit the variety of learners that study with us.

Materials are mainly available in the formats shown in the diagram below.

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A graphic with six outer circles around a centre circle. The centre circle says materials are available in the following formats. The outer circles say video, audio, interactive materials such as quizzes, practical activities, links to external websites and other reading sources, study text and reading material such as web or HTML based.

There may also be occasions where printed materials are used, for example, a book that students have to refer to as they progress through their course. In this case, printed materials are supplied by the OU (not the tutor) and are delivered to the home address of the student.

Module websites also provide additional resources for students, to aid them on their journey, for example:

• A study planner, which guides students through the learning materials and acts as a study calendar, showing assignment cut-off dates and other module-related dates
• Forums to communicate with other students on the module, as well as the academics involved in teaching it
• Resources that are specific to that module, for example, third-party software for students to download.

The image below displays a typical OU module website, along with some important features highlighted.

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A screenshot of an OU module page. There are six boxes highlighting key areas of the page. These boxes say assessment resources, course forums, course resources, study planner, news items and tutorial dates.

Not all the materials that a tutor uses are supplied by the OU. There are occasions when delivering online tutorials that tutors choose to develop their own presentations, tutorial notes and tasks. You learn more about the OU website and online tutoring later in the course.

2.3 Teaching as facilitation

The primary role of a tutor is to teach – or tutor – online groups. Another important aspect of that is the role of facilitator for an online group. We can think of teaching as ‘leading’ a cohort of students, where the cohort is learning new skills, whilst gaining knowledge and understanding.

However, the facilitator aspect in this is to create an environment in which it is easy for students to learn as a group as well as achieving something together as a group, learning together as a community. Study materials, which are provided either online or in print by the OU, contain the content that students are expected to learn – the role of the tutor is to facilitate that learning.

Click or hover over the diagram below to reveal the definitions.

2.4 Staff tutors and module teams

The Open University is a large organisation, operating centrally from Walton Hall in Milton Keynes, and with offices and support facilities spread throughout other locations across the UK as well as Northern Ireland. As you would expect, there are a lot of staff working for the university, all operating at these sites and with some working from home as well.

The tutor encounters, and at times is required to work with, a variety of staff across the UK, for example, other tutors, staff tutors/regional academics, central academics, and the Student Support Team (SST) who offer educational information, advice and guidance for OU students. 

Tutors are assigned a Line Manager when starting out in their new career. The line manager is normally an experienced staff tutor. New tutors are also assigned mentors that are experienced tutors who guide them in their new role.

Staff tutors

Staff tutors play a vital role for the tutor in that they are normally the first point of contact as the immediate line manager. Tutors normally contact staff tutors when needing advice about specific situations to do with students. Whilst working with the staff tutor, they get to know the tutor as well as their own developmental needs. Staff tutors are also the first point of contact for any personal difficulties that arise and if support was needed in a particular situation, and also if a tutor needed to take leave of absence.

Staff tutors work in a regional academic role, which means that quite often they are home-based. Some staff tutors however, do still work from offices in locations throughout the UK. As well as line managing their tutors, staff tutors have a variety of other duties, for example, timetabling tutorials and interviewing prospective tutors. Staff tutors also engage with module teams, where again they can have a variety of roles such as being a member of the module team, chairing modules, writing teaching materials and engaging in scholarly activity.

Module teams

Module teams are mainly responsible for the development and maintenance of courses and programmes at the OU. Each module team is led by a Module Chair who is responsible for overseeing the development, maintenance and day-to-day running of a module. Module teams also include central academics and a Curriculum Manager. However, as mentioned, module teams can also include staff tutors.

Tutors are expected to work with each of these aforementioned teams and individuals. Some examples include:

• The staff tutor requires the tutor to fulfil timetabling duties and determine dates for online tutorials.
• A tutor is an active member on a course forum, where they can provide information to module teams (and forum moderators) about the particular aspects of a module.
• A tutor is required to work with Student Support Teams if a student is having difficulties.

Later, in section 2.11, more detail is provided on the support available to tutors at the OU.

The word cloud below highlights several terms that a tutor is likely to come across:

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A word cloud depicting key words. Some of these are module, staff, tutors, open, AL, assessment, home-based, courses, new career, variety, academic.

2.5 Skills and attributes of an Associate Lecturer

Many different types of people work as tutors and, as mentioned previously, many different types of students come to study at the OU. The skills and attributes of a tutor play a very important part in the effectiveness of the role.

The skills and the attributes of a tutor tend to fall into two broad areas, that again relates to section 2.3, where we discussed teaching and facilitation:

• Academic tutor support – working with and developing the cognitive needs of students – teaching students.
• Non-academic and pastoral support – working with the emotional and organisational skills of students and how they impact the overall learning process.

However, in practice, these areas are not always distinct. Tutors have to be prepared to deal with many different situations and/or circumstances that may affect their students' ability to make progress in their studies. For example, technology difficulties; requests for tutor-marked assignments (TMA) extensions; queries about TMA grades, personal situations of students (that impinge on their studies); domineering students (e.g., in tutorials); making adjustments to teaching (to take account of student disability for example); having to meet deadlines for marking; and students having difficulties understanding particular areas covered by the module. Bearing this in mind, it is safe to say that the job of a tutor at the OU, whilst being a rewarding one, is rather different from that of a ‘traditional’ lecturer.

As the first point of contact for a group, tutors need to be able to respond to a variety of situations, not forgetting that there is plenty of support available, should it be needed.

2.6 The ethos of correspondence tuition

Leading on from earlier discussions on tuition and the skills and attributes required to be an effective tutor, The Open University highly values the relationship between tutors and their students, and the vital role correspondence tuition plays in that relationship.

At the OU, there are two aspects to the tutor role in correspondence tuition, the first of which is assessment. This is an essential and integral part of the process of learning. The second is the individual tuition and personal encouragement, or feedback that is provided to students.

If we were to examine this in more detail, correspondence tuition is the personal learning support given by OU tutors concerning their students’ work on tutor-marked assignments (TMAs). This entails supporting students in their preparation in advance of a TMA and responding (in written, spoken or electronic form) to the TMA itself. It also includes following up afterwards to support further learning needs, through clarification or discussion.

At the OU, correspondence tuition serves many different purposes, for example:

• Encouraging students
• Teaching students
• Facilitating the development of skills
• Helping students attain learning outcomes
• Individualising the learning experience and making it personal
• Being flexible and responsive to the needs of students
• Evaluating strengths and weaknesses in students
• Encouraging reflective practice in the student
• Identifying the next steps in learning
• Feeding forward and determining the mid to long-term goals of the student
• Encouraging independent learning.

2.7 Developing independent learning

An important job of the tutor is to develop and encourage independent learning in students. In doing so, tutors can enhance the motivation of students as well as overcome barriers and obstacles that are associated with learning. Tutors are in an ideal position to help students take ownership of their learning to become more independent.

When starting with a group of students at the beginning of a module, the tutor should actively encourage students to seek out answers for themselves by browsing information available from StudentHome as well as module websites. Some examples being, library and academic resources/study guides, module guides and TMA submission dates. Other strategies that can be used for promoting independent learning may include:

Motivation

Most educational literature agrees that a student’s motivation to learn is the key factor in their progress. Research has shown that study-skills training that doesn’t consider motivation is unlikely to result in much skill improvement. The key to a student’s success, particularly in distance learning, may be in their motivation to learn. 

When adult learners are developing new skills, a balance of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is vital in order to succeed. However, when working online, adult learners succeed better in a supportive environment.

Motivation provides the driving force for students to tackle the difficulties and challenges that are associated with learning, particularly when students have other demands on their time. A student is motivated if they have a clear vision of their personal goal. Motivation is also influenced by the student’s self-perception and by belief in his or her own learning ability.

The following important factors should be taken into consideration for the motivation of students:

• Students have control over their own learning and are involved in assessment of that learning.
• Students have an opportunity to engage with what is important for themselves as an individual, for the qualification and for potential employers.
• Course content is seen to have relevance, is interesting and engaging, is fun, and presents a challenge.
• Clear deadlines are given for task completion and regular timely feedback is provided.

Peer Support

Talking to other students on the module can be very reassuring for students feeling generally overwhelmed; they often have good tips for dealing with specific problems too. Online forum discussions can help them see that many fellow students have very similar difficulties, as such, it is important for the tutor to promote the use of forums among a group.

Encouragement should also be given to students to set up or join a study group to keep in touch with other students, discuss ideas and be supportive and supported.

Sharing their ideas with others also provides students with an opportunity to practise their critical thinking skills. They can debate the alternative explanations and claims that other students have made, and defend their own standpoint.

2.8 Fostering group identity

As we touched on previously in section 2.3, the primary role of a tutor is to teach – or tutor – online groups. At The Open University, learning in groups is supported by tutors in mainly online tutorials and through group work planned as part of a tutorial. Tutorials can also sometimes be face-to-face.

Fostering group identity among students is a key aspect to achieving success with a group of learners. When we discussed facilitating online learning, we also mentioned the importance of maintaining positivity among the group. This is one strategy, among many, that can be used to foster group identity.

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An abstract image of two overlapping speech bubbles with an icon depicting three people in one of the bubbles.

Many activities that a tutor carries out are online, are likely to form a considerable part of the course, and how the tutor interacts with their group. Participation remains a central theme when working with others online. Therefore, fostering identity within the group is vital in making sure that the right levels of engagement are maintained by the group members. Non-participation by even one member of a group can have an impact on others.

If students are required to work together as a group to complete a common task, there is a range of skills that can be employed in order to help the students achieve their goals, which in turn can be used to foster the identity of the group. For example, team working, group decision-making, task management, and negotiation.

Other factors that have to be taken into consideration are the cohesion of the group and the confidence of the students, which may be affected by factors shown in the diagram below.

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A graphic with five outer circles around a centre circle. The centre circle says factors affecting group cohesion and student confidence. The outer circles say motivation, communication skills, group dynamics, familiarity with technology, academic skills.

When collaborative online groupwork is assessed, the boundaries between tuition and assessment become blurred. This is useful for students working in groups, in that they may be empowered to take more control of their own learning and assessment, and subsequently learn skills in peer assessment and self-assessment.

When tutoring on a module, tutors encounter formal aspects of group tuition through the delivery of timetabled, online tutorials. These tutorials happen at periodic points throughout the duration of a module, where tutors use the Adobe Connect system that provides a host of tools that enable them to work effectively with groups online. Part 3 of the course looks in more detail at teaching online.

2.9 Students with additional needs

In section 2.2, we briefly mentioned the variety of teaching materials that tutors use in order to cater for the variety of students that come to study at the OU. Tutors also need to be capable of identifying the needs of students, which means that support needs to be provided to academically vulnerable students. Tutors also contribute to the evaluation of the needs of academically vulnerable students and refer them on to the Student Support Team (SST) as appropriate.

Some examples of this are as follows:

• Following up borderline or just failed students, by phone or electronically, in order to establish or maintain a dialogue
• Recognising indicators of students' needs, whenever the tutor is in contact with them
• Assessing whether it is possible and appropriate to provide the help required and referring students to their SST where necessary
• Providing additional academic and learning support, where appropriate and separately funded
• Providing different activities for students with particular needs
• Taking advice about any previously undisclosed disability without breaching data protection and confidentiality.

A good starting point for this is to examine the profile for a tutor group. You find that some students have a descriptive marker, which appears against their name under the Special Circumstances column. This helps you identify students who might need more support than others might. The diagram below lists the keys for these markers.

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This is a list of keys for the descriptive markers. N equals new to OU study. D equals disability information. AB equals assessment banking. 18 equals under 18. 25 equals under 25 but at least 18. C equals contact history available. P equals based in prison. SU equals based in a secure unit. Open plus equals a collaborative scheme. GSS equals global science scheme. IND equals has visited induction website. Alert equals student has either failed or withdrawn part way through two modules in succession. Restricted equals student has either failed or withdrawn part way through three modules in succession. AC2 equals academic conduct case has been raised against the student. AC5 equals academic conduct case has been resolved. DA equals apprentice students. Updated equals student record updated in the last 14 days.

The OU provides detailed advice as well as guidelines on specific disabilities and the further resources that are available. Specific disabilities that can affect students that come to the OU are among the following: physical disabilities such as hearing, visual and mobility impairments, as well as mental health difficulties, autism, and specific learning disabilities such as dyslexia.

Accessibility also plays a critical role in how students with additional needs are supported, as there are occasions when there is a need to cater for students that require course materials in alternative formats.

For example, a student may have difficulty reading from a screen and requires a printed format with a large font size, or else may require the use of a screen reader. Therefore, the OU ensures that all online materials are capable of being interpreted (or accessible) by screen reader software.

2.10 The tutor contract

The Statement of Service outlines the services that are available to support tutors at the OU. Tutor Services are available to support the tutor role and provides:

• Information
• A tutor website (like the resources highlighted in section 2.1)
• Advice and guidance
• Staff development.

Under the current contract, each appointment letter raised for a tutor specifies the length of the appointment and the period of months that the module is presented. Tutors may be contracted to teach on every presentation, a single presentation or an alternate presentation basis. A definition of the three types of appointment patterns is given in section 2.11.

The New AL Contract

The tutor contract is currently undergoing a process of change with the ‘new AL contract’.

The current contract dates back to 2002, and the initial negotiations to reform the contract began in 2008. In 2014/15, the Vision for a new permanent contract was agreed.

This was reviewed in 2017 and it was agreed that negotiations would resume, building on the previously agreed principles and Vision. Since January 2018, negotiations to date have remained on track.

A new AL contract will represent a significant change to how the University engages and organises its Associate Lecturer/Tutor workforce and is central to the OU Strategic Plan to 2021-22. Approved by the University’s Council in March 2019, the strategy emphasises that ensuring student success continues to be the main strategic objective and outlines the specific aim of implementing the new tutor contract to ensure greater integration of ALs in order to meet this objective.

The AL contract is a key enabler to sustain and improve tuition, assessment and student support. It is central to delivering student success through excellent teaching and scholarship.

Implementation of the new contract will take place over 2020/21. The OU is working to ensure a transition that meets the agreed principles of the new contract and are negotiating how ALs will transfer from their current contract to the new one.

2.11 Tutor support

Tutors that are employed to tutor on a module are supported by an Associate Lecturer Services team, who are aligned to the faculty's Student Support Team (SST). As discussed previously, each AL has a line manager, referred to as a Lead Line Manager (LLM), who is normally a staff tutor.

The SST and the OU's academic and administrative staff play an important role in providing students with professional advice and guidance and dealing with issues and queries such as study strategies, career planning, financial help and additional needs.

Support is also on hand from faculty and school staff together with OU Library Services, Academic Services and other departments that are based in Milton Keynes.

At The Open University, tutors are surrounded by a support structure that helps to support the ALs and students, as well as helping to develop professional skills.

The diagram below illustrates the main interactions that tutors can expect to have in their new role.

Click or hover over each circle to reveal the definition.

2.12 Teaching hours per module

The number of teaching hours for a module can vary depending on the level of the module. For example, level 1, 2, or 3 and onto Postgraduate modules (and beyond that), being at a high level, require a bigger time commitment on the part of the tutor. Tutors working at the OU can work under flexible conditions throughout the delivery of a module, meaning that there is no ‘set time’ whilst teaching a module.

However, there are occasions when time is allocated specifically against certain activities, for example, online and face-to-face tutorials. Dates for tutorials are normally agreed in advance with a staff tutor that is responsible for managing tutors within a cluster for a particular module, as highlighted back in section 2.4.

Online tutorials are quite often allocated on weeknights; however, face-to-face tutorials usually take place at weekends (mainly on a Saturday). When working with the staff tutor and timetabling dates, there is a degree of flexibility as tutors are able to choose their own dates. These dates are normally within a ‘window’ depending on the topic being delivered and at which point on the course the tutorial is to take place.

As mentioned in section 2.10, tutors may be contracted to teach on an every presentation, a single presentation or an alternate presentation basis:

Every presentation – most tutors are offered an appointment to teach on a module for the duration of its lifetime.

Single presentation – this is used for one-off occasions, and during particular circumstances, for example, having to cover for another tutor that has had to go on leave.

Alternate presentation – used when, for example, a tutor has to alternate between presentations for a particular module

New tutors are required to serve a probation period of two years and start on scale point 1 of the Associate Lecturer salary scale. Salary then increments on a yearly basis on the 1^st October (provided the tutor have been in employment on or before the 1^st April of that year).

You can read more details on the aspects of employment and teaching roles at Teaching roles at the OU.

2.13 Skills development

The Open University has a strong commitment to providing appropriate professional development and training to tutors.

All continuing tutors are expected to undertake skills development that covers areas of learning and teaching that are wider than the teaching and conduct of a specific module. Payment for this pedagogical skills development is included within the salary.

A professional development framework has been developed at the OU with the aim of providing quality development to tutors, making it easier for tutors to access resources, to promote clarity about training and development and to facilitate easier observation when undergoing staff review.

This framework is mapped against the tutor job description, roles and contracts, person specification, current and future resources and courses, the UK Professional Standards Framework (AdvanceHE, 2019) and the Higher Education Academy (AdvanceHE, 2018).

The framework contains:

• Becoming a tutor on a module: looking at areas such as: the essential skills you need as a tutor, the OU computing guide, marking assessments online (using the eTMA system), tutoring online and associated tools (such as Adobe Connect), and mechanisms for tutor peer support.
• Developing expertise as a tutor: resources that are available to existing tutors who wish to develop in their core role: Higher Education Academy (HEA) recognition, supporting students with specific needs, correspondence tuition, face-to-face tuition, eTMA training, and using the OU Library.
• Extending beyond core tutor expertise: additional opportunities exist for tutors through TMA monitoring (monitoring the quality of marked scripts), peer mentoring (facilitating cooperation between colleagues, sharing practice and ideas), and non-core tutor roles such as marking exam scripts.

There are also opportunities to develop additional skills whilst working with apprentices and associated employers in the role of practice tutor. Practice tutors have a particular responsibility for practice issues, e.g. for facilitating practice learning meetings in a student's workplace and for monitoring the overall progress of their group of apprentices, whilst working alongside module tutors.

2.14 Summary

In Part 2 of the course, you have had a broad view of what is involved in the tutoring aspects when working at the OU as an Associate Lecturer – or tutor. You have examined the tutor role itself, and the important skills, attributes and values associated with being a tutor, and how that is supported among different groups at the OU.

You have looked at the resources that are available to tutors, as well as what it means to work with learners online, and the differences between tutoring and facilitating online groups, and how the OU caters for the additional needs of students.

Finally, you have looked at employment related aspects of the tutor role and the developmental opportunities that are available to tutors.

Go to Part 3 of the course, Teaching methods and technologies, where you learn in more detail about the tuition-based aspects of the STEM tutor role.

Acknowledgements

Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources:

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Important: *** against any of the acknowledgements below means that the wording has been dictated by the rights holder/publisher, and cannot be changed.

Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence.

The material acknowledged below is Proprietary and used under licence (not subject to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this free course:

Acknowledgements for Part 2

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