7.1  The role of the blended or distance learning tutor

If you have been appointed as a blended or distance learning tutor, this section of the Handbook will help you understand what is expected of you in that role.

Supporting, encouraging and motivating your students

Your role as a tutor is to facilitate the students’ learning from the OpenWASH modules by providing support, encouragement and guidance that will help your students to develop their abilities. In other words, you are not your students’ teacher – your role is to:

• help your students to manage their learning experience
• help them to keep on schedule
• help them to submit assignments on time
• provide feedback on their progress
• help them to feel confident and positive about their learning
• encourage them when they feel they are falling behind
• explain concepts they find difficult to understand.

Crucial aspects of your role are motivation, creating mutual respect and providing an environment where your students feel confident that they can talk to you (and each other) about their learning and any difficulties they may have.

Motivation provides the driving force for students to tackle the difficulties and challenges that are associated with their learning. Motivation is particularly important when students have many other demands on their time. Your students will be motivated if they have a clear vision of their personal goal. Motivation is also influenced by students’ self-perception and their belief in their own learning ability. Your students will feel motivated if they understand that their learning is important for themselves as individuals, for future qualifications and employment, and for providing a better quality delivery of WASH services to all.

Each student brings their own past experiences to their study. These experiences will have shaped their perception and attitude towards both learning and assessment. Keep in mind that previous learning experiences may have been negative for some of your students. To overcome the fear of failure, students need a supportive environment where they can take risks in their learning and make mistakes, question or challenge, and ‘have a say’. This is helped by an atmosphere of ‘unconditional positive regard’ towards your students, one that is non-judgemental and accepting.

Learning Agreement between you and your students

Establishing a good relationship between you and your students is very important. In the best situations there is mutual respect: you can trust the students to do their best to learn from their study of the OpenWASH modules, and the students can trust that they will be supported by you during their time as a student. To help develop this high level of trust, you should be clear about what you expect from the students. You should also make it clear what the students can expect from you as their tutor. Sometimes this process is called a Learning Contract or Learning Agreement.

In the first Study Support Meeting, it is helpful to discuss this with the students and make two lists: one of the responsibilities that you expect them to fulfil and another of the support that they can expect from you. Each student should write the agreed lists in their Study Notebook, and then you and the student should sign this Learning Agreement. If any problems arise later, either in the student’s progress or the study support they receive from you, both you and the student can make reference to this signed agreement.

Study Notebooks

It is important for each student to have a dedicated Study Notebook for their OpenWASH studies, as mentioned earlier in the context of classroom-based teaching. This is even more important for distance learners, and part of your role is to encourage the students to use their notebooks routinely throughout their study. Their Study Notebook should be used to record:

• the date on which they completed each study session
• any notes they made while studying it
• their written answers to the SAQs for that study session
• any queries that they want to raise with you
• if appropriate, a record of the practical training or other learning activities that they have completed.

Each student should record their activities in a way that suits them personally. Some may use an exercise book, while others may prefer a loose-leaf file or folder. In either case make sure that they continue to be systematic in recording all the required material for the whole time that they are studying.

When you meet your students at Study Support Meetings, you should ask to see their Study Notebooks, and in particular they should show you their answers to the SAQs. This will enable you to check their understanding of the study session and offer support when needed. This activity also gives the students an opportunity to ask you about any issues that have arisen for them since your last meeting.

Marking assignments and providing feedback to students

If the programme of study you are teaching includes formal assessment, then an essential part of your role is to mark assignments and give feedback to students on their performance in their written work. This is an important way of providing them with personal learning support. It provides an opportunity to build the teaching and learning relationship with your students. You can assess whether the student has met the learning outcomes for each study session or module, and you can measure the student’s understanding and progress through the curriculum. You can give the student encouragement for what they have done well, and advice and guidance about how they can improve.

Providing feedback on written assignments enables you to:

• praise the good points in their answers
• explain why marks have been lost or gained
• explain anything that your student has not understood
• provide examples and refer students to particular pages in the module, where necessary
• help your student attain the learning outcomes for each study session and/or module
• be flexible in your responses to the different learning needs of each student
• help every student to identify their strengths and weaknesses.

It is important for students to have written feedback from you on their assignments, rather than just verbal comments, so that they can read it in their own time. You should write your comments on each script as you mark it, using local language if you feel this will be more helpful to students than writing your comments in English.

But what feedback is useful to students? Your feedback should:

• be returned promptly (for example, at the next Study Support Meeting) while they can still remember what they wrote in the previous assignment
• be supportive and encouraging
• offer more than just corrections – you should respond to good points and ideas in the assignment, and indicate why they are good
• help students to develop skills such as structuring an answer
• suggest how to improve (for example, ‘you also needed to explain the reasons for your answer’)
• help the student to take forward skills and ideas to the next assignment and beyond
• encourage the student to become more skilled at self-assessment.

Using a positive tone and setting up a ‘dialogue’ in your written feedback is important. If students don’t like reading your comments, they won’t learn anything. A relaxed and personal tone shows that you feel involved too, and encourages and creates trust and mutual respect.

Many students will be anxious about writing an assignment, particularly the first one, and may leave it to the last minute and then be short of time. Some students find it difficult to keep focused on answering the questions and instead write about what they find interesting, or answer a different question. You could talk to them about these issues in a Study Support Meeting. If you do find that they misinterpret the assignment, you can show them in feedback how to analyse the questions by adding comments about how you would have approached the questions and formulated your answer.

Facilitating student groups and Study Support Meetings

Working in groups can enhance the achievement of specific tasks and help students to develop individual skills and confidence. We have therefore included some guidance on how you can help your students get the most out of their study group and the Study Support Meetings.

A major objective is for you to create the atmosphere in group meetings that will encourage everyone to relax and feel comfortable working together in the study group. The ways in which you encourage relationships and communication within the group can greatly affect the students’ experiences. It can help your students in their personal engagement with the learning materials and enable them to become more independent of you. In this respect, your principal aim is to cultivate skills of independent learning in the students and to facilitate that process rather than be the source of their knowledge.

At the first Study Support Meeting, you should therefore check that your students know each other and then give them a chance to share their expectations, concerns and questions – with each other and with you. The rules for the group should be established, such as listening to each other, and ensuring everyone has an opportunity to say how they are getting on with the learning materials.

The number of students who are able to attend the Study Support Meeting may vary from time to time. However, the following characteristics are most frequently mentioned in evaluations of effective learning groups, even if there are only two or three people present:

• a climate of acceptance and respect for one another
• openness of communication
• listening is valued as much as talking
• everyone takes responsibility for their own learning and their own behaviour
• problems and conflicts are faced openly and constructively
• the tutor is responsible for encouraging and facilitating active participation by all the students
• clarity in the setting of tasks, activities and deadlines
• everyone’s contributions are acknowledged and valued.

There will be many things to do at each Study Support Meeting, so you are advised to plan the two or three hours available so you can make best use of the time. For example, during that time you will need to:

• invite students to raise any queries or misunderstandings with the current study sessions or assignment
• review each student’s Study Notebook
• for formal assessment, give back the scripts from the last assignment with your marks and feedback comments
• discuss any issues arising from the last assignment
• provide guidance and support as needed
• collect scripts for the next assignment from each student.

You may also want to plan some group activities or discussions, perhaps based on SAQs or sections from the current study sessions.

Part of your role as blended learning tutor is being prepared to intervene if one or more students are experiencing difficulties. However, it is important not to dominate the discussions in the group. It can be difficult to let go of the traditional authority of ‘the teacher’ and there is a certain amount of security in standing at the front and doing the majority of the talking. But it is important that you establish a supportive role from the start that enables your students to become confident and independent learners. This emphasis on facilitation can broaden and enrich your role as well as benefit the students.

Record keeping of students’ progress

One of your responsibilities as tutor is to keep accurate records of your students’ progress. This will be mainly in relation to:

• written formal assignments submitted by your students according to the schedule for the programme of study
• your students’ attendance and participation in the Study Support Meetings.

You will need to comply with the administrative processes and systems of your study programme.

Managing your time

Part of your role as a tutor is to help your students with their time management. They will need to find time for study between their work and other commitments, and may look to you for advice on how to manage this.

Similarly, you need to find time to fulfil your various tasks as a tutor. You should be familiar with the contents of each module, including the ITQs and SAQs. In addition, you should allow sufficient time for marking assignments, writing feedback comments on each script and for planning Study Support Meetings. Be sure to allow yourself enough time to undertake these responsibilities according to the schedule for study.