Personal tutoring to support full and part time campus based students from September 2012Sue Smith, Centre for Learning and Teaching

Leeds Metropolitan University

This workshop will….• Introduce you to the new research based personal tutor

framework• Outline the support available from Services to Students• Showcase the resources available• Work through some practical scenarios• The importance of signposting

What is a personal tutor ?• a member of academic staff who offers a student academic

and/ or pastoral support throughout the student’s course

What the students want

• Regular, scheduled meetings• A PT who takes an active role throughout their degree• A PT who is accessible, approachable and reliable• A PT who is enthusiastic and cares about them• They want to be “known, ‘tracked’ and supported”

throughout

Why be a personal tutor?• Making good use of a personal tutor will improve students’

chances of getting the degree they deserve• (And their level of satisfaction with their experience)• Staff satisfaction too!

Why?• it’s one of the student entitlements• part of our course development principles• works with the Student Charter- • part of Customer Service excellence- • part of improving a student’s satisfaction and experience

Key issues for staff about the framework• Ring fenced deployment• Part time and full time students treated the same• All academic teaching staff are expected to be personal tutors but….• Staff new to HE- not a personal tutor until they have been here for

one academic cycle• Staff new to University but not to HE -can be personal tutors from

day 1• 2 individual meetings per year• First years and new starters to be seen in first four weeks• Monitored through course enhancement and Faculty quality meetings• Staff initiate the meetings• A Student engagement management system- initial basic roll out in

Sept 2012

• If your personal tutor had this on their door how would it make you feel?

DO NOT DISTURB.THIS MEANS YOU!

The following slides are for students at their induction• Course leaders will adapt them (words

indicated in green) for their own course

Your personal tutor …• Is a key point of contact• Will invite you to meet them individually, once each semester in

every year of your course • Will listen, advise and guide you with academic and personal

issues• Will signpost you to other services if they can’t help• Will aim to follow you through the entire duration of your course• Will speak to your course or module leader or student liaison

officer with your permission, if there are issues of concern• May write your job references and help provide evidence for

mitigation if you need it• Will keep any confidential information, with your permission,

stored securely in your student file

What should you, the student, do?

• Know who your tutor is and how to contact them• Come prepared for meetings with questions and issues

relating to your learning experience, your future career• Be prepared, during or after your meeting with your personal

tutor, to draft action points to reach agreed objectives• Let the tutor know if you can’t attend

What might you and your personal tutor talk about?• At every level – study skills, career planning, your

learning, preparing for the next level, goal setting, career aspirations, and review and feedback on your results• At Level 4- getting used to University, option modules,

Student Hub, professional development, • At Level 5- preparing for placements/year abroad and

projects/dissertations• At Level 6- interview and applications, signposting to

Careers staff, postgraduate options

In addition….• If you are a new first year or a new starter you will be invited

to an individual meeting by the end of the first four weeks after you begin your studies

• You will be expected to take more responsibility for arranging your meetings as you move through your course/insert the name of your course

• You can ask to change your personal tutor in exceptional circumstances

• You should let your tutor know if you can’t attend a meeting

Here is a link to the resources …• http://alt-resource.teams.leedsmet.ac.uk/personal-tutoring

Services for Students

Services for Students

A central university department which provides a range of professional and expert, information, welfare and advisory services to support student wellbeing and development through its own offices, by electronic delivery and in partnership with university Faculties.

Services for Students

The Teams: via the Hub from September 2012Services for International studentsDisability, Dyslexia and Assessment CentreStudent Employability and Progression CentreStudent Wellbeing Centre (formerly Counselling and Chaplaincy)Student Money and Advice Centre

What now?

• Access the resources• Read the framework and the level ideas• Make individual appointments for new students within 4 weeks of

them starting at the University • Think about your door notice! Have you included all the right contact

information? • If you are a course leader, adapt the slides, talk and link up students

to personal tutors at induction • Run a session in your course team and look at the case studies on

the resources page http://alt-resource.teams.leedsmet.ac.uk/personal-tutoring

• Think about setting up a parallel buddy system for your students• There will be an amended framework for the personal tutoring of

distance learners and post graduate students for implementation in 2013-14

Activities and questions….