RAPPORT
Issue 5 (August 2020)
As with point 6, the aim is to create a
learning culture with support for students
at its heart, a learning culture that is
appropriate for the types of student that
are typical of a course or programme. As
Thomas and Hixenbaugh (2006:31)
conclude, an integrated approach where
personal tutoring and academic advising
is embedded within curricula, is likely to
be appropriate within a discipline context
as well as supporting the many different
kinds of student where relationships with
staff are prioritised ‘rather than the onus
being on students to access services
when they need them from staff they do
not know’.
Within online learning communities the
integration of personal tutoring within the
overall learning environment becomes
even more important where access to
professional services may be a challenge.
8. ‘develop learning resources (libraries,
e-learning, learning spaces, access to
digital resources, laboratories,
studios).’
This element of Gibbs’ proposition may be
self-explanatory, focussing on resources
for students to support their learning, and
it is worth examining the nature of online
personal tutoring in more detail. In their
evaluation of online personal tutoring on a
postgraduate computing programme,
Crouch and Barrett (2006) found that staff
liked some aspects of online personal
tutoring such as being able to control the
pace of communications but also found
the lack of face-to-face communications
caused them difficulties. Following their
analysis, they made a number of
recommendations to ensure the success
of online personal tutoring, including:
• Adopting good practice norms for
interaction online;
• Using appropriate language styles
according to the interaction – formal
and informal;
• Considering the needs of students and
what it is like ‘from their point of view’;
• Being clear and making sure the
meaning is clear;
• Controlling one’s emotions;
• Replying promptly to messages;
• Being friendly and using the various
social media devices such as
emoticons to inculcate a friendly online
culture;
• Being careful with online messages
and texts to demonstrate competence.
Of course, the development of resources
for students also necessitates the
development of resources for staff and a
consideration of the interrelationship
between the two. Within the context of
online personal tutoring and academic
advising, for example, the StREAM
Project at Teeside University and the
‘Unfold’ Project at Edinburgh University
illustrate how online tutoring and
academic advising can support student
learning 3 .
3
See https://blogs.tees.ac.uk/lteonline/digitaldelivery-learning-and-support/deliveringpersonal-tutoring-remotely/using-stream/
and
https://pebblebash.co.uk/2014/Resources/pdf
/pb2014cs14.pdf
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