Written by Olayinka Oyekola and Selma Godinjak

As part of the new ECONTeach series we organised a session for all small group teachers to spend some time reflecting on their pedagogical practice, and to share some best practice to help our teaching going forward. It is an important practice to take time to reflect like this in order to identify our own strengths and weaknesses, and work towards developing as educators. The session was organised into three parts: the first was a reflection on what a tutorial is for; the second was reflecting on our development as tutors; and the third was reflecting on common problems that we face when teaching.

The Purpose of a Tutorial

A useful starting point when preparing for any tutorial is to reflect on the purpose of a tutorial, and in turn what our role is as a tutor. Tutorials are a compliment to the larger lecture time and provide an opportunity for students to concentrate on different activities and practice different skills. In broad terms lectures provide students with a motivation and an understanding of material whereas tutorials provide time to test students’ understanding of the material and to apply their knowledge to different scenarios. Students ought to be active in tutorials, and their learning should be enhanced by tackling problems as opposed to a more passive role as in lectures. This can also create opportunities for students to find gaps in their understanding which in turn creates an opportune time to ask clarifying questions.

Tutorials also offer an opportunity to encourage the development of non-subject specific skills. With smaller numbers than in a lecture it is possible to create opportunities for students to interact with one another, work together in small groups, and to present to the rest of the tutorial group. This allows verbal communication and teamwork skills to develop. Delivering the right balance between these aspects in a tutorial is a difficult challenge and one that we as tutors are not guaranteed to get right every time.

Our Journey as Tutors

The discussions at the session revealed that each one of us had their fair share of worries prior the first tutorial. Will my tutorial fulfil its purpose? What about not knowing the answer to a student’s question? What to do if students are unresponsive? In the end, it turned out that none of us recalled their first tutorial a success. However, with time, we have learnt what it takes to deliver high-quality tutoring. We have talked about preparing for tutorials, responding to students’ questions, and tackling students’ unresponsiveness in the classroom. Good preparation for each tutorial is a must. It is also fine to not know the answers to all the questions. A follow up via email or office hours is acceptable if we are unsure about the answer. But we have also learnt that going into too much detail is not effective as it makes the students feel overwhelmed and lose their focus. Thus, a balanced response is desirable. To make the students engaged in the classrooms, we direct questions to them and start from some easier questions to make them feel at ease.

Reflecting on one’s own tutoring is always valuable. Nevertheless, every class will not be perfect so there is no need to be too harsh on oneself. Many of us who teach are also PhD students. Hence, to manage our tasks, we have had to find the right balance between our teaching commitments and our PhD obligations.

Reflecting on Problems

Having discussed what tutorials are for, and considered our own journeys so far as tutors, we proceeded to reflect on problem-solving as part of the reflective exercise. The consensus, it appears, is that we can’t always have, or expect, problem-free sessions. Regardless of how

well we are prepared in terms of our course content, our sessions may be potentially thrown off-course by unforeseen circumstances, such as logistical, technological or behavioural issues. What is important however is that, with time, by being reflective practitioners, we can begin to be less surprised whenever we encounter problems in class and become more efficient in resolving them.

We acknowledged that the varieties of problems that we face will fall into one of two categories. The first are those that we have the answers to, in the moment, perhaps because of our own past experiences or through good practices shared by colleagues. The second are those that may not be solvable in the moment and for which we may need to go back and reflect and/or consult with colleagues to devise a response against future occurrence. Whichever category, what would be wrong is just parking it there and hoping the problem goes away by itself. We will become better educators by engaging in reflective practice, and this opens the door for us to engage in continuous professional development.

Moreover, our students will develop their own skills as reflective learners by observing how we respond to challenges, and present our reflections, thus representing a larger teaching opportunity to draw our students’ attention to the importance of reflection.

Conclusion

Reflection is an important aspect of the role of an educator and this is equally true whether we are delivering lectures or tutorials. If we are to develop as educators then we should try to find this time to spend analysing our own teaching practice.

For more information and opportunities to reflect, please see the Institute of Teaching and Learning.