Scheduling of tutor-tutee meetings

A common programme of tutorial meetings designed for PARs consists of three one-to-one meetings each year:

1. an introductory meeting at the start of the academic year
2. a change-of-semester meeting half way through the year, to feed back marks from the first semester assessment and take an overview of progress
3. an end-of-session meeting at the end of the academic year, to feed back marks from the second semester and take an overview of the year

However, as pilot work has developed at the University of Nottingham and elsewhere, some academic departments have begun to suggest alternatives. For example, they have highlighted the following considerations:

• In some departments, a progress check meeting is held, with first year students at least, five weeks or so into the Autumn Semester. This is valued as a way of checking on how well students are reorienting themselves to the demands of a new course and as a timely opportunity to identify problems early.
• Some departments want to try separating the giving back of exam results from progress review at the change of semester or year end, so as to allow students time to reflect on their marks before they discuss their progress. The challenge here is how to motivate students to attend if the incentive of receiving their exam marks is removed.
• The end of session meeting is now under some question because
  -- in practice some students leave for the summer vacation in advance of it
  -- in some institutions exam marks may not be finalised until after the end of term.
  One suggestion would be that the reflection on progress flagged for the end of session meeting could take place in the first meeting of the following academic session. In place of the end of session meeting, a meeting could take place a little earlier and with an explicit focus on reflective learning, i.e. this could be a 'personal development' meeting.

The model which emerges from this feedback would comprise four short meetings per session:

• Start of session meeting
• Progress Check meeting
• Change of semester meeting
• Personal Development meeting / (Final year) End of course meeting

See Ideal PAR programme for a full description of a three-year schedule based on this.

The key to customising the idea of scheduled meetings for your school is to link them to the critical moments in your course(s), some of which may be special to your discipline. You may well run meetings on this basis already. Common examples of critical moments include module choice, choice of special subject or dissertation or placement.