Tutor Support: Delivering tutorials online
It is becoming increasingly common to engage in tutoring tasks in an online environment. You may be tutoring fully online, or even in a mixed-mode (where some parts of your tutoring take place online and others are done on campus). You may also find yourself in a situation where you need to move your tutoring online unexpectedly, as sometime circumstances arise that will force us to rapidly change the way we teach.
If this is the case, you might have questions about tools, resources and good practice for planning and running online tutorials, or for adapting your current tutoring to an online or mixed-mode teaching and learning environment. This page provides some information and resources to help with approaching key tutoring tasks online.
If this is the case, you might have questions about tools, resources and good practice for planning and running online tutorials, or for adapting your current tutoring to an online or mixed-mode teaching and learning environment. This page provides some information and resources to help with approaching key tutoring tasks online.
Tutoring online - training
We now have some new resources available to help you prepare for online tutoring.
These are designed as three connected modules within the VUW Tutors site. The modules take about an hour to work through. Any tutor at the university will have access to these resources via the VUW Tutors site.
If you are required to complete the modules, this should be incorporated into your contract.
If you do not have access to the VUW Tutors site and would like to, or if you have any questions about the training, please contact the CAD Tutoring Team.
If you do not have access to the VUW Tutors site and would like to, or if you have any questions about the training, please contact the CAD Tutoring Team.
Quick tips for tutoring online
We understand that not everyone is expert at, or trained in, online teaching. Our best advice is to keep it simple. Focus on empathising first, empowering second, and engaging third.
Here are 3 key things that you can do to get underway and prepare for running effective online or mixed-mode tutorials.
Here are 3 key things that you can do to get underway and prepare for running effective online or mixed-mode tutorials.
Step 1 – Get to know your tools
ZOOM
The main tool you will need to be familiar with to run tutorials online is Zoom. Zoom is a video conferencing software that allows you to share a link with your students, which they can click to enter a virtual ‘classroom’.
Firstly, you’ll need to set up a ‘Pro’ Zoom account. VUW staff can create ‘Pro’ accounts free of charge: Create a zoom account by going to VUW Zoom – click ‘VUW STAFF SIGN IN’ in the top right and log in using your VUW staff login credentials.
Then, play around and try out the different features in Zoom to see what will be useful for you and your tutorial style. The main features and things that you can do while teaching with Zoom are:
By understanding the strengths and limitations of this tool, you’ll be better able to plan your tutorials. You’ll be able to plan which of your usual activities you might be able to adapt to the online space (for example, you can use breakout rooms for small group discussions or polls for quick quizzes) and which activities you might need to replace.
Zoom help resources:
The main tool you will need to be familiar with to run tutorials online is Zoom. Zoom is a video conferencing software that allows you to share a link with your students, which they can click to enter a virtual ‘classroom’.
Firstly, you’ll need to set up a ‘Pro’ Zoom account. VUW staff can create ‘Pro’ accounts free of charge: Create a zoom account by going to VUW Zoom – click ‘VUW STAFF SIGN IN’ in the top right and log in using your VUW staff login credentials.
Then, play around and try out the different features in Zoom to see what will be useful for you and your tutorial style. The main features and things that you can do while teaching with Zoom are:
- See and hear all participants
- Mute all participants’ microphones (if you are the host of the meeting)
- Text chat with other participants (individually or as a group)
- Share your screen (and allow others to share their screens)
- Move into separate breakout rooms to have smaller group discussions
- Create polls
- Allow students to raise their ‘virtual hand’ if they have a question but don’t want to interrupt the speaker
By understanding the strengths and limitations of this tool, you’ll be better able to plan your tutorials. You’ll be able to plan which of your usual activities you might be able to adapt to the online space (for example, you can use breakout rooms for small group discussions or polls for quick quizzes) and which activities you might need to replace.
Zoom help resources:
- Take look at the VUW Zoom information page
- We also have a VUW staff Zoom guide that you can read through to familiarise yourself with some frequently asked questions.
- And a guide that may be helpful to share with your students – a VUW student Zoom guide.
OTHER TOOLS
There are a variety of other tools you can use in conjunction with Zoom. You’ll find information about them on the Teaching Tools page. While it’s good to mix it up, we would encourage you to focus on using Zoom initially and then add further tools as you and your students develop confidence teaching and learning online.
There are a variety of other tools you can use in conjunction with Zoom. You’ll find information about them on the Teaching Tools page. While it’s good to mix it up, we would encourage you to focus on using Zoom initially and then add further tools as you and your students develop confidence teaching and learning online.
Step 2 – Think about communication
Regular planned communication between tutors and students is important in any course, but it's especially important when teaching in an online or blended mode as there may be fewer informal opportunities for students to reach out. Therefore, it's helpful to consider communication when you’re planning your course. In particular:
- Discuss with your course team that best way to communicate with each other.
- You might arrange regular meetings via Zoom, stay in touch via Microsoft Teams or contact each other via email.
- Discuss with your course team how you will communicate with students.
- Use the Blackboard announcements function to keep students up to date on essential course related information. It might be useful to set up a Blackboard discussion board for general chat and questions. Consider how you will be able to be contacted, and make sure that information is clearly available to your students.
- Finally, remember to set expectations.
- While we have been spending a lot of time online, and we tend to be easily connected via our devices, that doesn’t mean that we should be constantly available. It could be useful to let your students know what they can expect from you. For example, you might want to share your expected response time to emails, and times when you will be online and/or on campus and available for more prompt discussion.
- Also, let students know how you expect them to be contacting you and how often. You might also want to establish class norms (e.g. cameras on in class on Zoom).
Step 3 – Take time to plan
Success in any kind of teaching can often be attributed to good planning. You learn more about planning for your tutorials in tutor training but below are a few recommendations for what you might like to include in your plan for your first online tutorial.
Recommendations for your first Zoom tutorial:
Finally, try to be consistent and clear about your plan and expectations. Some sort of consistency in your teaching and engagement methods will be invaluable for students in the course. Discussing your approach with your teaching team will ensure that students are getting consistent messages, and that everyone shares the same standards and expectations for themselves and others.
Recommendations for your first Zoom tutorial:
- Take time to welcome everyone to the tutorial environment and let them know what you will be doing in the session.
- Be clear about the relevance that your discussions and activities have to the course content. When online, the way that we engage in learning and teaching activities, is slightly different to face-to-face, and so it might be harder than normal for students to make links between lecture and tutorial content.
- Keep things simple. It is likely that everything you do in tutorials over the first few weeks of the course will be a new experience for yourself and your students. Try not to over complicate the activities and discussions – keep the focus on simply engaging with each other and engaging with some key course content.
- Don’t try to fit too much in. We expect that things may be a bit slower in an online or mixed-mode environment than they are on campus. Even just allowing people time to mute/unmute their microphones can slow things down. We don’t want to rush tutorials – they tend to be one of the students’ main methods for digesting and implementing what they are learning in lectures, and so allowing time for students to think things through and figure out what is going on is very valuable.
- Leave time for questions. Especially in the first few weeks of the course, students might be confused about what is going on in the course and what is expected from them. They might also have questions about the course content, and in an online environment there tends to be less time and opportunity to chat one-on-one with lecturers, tutors and fellow students. Try to allow sufficient time for students to raise questions with you and with each other.
Finally, try to be consistent and clear about your plan and expectations. Some sort of consistency in your teaching and engagement methods will be invaluable for students in the course. Discussing your approach with your teaching team will ensure that students are getting consistent messages, and that everyone shares the same standards and expectations for themselves and others.