Further updates to personal tutoring lined up for next academic year

Two new guides are being developed for staff and students to give a standardised, detailed overview of personal tutoring at UCL. The guides will be available from autumn 2017 as hard copies for the staff guide and interactive digital versions for the student guide.

Now at the design stage, personal tutoring leads in UCL Arena Centre for Research-based Education are working closely with UCLU sabbatical officers to identify the key information which needs to be included. Currently, information is hosted piecemeal across the university’s website or within departmental guidance, often in varying levels of detail.

The comprehensive student handbook will be an interactive online guide hosted on a new current students website, currently in development, to ensure easy accessibility. As well as detailing what they can expect from a personal tutor, the guide will act as a point of reference for undergraduates and postgraduates throughout their studies.

For staff, the guide will provide an introduction to the role and a series of ‘guided conversations’ for various points in the academic journey to help personal tutors make the most their time with their tutees.

UCL Arena Centre leads on institutional education initiatives including the Connected Curriculum to ensure the student experience at UCL is as fulfilling as possible. The creation of the guides are in response to feedback from staff and students about a lack of resources detailing what personal tutoring provision entails. It also feeds in to making objective one of UCL's Education Strategy, personalised student support, a reality.

The resources follow on from changes implemented this academic year to the university’s personal tutoring policy which gives more autonomy to departments and now focuses on providing guidance rather than requirements. It allows departments to determine the best model for their students and identify the most effective ways to communicate the process to their students. UCL History and UCL Economics have already implemented different approaches to their personal tutoring provision.

Plans are also being developed to upscale the university’s personal tutoring training through UCL Arena Two. Currently, staff are able to take part in a Personal Tutoring UCL Arena Essential one-off session which runs a few times a year.