Personal Academic Tutoring training

Personal Academic Tutoring is a core academic responsibility. To enable the highest quality Personal Academic Tutoring, there is training available for all staff who carry out or support the role.

There are four main Personal Academic Tutoring training options available from the UCL Arena Centre. 

Resources and pre-workshop tasks are hosted on the UCL Personal Academic Tutoring online course eXtend site. 

Online course for personal academic tutors 

This online course is recommended for all members of staff in Personal Academic Tutoring roles at UCL, including new members of academic staff with experience of Personal Academic Tutoring at other institutions.  

Encouraged to look through before attending the workshops. 

Experienced UCL Personal Academic Tutors are also encouraged to work through the course as a refresher and central resource containing information, guidance and links to relevant policies and materials.  

The course will take approximately 3-4 hours to complete, depending on how much time you spend exploring the resources. You can work at your own pace, return to the course at any time, and access the materials in any order.   

On completion of the course, you will be able to download a certificate of completion.  

You can also use the course as a one-stop-resource for support and guidance on a range of personal academic tutoring topics and issues. 

How to access the 'UCL Personal Academic Tutoring' online course

• Go to UCL eXtend - do not enter your email and password on this page, select the option 'UCL log in'.   
• Then log in using your UCL credentials (username and password).  
• Accept the terms and conditions.
• Only after you have done this, copy and paste the link below on the address bar at the top of your browser. 
• Once logged into UCL eXtend, click on (or copy and paste into your browser) the link to the course: https://extend.ucl.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=578  
• If you have any trouble accessing the course, email r.haughton@ucl.ac.uk

Workshops 

Introduction to Personal Academic Tutoring

This workshop, offered by UCL Arena Centre, is aimed at academic staff who are new to a Personal Academic Tutoring role at UCL. It focuses on the main purposes of Personal Academic Tutoring and how to provide effective support.  

In this session we will: 

• review UCL’s approach to Personal Academic Tutoring and your role within it; 
• consider how this can be adapted in face-to-face, remote and blended environments; 
• discuss some challenging scenarios; 
• talk about where and how to refer students experiencing difficulties and signpost further sources of support for staff. 

We recommend that Personal Academic Tutors enrol and complete sections 1-3 of the online course before attending the ‘Introduction to Personal Academic Tutoring’ workshop. Additional workshop resources are hosted on the UCL Personal Academic Tutoring eXtend site and will be made available at least one week ahead of the workshop. 

How to sign up: Open this unique link to LearnUpon (specific to this workshop only) and click "Start" to enrol, then "Register" to view available dates, then proceed to sign-up for a session. To access LearnUpon you must be signed into Office365 with your UCL credentials. If you are having trouble using LearnUpon please email r.haughton@ucl.ac.uk

This workshop is comparable to the ‘Introduction’ and ‘Remote’ personal academic tutoring workshops from previous years.  

Developing as a UCL Personal Academic Tutor

This workshop, offered by UCL Arena Centre, was developed through a UCL Changemakers staff-student partnership. It is aimed at Personal Academic Tutors who have completed the online course and ‘introduction’ workshop (including previous versions of the intro or remote Personal Academic Tutoring workshops). This workshop focuses on exploring what students’ value in their Personal Academic Tutors and on considering a series of ‘authentic’ scenarios. 

In this workshop we will:

• Explore ways to work with your tutees; 
• Be aware of support for students and staff; 
• Consider what students see as being important in a Personal Academic Tutor;  
• Reflect on real situations gathered by students and presented in an “authentic” way;  
• Discuss how to approach these Personal Academic Tutoring scenarios in small groups.

We suggest you familiarise yourself with sections 4 to 7 of the UCL Personal Academic Tutoring online course before attending the workshop. Additional workshop resources are hosted on the UCL Personal Academic Tutoring eXtend site and will be made available at least one week ahead of the workshop. 

How to sign up: Open this unique link to LearnUpon (specific to this workshop only) and click "Start" to enrol, then "Register" to view available dates, then proceed to sign-up for a session. To access LearnUpon you must be signed into Office365 with your UCL credentials. If you are having trouble using LearnUpon please email r.haughton@ucl.ac.uk

Approaches to supporting students for Professional & Technical Services staff

This workshop, offered by UCL Arena Centre, is aimed at professional and technical services staff who are new to student support, or Personal Academic Tutoring, roles at UCL. It focuses on the role of professional/technical services colleagues within Personal Academic Tutoring and provide support for working with students in this setting.  

In this session we will: 

• explore approaches in the remote & blended environments; 
• discuss some challenging scenarios; 
• review further sources of support for students & staff; 
• review UCL’s approach to Personal Academic Tutoring and your role within it;  
• reflect on expectations, boundaries & referrals; 
• consider how to have conversations with students.

We suggest you familiarise yourself with sections 3, 5, and 7 of the UCL Personal Academic Tutoring online course before attending the workshop. Additional workshop resources are hosted on the UCL Personal Academic Tutoring eXtend site and will be made available at least one week ahead of the workshop. 

How to sign up: Open this unique link to LearnUpon (specific to this workshop only) and click "Start" to enrol, then "Register" to view available dates, then proceed to sign-up for a session. To access LearnUpon you must be signed into Office365 with your UCL credentials. If you are having trouble using LearnUpon please email r.haughton@ucl.ac.uk

Upcoming events 

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Join the Personal Academic Tutoring community 

You are also invited to join the ‘Personal Academic Tutoring @ UCL’ Microsoft Teams site. We are using this site to share new resources and training opportunities (internal and external to UCL) throughout the year, and to establish a community of practice for Personal Academic Tutors where colleagues who are new and experienced in the role can share examples of practice/activities for engaging with and supporting their tutees.