Communication Strategies and the Tutor-Student Relationship

• Project Team: Wendy HumphreysVicky Johnson
• Subject Discipline: Social Sciences and Global Studies
• Theme: Equality, diversity and inclusionOnline and blended tuition
• Project Aim: Enables more students to achieve their study goalsEnhances employability and career progressionImproves and enhance the learning experience of studentsPromotes equality diversity and inclusion including reduction of degree awarding gap
• Status: Live
• Date: March 2021 to December 2022

One of the findings of our completed project, The Quality of Tutor-Student Early contact in Post Level 1 Modules, was the extreme variation in both the interpretation and practice of tutors, in terms of early communication within a module. This also raised questions about the tutor-student communication throughout a module, which was likely to vary to an even greater extent. The findings from this are already being used within the Faculty to inform the tutor best practice document being developed within the School of Social Sciences and Global Studies. We have been encouraged by the SSGS Director of Teaching, Matt Staples, to take this research further.

Our intention is to follow up on our earlier findings and to examine tutor-student communication throughout module presentation from both the tutor and student perspectives. We want to see whether tutors have a conscious plan for proactive communication throughout a presentation and if so, what this consists of. Is this variegated in terms of different student characteristics? Is it flexible? Does it only follow specific interventions required by Staff Tutors and/or module teams?

From a student point of view, what is their experience of contact with their tutor. Do they find that they have to initiate communication, or is their tutor in touch on a regular basis? Does the communication fulfil their needs and expectations? If not, what would have fulfilled these needs and expectations?

We want to look at all points of contact between students and their tutor during their module learning journey, in order to gain a holistic picture of communication between them. In terms of outcomes, our aim is to produce recommendations of a baseline of communication points and their character, as well as ideas about variation that may be adapted to particular module needs and teaching strategies and to particular student characteristics or needs.

Key questions:

1. Do the university and module teams have expectations and to what extent are these met?
2. What do ALs believe is appropriate and effective, how does this reflect contract expectations, what is the gap?
3. What do students report? What do they need, want and expect?