Your Personal Tutors
Personal Tutors - What you can expect
Every student is allocated a Personal Tutor and you will first meet them in a group session during Introduction Week. The allocations are made so that tutors have a working knowledge and understanding of the Degree track that you are registered on. Groups are usually between 10 and 20 students. You will also see your personal tutor during the weekly timetabled session for the Academic Literacy and Communications Skills core module (ALCS) which is taught in tutor groups throughout the whole academic year and for the Extended Project sessions in semester two.
Your Personal Tutors
Dr. Alexis Moschopoulos - Psychology (alexis.moschopoulos@sheffield.ac.uk)
Dr. Camilla Priede - Geography, Environmental Science, Urban Studies and Planning, Landscape Architecture (c.priede@sheffield.ac.uk)
Dr. Chris McMillan - Sociology, Applied Social Science, Education, Modern Languages & Cultures (c.j.mcmillan@sheffield.ac.uk)
Emma Pallen - Psychology (e.pallen@sheffield.ac.uk)
Dr. Jacqui Kidman - Orthoptics, Speech Therapy (j.kidman@sheffield.ac.uk)
Dr. Lizzy Shaw (leave until February 2024) - Psychology (lizzy.shaw@sheffield.ac.uk)
Lyndsey Stanton - East Asian Studies, Chinese, Korean, Japanese (l.stanton@sheffield.ac.uk)
Dr. Naomi Hetherington - English Language and Literature, English Literature, English Language and Linguistics, English and History, English and Philosophy (n.hetherington@sheffield.ac.uk)
Olivia Harrison - Business, Journalism, Philosophy, Philosophy Religion and Ethics (o.harrison@sheffield.ac.uk)
Dr. Rachel Johnson - Music, History & Modern Languages, History (Rachel's sessions for the autumn semester will be covered by Dr. Chris McMillan)
Dr. Sarah Hale - Politics, Politics & Philosophy, History, Criminology, Law (s.hale@sheffield.ac.uk)
Dr. Valeria Wrigglesworth - Biomedical Science, Biology (v.wrigglesworth@sheffield.ac.uk)
General Information
Your personal tutor has had training about best practice and how to set clear professional but supportive boundaries. So they are able to help you identify immediate concerns and to quickly signpost to you to relevant services for solutions/support; they will also be able to help you with action planning around developing academic skills in relevant areas, reflecting upon feedback etc. And don’t forget there is also a lot of information in this handbook, so be sure to have a look there to see if your query could be answered more quickly and easily.
More specialised Information
Your personal tutor should be aware of any personal health, mental health or other issues that you have disclosed as part of the interview process, or over the summer period. They will also know if you have already been referred to The Disability and Dyslexia Support Service DDSS for diagnosis and to get a learning support plan (LSP) in place. LSPs explained. This can be a very valuable support tool and you will be strongly encouraged to get this in place straight away if you haven’t already done so. They will also be aware of (most) ongoing health, mental health or other support services that you already have in place.
Personal Tutors are usually the first point of contact for academic related questions, queries or problems with study. However, you might also want to talk to a module tutor, if you have questions about a particular module and another tutor is teaching on it.
Personal Tutors are usually the first point of contact for academic related questions, queries or problems with study. However, you might also want to talk to a module tutor, if you have questions about a particular module and another tutor is teaching on it.
How to make the most out of your personal tutor
Make an appointment as soon as you need help: Don't wait for your personal tutor to contact you.
Be prepared: Come to your appointment with a list of questions or concerns. This will help your personal tutor to give you the best possible support. Make sure you complete your checklist before your first timetabled meeting in week 4 of semester 1
Be open and honest: It's important to be open and honest with your personal tutor about any issues. They can't help you if they don't know what's going on.
Be proactive: Don't wait for your personal tutor to solve your problems for you. Be proactive and take steps to improve your situation.
Don’t ever feel that you should know all the answers: University study and life can feel very daunting and unfamiliar so do share any questions or concerns with your personal tutor.
Things your Personal Tutor can help you with
Your personal tutor can give you advice and guidance on how to:
Make the most of studying in and outside of the classroom
Understand how to interpret assessment and approaches to assessment planning
Access or interpret your feedback on assessed work
Set up good study habits and managing your time effectively
Weigh up the benefits if you are thinking about a change of programme (either at Sheffield or elsewhere) and what to do if you decide you want to make a change
Access support to improve your academic skills
Access support for learning difficulties, health or mental health concerns, disabilities or University accommodation
Find effective strategies to help you transition into your degree department
Access ways of improving your life skills and employability skills see here MySkills
Understand how your modules fit together at a programme level
Things your Personal Tutor can't help you with
Personal tutors and SSW staff do not act as trained counsellors as part of their role in the department. Where issues are identified which cannot be resolved by initial discussion, you are likely to be signposted to other University (and some external) specialist sources of help, advice and guidance. In many cases DLL will continue to talk and meet with you whilst you are accessing or waiting for these services in order to maintain regular contact and check on your progress in a supportive way.
How to contact your personal tutor
You can contact your personal tutor by email and/or by booking into their weekly office hour. Tutors have bookable slots which are shown in their google calendars. They may also be able to offer you meetings outside of this, but you need to find a mutually convenient time and day. Some meetings can be done online, but are more routinely face to face at the DLL office located in Edgar Allen House.
Personal Tutor response times - working week and out of hours
Most tutors and student support and welfare staff work three or four days per week, and will aim to respond to queries within three working days. Their normal working pattern will be in their email signature. If you contact staff outside their normal working pattern you may well not get a response for up to three working days from their next working day, so bear in mind that this could be up to a week. In addition, staff will generally not respond to emails outside the working day 9 - 5pm or at weekends and Bank Holidays.
Annual Leave and/or sickness
Personal tutors and members of the SSWT take most of their annual leave during the Scheduled University Holiday periods. If you contact yours when they are on leave you should get a bounce back email indicating when they are back at work. If your query is too urgent to wait until they return then please see below. If your personal tutor or allocated SSWT is unwell for longer than a couple of weeks you may be asked to refer to a different tutor or member of the SSWT temporarily, until your normal contact is back at work. Special arrangements may be made for longer term sickness and you will continue to be fully supported if that situation arises.
Who do I contact for more urgent support or advice?
If you have a more urgent query or support need please send an email to dllstudentsupport@sheffield.ac.uk who will get back to you within two working days or contact one of the University central support services. There is a comprehensive list of these at student support services
Who do I contact in a crisis?
For more immediate support in times of crisis, emergency services can be contacted 24/7 on 999 and/or call campus security services and for those living in halls of residence and a crisis is related to accommodation then call Residence Life
One to one meetings
In addition to your weekly tutor group meetings and meeting your tutor during intros week, you will have two further timetabled 1:1 meetings. These are both in week four of semesters one and two. Week four of semester one is a general check in to see how you are settling into the course, that you are fully registered and your timetable is working as it should; your accommodation is OK and that you know what to expect in terms of weekly preparation for classes, assessment deadlines and coursework, access to Blackboard or to talk about any course related or personal concerns. The second 1:1 in week four of semester two is to look at your weighted mean grade (WMG) for semester one module assessments and work out strategies for improving this or maintaining the same level. The checklist will be shared with you in Week1, please complete this in advance of your first week 4 meeting with your personal tutor.
Both meetings are important and will help you to get a sense of how you are doing and give you an opportunity to get advice and guidance from your personal tutor. However, if there are urgent and important things that you want or need to discuss, please don’t wait for your timetabled meeting. Raise issues straight away and try to get in to see your tutor and/or SSWT as soon as you can. Similarly, your personal tutor may want to meet with you earlier than week four in either semester, particularly if there are complex or important issues that need to be addressed more urgently.
Recording of meetings
Any meetings or email conversations that you have with your personal tutor, member of the student support and welfare team or programme director will be recorded in the Personal and Academic Tutoring System (PATS). You also have access to your PATS records and will continue to do so throughout your time at the University. Here is a link to the University confidentiality message which explains how sensitive or confidential information may or may not be used or shared: Confidentiality Message
You can also view our DLL Student Data and Confidentiality Policy June 2023.
Discussing Non Academic matters
For other matters e.g. health, mental health, caring or childcare issues, financial hardship, travel or issues about living accommodation (not an exhaustive list) etc…. You may want to talk to your personal tutor first who should be able to signpost you, but you could also make an appointment to talk to our Senior Student Support and Welfare Officers (SSWO) Dan Tudhope, who is based in Edgar Allen House and is part of the Student Support and Welfare Team (SSWT).
Your Attendance and Engagement in class - How we record this
Every year, we see that those students who find a way to attend as many sessions as they can are also the students who are most likely both to pass the foundation year and go on to achieve a good degree at the University. For this reason, we keep weekly records of all students' attendance and coursework submissions, and where these fall below a certain level it is likely that you will be asked to meet with either your personal tutor and a member of the SSWT or a DLL programme director. These meetings are set up to get a better sense of any difficulties that you might be experiencing and to offer advice and guidance on strategies or support services that you could use to improve the situation.
Possible consequences of poor attendance and/or engagement
If your pattern of attendance and/or engagement continues to be a cause for serious concern, then this will be reported to faculty and a faculty officer will contact you for a formal discussion and to agree a follow up plan. This will be recorded on your internal University record.