19

Creating an inviting tutorial environment: A tutor’s perspective

Presenter

Elizabeth has been a tutor and facilitator at University of South Africa since from 2009. She facilitates statistics and basic numeracy modules. She works fulltime at the University of the Western Cape as a Business Intelligence Data Scientist responsible for business intelligence development, analytics and reporting solution. She holds a degree in Statistics and Psychology.

Abstract

The success of a student tends to be influenced by the interface between the student’s characteristics and his/her learning environment. Invitational education theory suggests that people create environments that are intentionally disinviting if there is a lack of trust, respect and optimism. There is a need to understand the requirements of creating and sustaining invitational environments. While creating these environments, there is a need to be mindful of the articulation gaps and to find ways to bridge those gaps. Students are expected to cope with the discipline-specific academic discourse in addition to becoming independent learners. The role of a tutor or facilitator is to encourage students to be independent thinkers, able to analyse and evaluate the information critically. This requires that tutorial sessions be transformed into invitational sessions in order to accommodate students’ needs. Students have to experience a sense of belonging. Consequently, the tutorial sessions should foster an environment that intends to encourage a sense of respect, trust and optimism in order for students to engage freely. The idea is to apply a multi-modal environment which can accommodate all students registered or enrolled for tutorial sessions.

Presentation & Resources