As a tutor, engaging students who are not always face to face with you requires a particular approach.
Research has shown that the tutor’s presence is a critical factor in engaging students. However, providing a tutor presence becomes more complicated if instances of face to face contact reduce. This reduction of face to face contact often happens as programmes move to a blended or online delivery.
Developing a tutor presence while working with blended delivery is a well-documented issue. Solutions abound – generally very practical advice, but often framed in a particular situation; not your situation.
I feel it is more useful to discuss the principles that inform good practice so tutors can apply them to their particular situation.
- Clear relationship
It is useful to have an understanding of the relationship you are seeking. Good practice suggests tutors should be friendly, but not be the students’ friend. Tutors should be someone students can trust and be approachable, but also be seen as an authority and subject expert.
- Initial presence
First impressions can be lasting. There is an opportunity when students first engage to set the scene for the engagement to come. When the course has an online space the tutor’s control of when the first interaction happens can be limited. However, with online courses tutors are likely to have more control over the students’ first experience. Provide visual and audio, keep it short, let them know what you look like; give them an insight into you as a person.
- Know your students
Understanding who your students are and communicating on their terms is important. Initially, academic or jargon language can be daunting; large blocks of text can be difficult to make sense of. Use a range of media and channels and look at where the students are engaging. Ask them what they prefer. Respond to their feedback.
Contemporary students have become comfortable with getting to know people asynchronously through digital media. This provides an opportunity for you, as a tutor, to engage with them as a version of yourself – a version one which is tuned to their particular needs. When you think about it, this is not so different from a face to face class.
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