Your tutor Your allocated tutor will make contact with you shortly before the course starts. They will supply their own contact details, the days that the tutorials will take place, the time and the venue. Sometimes the Regional Centre will send out a list of tutorials for your course which shows all of the above for all of the tutors taking that course in your region. What does a tutor do? Provide support and assistance, through a number of different media (Post, e-mail, phone and face to face), throughout the time of your course They will be an expert in the subject and will understand what studying part time is all about and its difficulties. Mark your TMA's and provide important feedback Put the course material into context, explain it, discuss it and will be keen to assist you They will provide guidance on various issues surrounding your OU course ( and maybe beyond). They can give extensions for TMA's (an extra few days) when you have particular problems. Be warned though, there are guidelines and time limits as well as restrictions, on some courses, as to whether they can be given at all. They are available, usually at specified times, on the phone and/or online to provide further help and guidance. You need to be proactive in asking for help from your tutor - they won't necessarily know just when you need it. Top
Tutorials Tutorials, along with day schools and residential schools (provided by the OU) and revision weekends (offered by Societies) provide the opportunity to work and study with other students. This is something taken for granted by students of 'traditional' university students but is sadly lacking for OU students. You will be warmly welcomed to the tutorials and introduced to the other students in your group. Many learners find that tutorials are an excellent way of finding answers to their questions or clarifying/confirming their own thoughts and learning new concepts. Depending on your course you may have tutorials on-line or face to face at a study centre. Face to face obviously allows you to meet other students - an all too rare occasion with the OU. Your Regional Centre will try to provide tutors locally and arrange for local study centres (a local university or other educational facility, the Regional Centre or another similar venue). However, that does depend on the numbers involved. A level one course is more likely to be highly populated so that this can easily be arranged but the more sparsely populated courses or those requiring a specialist tutor can be different. Level one courses may well have two, three or more tutors locally providing tutorials for their students on a particular course. This can mean that they may be on different evenings or days and at different venues. With fewer students there will be less venues and tutors and you will need to travel further and for longer. Additionally, the higher the level the less tutor support you are expected to need so you will receive less tutorial time. As always, being able to discuss course materials will bring out various aspects that you may never have thought about on your own. Many tutors provide their own material which will complement or further explain the 'official' literature. This can be a newspaper/magazine article or one that they have prepared for their students. Sometimes, due to circumstance, you may not be able to attend tutorials and the tutors recognise this. Tutorials are optional so that means that you do not have to attend but it does make sense to use this facility. After all, you have paid for them and you can benefit from them. Additionally you get to meet your tutor - the person who will be marking your assignments. Although tutors provide comments on your work these are necessarily brief and at tutorials you can ask for more details or query those remarks. If you cannot make the allocated day or time then do not worry, contact your Regional Centre and ask if there are other tutorials that you can attend. You are entitled to turn up for any or all of these but it is good manners to speak to that tutor first and let them know you are turning up. Your TMA's will still be marked by your allocated tutor so it is no use trying to curry favour with your alternative tutor. Important: Some tutorials may be compulsory. Check your course information. Tutorials can be face to face, online or by phone (it depends on the course and type of course) but you will be informed about which type well in advance. Top
Online tutorials are usually conducted via FirstClass conferencing or Lyceum. You will be sent information but contact your tutor if you need more detail. A benefit of attending tutorials is meeting other students who are studying the same subject as yourself. Some students prefer to avoid other students but, generally, most students welcome the opportunity. Tutors are supposed to promote (a) OUSA and (b) Self Help Groups (SHG's) but if they do not mention SHG's then initiate one yourselves. The OU website also contains details on SHG's. The OU say (of meeting other students at tutorials and elsewhere): "Among the benefits, you can find out that you aren't alone in your enthusiasms and difficulties. Often someone can help you when you are confused, and you can reciprocate by helping them clarify your thinking. Sharing ideas and explaining points to others can help you sort out your understanding of a subject and encourage you to express yourself more clearly talk with others doing the same course, hear their opinions and perspectives, and use the subject-specific terms and language with people who know what you mean! " There are some questions that you are best directed to the Support Service staff at your Regional Centre and not to your tutor. Support Services can help with the broader issues surrounding study matters and wider issues. OUSA can also provide support on a variety of issues. Top
Interactivity Tutorials are provided for your benefit and if you have trouble understanding a subject, want to learn more about a particular aspect of the course material, need to discover where something fits into the overall scheme of things, what the TMA question means, need an explanation of the tutors TMA comments or anything else please ask your tutor. In many courses, you are able to (or expected to) put your point of view or discuss or argue; do not be put off by that or by another students point of view. Top
What to take During your tutorial you will probably need a pen & paper plus any course material that your tutor asks you to take along. Generally, taking your brain along helps a lot.

Study Aids

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