Bridging the gap between tutor and students

PhD candidate Umar Ahmed shares some strategies to help tutors connect with their students.

Sit on your knees—literally

Non-verbal communication is an extremely important element of any tutor’s overall skills.

I have realised that sometimes students perceive hierarchical differences between themselves and the tutor. This is specially so for international students, many of whom come from high hierarchical-distance cultures. These differences are natural and could arise because of differences in age, experiences, or education.

Sometimes while conversing with a student, I sit on my knees to make myself at the same level as the student. This makes them more comfortable to talk.

Get students to introduce each other

One of the challenges in the first tutorial is that students do not talk. They are somewhat shy in even conversing with each other and in forming groups.

One of the strategies that I use to overcome this shyness among students is to ask them to introduce the person on their left. In this way, they all get to talk to each other, and conversations are initiated.

Get students debating

A sense of competition can initiate a healthy discussion, clarify concepts, and allow shy students to participate.

When I find that a tutorial group is losing its interest in the conversation, I make two groups and ask them to critique each other’s comments. I let each group make two valid points. Then I allow the other group a few moments to discuss how to critique these points. Later, I ask the critique group to present their arguments.

This cycle continues until the discussion points are well exhausted. Both groups get points on their logic and depth of knowledge about the subject matter. I have realised that students really enjoy conversing in this form of competition and debate.