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Tutor and Demonstrator Development Program

Management of Small Group Teaching and Learning


The Good and the Bad of Small Group Teaching and Learning Semester 1 2008
The GoodThe Bad
  • Being treated as an equal
  • Confidence
  • Knows their "stuff"
  • Well organised
  • Punctuality
  • Enthusiasm/energy
  • Being approachable
  • Putting things in context
  • Able to explain things in different ways
  • Ability to work out what students are actually asking
  • Not getting frustrated
  • Putting students down
  • No interest in student's questions
  • Not flexible
  • Getting sidetracked, not focused
  • Passing the buck - "dodging"
  • Explain "like the textbook does"
  • Using non-professional language
  • Being difficult to understand
  • not able to communicate
The Good and the Bad of Small Group Teaching and Learning Semester 2 2007
The GoodThe Bad
  • pauses
  • approachable - friendly, interested in their learning, enthusiastic, responsive
  • engages the students
  • learns their names, good relationship with students, chat
  • positive attitude to teaching
  • appropriate humour
  • respects students
  • feedback, professional
  • throws the questions back to the audience
  • punctual
  • prepared
  • makes the complex, simple
  • monotonous voice
  • no pauses
  • no approachable
  • does not have an enthusiastic attitude
  • non-engaging, never smiles
  • only talks science
  • no humour or inappropriate humour
  • uses put-downs
  • no punctual
  • teaching too complex, hard to understand
The Good and the Bad of Small Group Teaching and Learning Semester 1 2007
The GoodThe Bad
  • enthusiastic, has a passion for the subject, interest in subject fosters students' interest
  • interactive, involves students
  • finds a point of interest with students which may or may not be directly focused on material being covered, uses relevant illustrations
  • puts learning in context
  • individualistic, shows personality
  • challenges students
  • motivates students
  • uses a variety of techniques and media
  • using discipline to maintain order
  • intimidating, hard to approach
  • monotonous voice, too much jargon
  • jaded tutor - overworked, rushes through material, messy writing, uncommitted
  • talks down to students, lack of resepct, belittling

The Good and the Bad of Small Group Teaching and Learning Semester 2 2006
The GoodThe Bad
  • enjoy teaching
  • enthusiastic
  • able to explain things differently to different students
  • clear explanations - easy to understand
  • pitch at right level -> know your students
  • friendly but professional
  • able to control class
  • positive attitude
  • work by example
  • be prepared for calculations
  • work at the students level
  • doesn't know their stuff
  • lecturer just copies straight out of textbook
  • interaction!!
  • answering question untruthfully -> admit you don't know -> I'll get back to you OR get the lecturer to explain in the next lecture -> ask rest of class
  • overloading students with information
  • fraternising with students (no touching!)
  • disorganised, unprepared
  • lack of control
  • do you throw someone out
  • negative attitude

The Good and the Bad of Small Group Teaching and Learning Semester 1 2006
The GoodThe Bad
 
  • don't turn up or turn up late
  • cannot communicate
  • showing off - egos
  • pay attention to only a few students
  • do not respect students
  • are extremely vague
  • trade off between giving too much and too little information

The Good and the Bad of Small Group Teaching and Learning Semester 2 2005
The GoodThe Bad
  • enthusiasm, showing a love of the subject
  • taking time (but not too much time) to answer questions and cover additional content that may be necessary to understand the topic
  • giving a good introduction to the tutorial or prac, preparing the students for the material to be covered
  • adapting situations to explore content, learning in context
  • respecting students as individuals
  • appearing impartial, not making judgements
  • being aware of potential problems
  • providing good feedback
  • having a broad knowledge and being able to transmit that knowledge
  • admitting lack of knowledge of a specific topic but being prepared to find out
  • being a good facilitator
  • being able to guide the students knowledge
  • not giving clear introduction
  • being late
  • teaching to the examination not to understanding of the content
  • showing favouritiism
  • being judgemental
  • giving poor quality feedback
  • not being properly prepared


The Good and the Bad of Small Group Teaching and Learning Semester 1 2005
The GoodThe Bad
Tutors and demonstrators:
  • are well prepared
  • are approachable and friendly
  • are "caring" within reason
  • make sure everyone is at the same level within reason - don't take too long and waste time
  • good sense of humour - but don't overdo the jokes
  • are motivated and enthusiastic
  • contextualise the content with "real world" examples
  • have good communication skills - two way communication, listen to students
  • are honest with respect to their own knowledge, admit if they do not know the answer
  • have patience
  • are aware of the physical environment of the learning space
  • badly organised tutor and demonstrators
  • intimidating - puts a student "on the spot"
  • being late or not turning up
  • spending too much time
  • showing favouritism
  • too many jokes
  • victimising students, singling a student out
  • being condescending
  • poor voice control and use


The Good and the Bad of Small Group Teaching and Learning Semester 2 2004
The GoodThe Bad
  • Different perspectives, different comprehensions
  • Everyone involved
  • Use of feedback to improve - reflection and adapting
  • Enthusiam
  • Learning by both students and tutors
  • Positive feedback
  • Working with people on similar level
  • Rapport with students, motivation - students feel you care, trying to help them
  • Interaction
  • help not easily available, tutor not aware
  • Speaking too fast - not being aware of diversity of students
  • Nervousness leading to speaking too fast
  • Bad group dynamics
  • Use of jargon, unclear content, to cover poor knowledge
  • control of dominating, support of shy students, engage all students, intimidating shy students


The Good and the Bad of Small Group Teaching and Learning Semester 1 2004
The GoodThe Bad
  • tutor or demonstrator being well prepared
  • tutor or demonstrator being enthusiastic
  • good interaction between students and tutor/demonstrator
  • good interactin between students and students
  • involving all students
  • effective time management
  • being in control of group dynamics
  • use a range of explanantions to address students' different styles of learning
  • lack of interest in answering questions
  • boring, not interesting and not interested
  • disruptive students (lack of control)
  • directing activities to only a few
  • not approachable
  • lack of confidence
  • unclear objectives
  • lack of alignment with knowledge levels
  • tutor unapproachable, intimidating - feeling that questions are trivial or silly


The Good and the Bad of Small Group Teaching and Learning Semester 2 2003
The GoodThe Bad
  • openness, interaction freely with each other and with the teacher
  • enthusiasm of the tutor, eccentricities, "kookiness", makes it more interesting, keeps student's attention
  • making it more memorable, involving students, students actively involved, tap into students' experiences
  • asking lots of questions especially open-ended questions
  • humour in group dynamics
  • positive attitude, optimistic tutors
  • focussed, organised outcomes
  • availability and accessibility of tutors
  • not spoon-feeding students
  • being inquisitive
  • clarification
  • very negative, tutor "thumping"
  • tutor disorganised, tutorial not cohesive
  • tutors who only focus on "good" and "poor" students - need to interact with all students
  • disruptive students, poor group cohesion


The Good and the Bad of Small Group Teaching and Learning Semester 1 2003
The GoodThe Bad
  • opportunity for group participation
  • interaction within the group
  • tutor/demonstrator is approachable
  • material is pitched at the level of the students
  • lots of feedback, timely feedback
  • good knowledge of the English language
  • interesting topic
  • enthusiasm
  • knowledge of material
  • good time management
  • preparedness
  • purpose is clear
  • working towards a common goal
  • examples are good and appropriate
  • patience, re-explaining
  • practical/hands-on
  • groups too large
  • no group response
  • tutors just giving out answers
  • boring tutor
  • tutors trying to be funny
  • information overload
  • putting an individual on the spot
  • staff not well prepared
  • students not prepared (affects the outcome of the group as a whole)
  • staff not knowing the answer and not admitting it
  • tutor taking over from students (e.g. conducting experiments)
  • dominating tutor/student
  • unclear goals
  • badly defined task
  • level and speed of delivery (catering for only the top percentage)
  • lack of interactive opportunities
  • poor venues
  • inconsistent or inappropriate allocation of marks





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Last Update: Wednesday, 06-Aug-2008 11:38:21 EST
URL: http://science.uniserve.edu.au/courses/tutortraining/good&bad.html