Personal tutorials are an essential feature of student support in British universities, and therefore they are duplicated on British overseas campuses. It appears that Chinese students are reluctant to seek help when they experience personal difficulties that affect their engagement with learning and their academic performance. Limited literature…

This Teaching Note reports on an initiative designed to increase the number of students who undertake homework in the absence of formal rewards, such as additional marks. While the initiative was successful in increasing the number of students who attempted the homework each week, preliminary findings suggest it may have been accompanied by a fall…

Great Britain's Transport and General Workers Union, in conjunction with Surrey University, offers its members distance learning in the form of tutorials with monthly course meetings. The program enables members to consider the wider economic and political issues facing unions and to develop independent learning skills. (SK)

Describes two occasions where television has been used to record a series of tutorials in mathematics and earth science to improve the performance of those conducting the tutorials. The opportunity for playback, analysis, and discussion with colleagues was especially valuable. (Author)

A volunteer scheme in Bradford, England was set up to serve the needs of illiterates and semi-literates who couldn't attend a class. The service provided a confidential, free of charge, one-to-one, tutorial relationship in either the tutor's or client's home. (MW)

Characteristics of both successful and unsuccessful tutors at the Open University are illustrated, based on first-hand observation of staff members. Areas covered include: knowledge and handling of subject matter, general teaching skills, classroom skills, social competence, values and work rate, administrative competence, and style. (LBH)

Detailed analysis of student attendance at British tutorial sessions indicate that mathematics tutorials are relatively well attended and attendance correlates well with course results. Regular attenders achieve higher marks than nonattenders. It is concluded that minimizing distances to be traveled to tutorials is important in program planning.…

The problems of resource allocation and management within open learning systems in colleges of further and higher education in Britain are discussed in this paper, with particular focus on the deployment of academic staff. First, the components of open learning systems are outlined; e.g., providing materials for students' private study, grading…

Described are some of the teaching innovations used in a large university chemistry department in Britain. They include diagnostic testing and individual tutoring; self-instruction centers for remedial teaching, complementary services, and specialist materials; new laboratory approaches; and innovations to develop skills needed by chemistry…

Conceived by the British Labor Government in the 1960's the Open University was viewed as a way to extend higher education to Britain's working class, but enrollment figures in classes that represent traditional academic disciplines show that the student population is predominantly middle class. Bringing education into the home presents numerous…

A study investigated metadiscoursal signalling devices used in discussions in a business administration course in a British university, focusing on the use and function of the devices in seminars and tutorials. Data were drawn from seminar and discussion classes recorded for distance education purposes. The corpus of about 30,000 words included 18…

The Open University of Great Britain, using a multimedia, mass media approach offers instruction leading to a university degree. Its Faculty of Science provides instruction in the disciplines of biology, physics, chemistry, and earth science. The philosophy of instruction is anti-specialization, pro-integration; the social impact of science and…

The University of Great Britain will soon open, with an enrollment of 25,000 students. Within three years, 40,000 undergraduate students are expected. The instructional system of the Open University is unique: it employs a multimedia approach and stresses the interdisciplinary nature of the foundation courses. Weekly radio programs and…

The objectives, curriculum, and role of higher education and key policy and practice issues were reassessed against the backdrop of recent and predicted demographic, economic, and political changes and trends in Great Britain. Special consideration was given to the fact that "mature" learners now constitute the majority of entrants into…