The mid-term evaluations are one way to measure this. Every semester, students are invited to fill out a survey where learning objectives, general structure and assignments designed for each tutorial series are assessed for first and second year tutorials. As they provide a significant moment for reflection and self-reflection in the teaching and learning environment of the tutorials, the mid-term evaluations result in the clarification of different aspects and components of the tutorials, and form the basis for necessary steps to continually improve them.

In most of the cases, the effort put in in the organization of tutorials and the investment in the team work between tutors and students does ‘pay off’. Comments as “Keep up the good work!” or “I wouldn’t change a thing” frequently express the students’ appreciation and gratitude for the work and investment tutors put in tutorials. For example, the use of flash cards and Kahoot quizzes in Sociolinguistics appears to have been a positive experience for the great majority of students, as well as the tutors involved in the course. You just had to walk around on the 5^th floor of the Wijnhaven building where the teaching staff offices are located to see how tutors were enjoying to prepare these tools to apply in their teaching.

Needless to say that not all comments made by students are enthusiastic. Sometimes they indicate some ‘weak spots’ in a tutorial, such as: “We would like to have more discussions in class. Maybe you could divide students into groups and give them specific roles as to the points they will need to defend”. This kind of comments functions as a ‘reality check’ that engenders the necessary improvement in the sessions to follow by the tutor. Furthermore, it also shows the students’ willingness to contribute to an interactive and cooperative tutorial.

Sometimes students’ comments indicate that we have not been able to make clear what the didactic purpose is of certain activities and assignments. This is the case with the web posts for Introduction to International Studies. Although students do earn a grade for each of the 4 posts, the focus lies on the individual and collective feedback provided for each post by the tutor. Both the end grade for the 4 posts and the participation grade are only awarded at the end of the semester. Since this ‘out of the box’ approach of assessment somehow deviates from the frequent awarding of grades throughout the semester, some students have expressed their concern about it. However, the objective of this approach is to significantly invest in and improve the students’ progress in their reflective, writing, and analytical skills which could be affected by the frequent awarding of grades, which often obscures the importance of the feedback given. In other words, it is meant to invest more on formative and less on summative assessment as tutors explain in their tutorial sessions.

In short, the mid-term evaluations offer essential information and foster the necessary improvement that guarantees the quality of teaching in the Program. They remain an essential tool to achieve what one of the tutors so clearly formulated, while talking to colleagues: “I want to be a researcher and teacher at university, it's the thing that makes me most happy in this world. My aim is to prepare students, not just as experts in their field, but also as good citizens that stand up for what is right.”

Paula Jordão

Head of the tutor team