Who is the tutor
The novelty that the University of Padova proposes is that of basing tutoring on the relationship between peers, on direct help between colleagues with more experience or with doctoral students, to better fit into the mechanisms and mentality of university study.
Junior tutors are students in the last years of master's degrees, or people enrolled in a PhD or specialization, with a particularly brilliant university career. Their task is to provide information and solve doubts and problems that students encounter in their university life, supporting them in organizational and educational difficulties (study plans, prerequisites for exams, relations with academic bodies, with the secretariat, etc.).
Not just an information and educational support service for students. The tutoring service, by designing new synergies, brings to completion that conscious accompaniment in itinere that is part of the broader complex of services that invest the student from when they express the desire to enrol in university to when, after graduation, they begin to be productive. This new project perspective, in an integrated and participatory vision, aims to increase academic results and the well-being of students.
Objectives
From an operational point of view, the tutors work to:
- provide useful information and advice for studying;
- to prepare tools for the recovery of learning gaps in basic knowledge and skills;
- to promote the awareness of students in the development of a general study project;
- enhance the tools necessary to prepare a work plan, to identify a suitable method for dealing with study and exams;
- assist students in choosing the subject area and the lecturer to develop a degree dissertation;
- provide guidance support in identifying paths to open up to the world of professions.
Most of the objectives listed above appear crucial if we consider that the transition from secondary school to the world of university represents one of the most delicate steps in the educational career of students. If not properly planned, this transition phase can create discomfort, difficulty in adapting, and therefore increase the likelihood of failure in studies, with consequent frustrations and tendencies to drop out.
The functions of the tutor
The tutor as a mediator between students and the "university system" carries out consultancy actions, finds information on degree courses, activates networking with the various services present (student secretariat, teaching secretariat, internship and world of work, erasmus, etc.), collaborates in incoming and outgoing orientation initiatives (open days, days of presentation of the degree courses). He/she is able to monitor specific requests related to educational, logistical, orientation, information and communication problems in order to be able to report it to the competent teaching secretariats.
The figure of the tutor as a facilitator in communication and learning deals with the organization of moments of individual and/or small group listening and educational issues concerning slowdowns in the course of study. Teaching tutoring engages the tutor (who is mostly a person enrolled in a PhD) in the organization of study groups, supplementary activities to teaching especially in relation to critical exams and as support in teaching laboratories.
Supporting students from the beginning in the practical organization and acquisition of a valid study method through the achievement of specific learning outcomes: this is the tutor's mission.
Student Services Office - Tutoring
via del Portello 19, 35129 Padova
Map
tel. 049.8275044
tutorato@unipd.it
The Student Services Office receives every day during opening hours to the public.
It also offers online consultations by appointment.