Evaluating the effectiveness of co-tutoring to develop synchronous online teaching skills, confidence and competence (phase 2)

Co-tutoring has the potential to be an important site for the development of a tutor’s teaching practice. Other benefits include giving tutors a sense of belonging to the AL community and OU as an institution; supporting the induction activities for new tutors; and enabling more effective and engaging tutorials by combining the skills and SCiLAB final project report Page 2 of 8 expertise of different tutors during one session. Findings also indicated that co-tutoring can create a number of challenges for tutors. These include the sense that co-tutoring can sometimes be a less effective way of delivering tutorials than an individually led session; there can be uncomfortable clashes and tensions between tutors when expectations of their role differ and when delivery approaches contrast; and that co-tutoring invariably takes more time and effort and can cause stress/anxiety in having to work alongside a colleague to deliver a session.