correspondence tuition in mathematics - Faculty of Maths and ...

CORRESPONDENCE TUITION IN 

MATHEMATICS 

A guidance document for tutors of Open University Courses 

in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics 

of the Faculty of Mathematics, Computing and Technology 

2008 

Important notes. In 2008, most mathematics and statistics assignments at The Open 

University were written, and marked, by hand. Also in 2008, trials were undertaken with 

students submitting their work electronically, and tutors marking it electronically. Some 

of the examples presented in the current document are word-processed; many more are 

handwritten. In any case, the principles of good Correspondence Tuition in Mathematics 

are the same whichever medium is used. 

You may receive more than one copy of this document, for example if you hold more than 

one contract. Please return spare copies to your Staff Tutor. 

Contents 

1 Introduction 2 

2 Tutors at work 3 

3 Grading 7 

4 Correction and explanation 12 

5 Asking questions, giving hints and encouraging checks 23 

6 Alternative methods 27 

7 Supporting weak students 30 

8 Challenges to good students 34 

9 Presentation and notation 36 

10 Graphs, diagrams and computer output 39 

11 Student criticisms 44 

12 General comments and the PT3 form 47 

13 The monitoring process 54 

14 Conclusion 57 

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1 Introduction 

As an Associate Lecturer (AL) of the Open University, you have access to the Supporting 

Open Learners (SOL) website, http://www.open.ac.uk/tutors/sol/. The site 

provides a good reference guide to general aspects of correspondence tuition, resources to 

aid ALs in supporting their students, and also the administrative information you need 

to deal with Tutor-Marked Assignments (TMAs). We suggest that you take a look at the 

website before you continue with this document. 

It takes time to assimilate the more general material on the SOL site, and to relate 

comments to the task in hand – particularly if you’re new to the University. Correspondence 

tuition in mathematics is, in some ways, rather different from correspondence 

tuition in subjects that involve students primarily in essay writing. 

We therefore think it’s helpful to provide you with a subject-specific booklet: you may 

appreciate the chance to see illustrations of general principles at work in mathematics, 

through examples of students scripts and the comments that tutors have made on them. 

New courses and changing methods of delivery, especially electronic marking, will give 

opportunities for a different process for providing correspondence tuition compared to paper 

marking. Nevertheless, the common core of good practice remains the same whatever 

the medium – so the ideas illustrated here remain relevant. 

Tutors naturally have individual styles of commenting, and what sounds right when 

written by one can sound artificial from another. This makes it tricky to lay down a 

set of hard-and-fast rules for good correspondence tuition, but there are guidelines to 

follow. These are set out in detail in Sections 3 to 12, where we also provide coverage of 

some frequently encountered situations, along with examples of a variety of tutors ways 

of dealing with them. 

The points we make are illustrated by instances of what we consider both good and 

bad tutoring practice; for simplicity, most of the examples are taken from first and second 

level courses. Although there may not be any from the course which you’re teaching, we 

hope that many of the examples will be relevant to your work. We believe they cover most 

of the different types of situation that are likely to arise in mathematics and statistics 

courses. 

We begin the booklet with some thoughts upon starting to mark a batch of scripts for 

courses which we tutor ourselves. This is followed by the main sections, including a range 

of examples; then we look at the monitoring process and how it will affect you. The back 

cover provides an at-a-glance summary sheet of good practice points that can be used 

alongside the Tutor Notes for your course. 

We hope that this booklet will help you to: 

• establish processes to manage your marking of TMAs; 

• grade student work in accordance with the guidelines for your course; 

• encourage student progress through appropriate feedback; 

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• appreciate monitoring as a quality assurance mechanism and as part of staff development; 

and 

• know how to obtain further help if needed. 

We, the authors, would like to thank those who wrote the original document upon 

which the current version is based, and the many others who have helped in the revision; 

academic, secretarial, full-time and part-time staff, including Associate Lecturers who 

have, knowingly or unknowingly, provided examples for our use. 

Gaynor Arrowsmith Mike Innes Gwil Stephenson 

Cath Gornall Alison Neil Cath Wilkins 

Ian Harrison Sylvia Neumann Frances Williams 

Mike Herring Philip Shelton Gareth Williams 

2 Tutors at work 

MST121 Using Mathematics – Cath 

I have my first batch of MST121, Using Mathematics, preparatory TMAs to mark. This 

is a formative assignment and students are encouraged to submit it as early as possible, 

so scripts tend to arrive over a couple of weeks. It is important for students to receive 

early feedback, so I mark the TMAs and send them to Walton Hall as soon as I can. 

The preparatory TMA is an opportunity for me to judge whether students are ready 

to study MST121. Many of the assignments will be very good and will need only brief 

comments. However, I am going to have to be very careful with the ones that are not so 

good; most of the students are new to the Open University and I dont want to put them 

off at this early stage. At the same time, I need to be realistic about their work and it 

may be that they should be thinking about changing course (probably to MU120, Open 

Mathematics), but I have to be very sensitive about this. I will follow up any weak scripts 

with a phone call a few days after they have received their scripts back. 

Question 1 is on numbers including surds, powers, and logarithms. It is answered very 

well, although some students have not shown all their working and I comment on the 

importance of this. 

Questions 2, 3 and 4 are on algebra including solving equations and inequalities. Some 

students reveal that their techniques are a little rusty. I stress the need for fluent algebra 

skills and suggest that some extra practice might be useful, providing references to helpful 

sections of the Revision Pack. In particular, a number of students seem overly reliant on 

the quadratic formula and I show them how they could have obtained some results more 

easily using factorisation. 

Question 5 is on linear graphs, points of intersection and simultaneous equations. Most 

students have provided very good answers, although there is some reluctance to add any 

words explaining what they’re doing. 

Questions 6 and 7 are on geometry and trigonometry including the use of radians. Most 

students clearly know what they are doing, but many of them have introduced rounding 

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errors and I explain how this can be avoided. There are also some presentational issues 

to comment on, such as inappropriate use of the equals symbol. Once again I comment 

on the need for clear explanations. This is clearly a common problem! 

Question 8 is an ungraded question inviting students to share with the tutor some 

details of their mathematical background, feelings about their preparatory work and plans 

to improve their study methods. Some students will choose not to do this. For those who 

have, I comment briefly on the points raised and thank them for the information. I also 

make a note to contact any student who has raised an issue I think may need further 

discussion. 

A couple of days after the course officially starts I will contact any students who have 

not submitted the preparatory TMA. There may be one or two who are not intending 

to continue with the course and I will remind them to contact the Regional Centre to 

withdraw as soon as possible. There may also be some who are reluctant to tackle the 

TMA or who have registered late and I will encourage them to try perhaps just two or 

three of the questions, whilst reminding them of the importance of future cut-off dates. 

MS221 Exploring Mathematics – Alison 

It is the day after the cut-off date for TMA02 and I have a pile of scripts to mark. I 

have begun to know my students by now and am glad to have the opportunity to read 

their work and see how they are getting on. I like to mark one script at a time, so I 

can engage with each student and get a good overall impression of their strengths and 

weaknesses. Occasionally I’ll take one question and mark it for a batch of scripts, if I 

anticipate difficulties with the marking, but that’s not so this time. I like to start off 

with a very good assignment if possible, just to get into the swing of the mark scheme, 

before tackling weaker ones where there will be more problems. I have my black and blue 

pens ready, as I always use black for students who write in blue, and vice versa, having a 

personal aversion to red ink. 

The first question is about fixed points. Inevitably some students will still be using 

the quadratic formula rather than factorising neatly, so that will be worth a comment. 

Some students leave out the modulus signs when testing the nature of the fixed points, so 

that needs an important note, and the loss of a mark for reasoning. If they get the fixed 

points wrong, I will have to follow-through the marks for the rest of the question. 

I add up the marks, and as a check add the lost marks too, rounding up any odd 

half-mark at the end. I tend not to penalise for incorrect notation, though I always point 

it out – misuse of = signs is a frequent one! – but I take off half a mark when I’m really 

unhappy about it. Occasionally too, where the mark scheme doesn’t dictate otherwise, 

I’ll take off half a mark for incorrect rounding or for small omissions. I have a pocketful 

of words such as “good” or “all fine” or “beautifully clear”, with which I scatter nicely 

done sections. 

Question 2 requires the use of Mathcad; a few students leave it out completely, claiming 

computer problems, or lack of time. Most tackle it quite well, but some lose marks through 

their reluctance to write detailed conclusions, leaving it for me to pick out their answers 

4

in their print-outs, which, to compound matters, are sometimes appended at the back of 

their scripts! Others fail to increase the number of iterations sufficiently to get a clear 

picture of any convergence: the sequence converges to an 8-cycle after about a hundred 

iterations, but many just look at ten iterations and conclude the sequence is chaotic. So 

there is plenty of scope for comment. 

The next question is short, about binomial coefficients, and many students get full 

marks, so it’s a quick and easy one for me. But for some there’s confusion between “term” 

and “coefficient”, and there are a few sign errors, and some decimal approximations to 

what should be exact answers. 

Question 4 is about transformations and matrices. I sense that a few students are 

writing down solutions by rote, with little understanding of what they are doing, so if 

there is not enough justification they will lose a mark, and I’ll fill in the reasoning for 

them as clearly as I can. At the end there is another Mathcad exercise, about writing 

a matrix as a product of simple scaling / shear / rotation matrices, with neat diagrams 

showing a unit square being transformed into a parallelogram, but I get several scripts 

which tell me that the matrix is just the identity I, so clearly they had no idea of what 

they were supposed to do, and I refer them to the box and activity in the computer 

booklet which explains the process; they still get 2 of the 5 marks though, for entering 

the original matrix correctly. 

Next, Question 5 is about affine transformations and composites, with more matrices. 

Most of the students run into trouble here, often with finding the composite (there’s 

no similar example in the chapter or in the exercise book); so I congratulate those who 

worked it out correctly for themselves, and write solutions for those who got stuck. I also 

have to do quite a lot of follow-through marking! 

There are issues of notation here too; use of brackets, underlining vectors, distinguishing 

between a vector and a point. 

Lastly Question 6 is about eigenvalues, eigenlines, and eigenvectors. Nearly everyone 

gets the first two or three sections right; for those who don’t I point out how they could 

have checked their answers (if the square matrix A has integer entries, so should the 

matrix A 6 !). But there are more problems in the later sections, about the behaviour 

of iteration sequences of points starting on or off an eigenline, with one section another 

Mathcad exercise. Often their description of the behaviour lacks detail and justification, 

and I’m not always sure they see the links between the various parts of the question, 

so I write out the solution for them and refer them to to the detailed description in the 

handbook, and to similar activities in the chapter. It might have been worth writing out 

my own solution once and for all, and photocopying it , but I do like to tie up the solution 

and notes I write on their script with their work as much as possible. 

Finally I write up the PT3 form. I always address it to the student, (hoping at the 

start of the course to have their first name right!), and I aim to write in a friendly, 

positive style. There is always something I can praise to start with, a question which got 

full marks, good presentation, neat diagrams, etc. I know full well that for some students 

a mark of 60%, say, is quite an achievement and that with support and encouragement 

they may be able to improve on this. I draw their attention to two or three points to note 

5

especially, e.g use of modulus signs, or how to form composites; I hope this encourages 

them to look at my comments inside and may be useful later when they are revising for 

the exam. I finish by looking ahead to the next block, and encouraging them to contact 

me if they have queries or run into difficulties. If any student seems to be struggling I’ll 

make a note to contact them. 

Then it’s onto the next student’s script; it’s good to see the pile going down and even 

better to get them all in the post! 

M208 Pure Mathematics – Ian 

It is the day after the cut-off date for TMA03 of M208, Pure Mathematics. I had about 

six scripts a week ago; this is somewhat unusual by this stage of the course, but a few 

students told me they needed to get ahead because of holidays or going abroad. As the 

assignments came in I noted their arrival date on the PT3 and collected them together 

in one large envelope. When about six had come in, as I had a day available, I started 

marking them. I always mark script by script, but like to have a reasonable number before 

I get going so that I can compare them and check that I am being consistent, especially 

over errors that appear repeatedly. 

I’ve made a few comments on my Tutor Notes by now – some extra references which 

may be useful, a note of any errors, of common alternative solutions and of any points 

where the mark scheme seems a bit odd and I may need to use my discretion over a mark 

or two. Just after the cut-off date I’ve sent off the first batch; I don’t send them too early 

in case the students should then get them back before the cut-off date and show their 

fellow students any of my model solutions! 

I have given four students permission to send this TMA in late, but most of the rest 

have now come in, so I get out my green pen to get on with the next batch. This TMA 

is one which most people can do fairly well, but many of them get the notation slightly 

wrong, so that is something I have to pay particular attention to. There’s also a lot of 

arithmetic involved, and of course this means there are numerical mistakes which may 

make subsequent answers wrong. 

I have to check the follow-through carefully, but sometimes the errors mean that the 

later work is easier than the correct solution, in which case I don’t give all the followthrough 

marks. I point out checks that could be done to avoid or correct these errors. 

Question 5 is rather tricky and I find myself writing out all or part of a solution quite 

often. In retrospect perhaps I should have written it out once and made some photocopies 

to attach to some scripts. As I mark each question, where I deduct marks I write the 

negative marks on the spine of the PT3 form. 

If a student is doing well – not losing marks – I may not itemise every subtotal from 

the mark scheme, but carry marks through until I come to an error. Then I shall write 

an appropriate itemised mark at the end of the section before the mistake, so that I can 

show more detail with the marks where there is an error. 

At the end of marking a question, I add up the marks on the script and check with 

the negative marks, before writing the total for the question in the appropriate box. On 

6

the PT3, I draw a line under the negative marks so far, in order to separate them from 

those for the next question. 

At the end of marking an assignment, I have the double check of the totals in the boxes 

of the PT3 against the total negative marks on the spine. A significant proportion of PT3 

forms from mathematics tutors are rejected because the overall grade is not correct; I use 

the negative marks to try not to contribute to this problem! 

Before I write comments on the PT3 form I look at the student’s PT3 for TMA02, 

compare the grade achieved on the two assignments and look at the comments I wrote 

last time. Obviously I don’t want to use exactly the same words as before, but I also want 

to see whether the student has taken note of any suggestions I may have made previously. 

Some students have, and I commend them for this. At least one, however, is still losing 

marks by writing far too little explanation; I tell him about it again and I hope he takes 

more notice this time! 

Another student – who cannot attend tutorials or day schools because she works on 

Saturdays – is having a lot of difficulty. I’ve tried to persuade her to ring me up for help, 

but she seems very reluctant to do so. So I will now take the initiative and ring her to 

suggest a “special session”. Most students are doing well, however, and I’m pleased that 

this year I’ve only had one who’s withdrawn – though I suspect there may be another 

withdrawal about to happen. Next week I will telephone, or email, the three students 

who have neither sent in the TMA nor asked for an extension, in the hope of encouraging 

them to continue with the course even if they are having problems. 

3 Grading 

Marking correct work is usually easy – it is when the student goes wrong that difficulties 

arise. Tutor notes try to indicate the proportion of marks to give to different sections, 

and detail what the marks are for. Nevertheless you will find many occasions when you 

have to use your discretion if the tutor notes do not cover the type of answers given, and 

the tutor notes may occasionally be incorrect 1 . It is more important that you can justify 

the marks you have given than that you blindly obey the tutor notes. 

Grading is, in practice an inexact science. A difference of a few marks between tutors 

is the norm and it is only when a tutor differs from the average by a considerable amount, 

over the script as a whole, that alarm bells start to ring. 

When marking there are certain points to bear in mind: 

• It is important for the student to know why marks have been lost. In some cases it 

will be sufficient simply to correct an arithmetic error, but in all other cases, any 

loss of marks must be supported by an explanation to the student. 

• Some indication of where the loss has occurred must also be indicated on the script. 

There are many ways of doing this depending on how the question is structured. 

It is usual to enter part marks next to each section of a question in line with how 

1 Errata are usually posted on the tutors’ First Class forum for the course. 

7

the marks are delineated in the question e.g. 3/5 for a part with 5 marks available 

and 3 awarded. This is particularly important if the student is having difficulty 

with many aspects of the question. Occasionally, if the student is getting almost 

everything correct, a simple “−1” (with explanatory comments), and a total mark 

for the question at the end, may be appropriate. The practice of always using part 

marks is probably the best, and is encouraged, as it does provide a check that all 

parts of the solution have been marked. 

• You may use abbreviations when marking scripts as long as the first time you use 

them you explain to the student the code you are using. The commonest ones are 

“b.d.” (benefit of the doubt) when you feel the student has provided a correct answer 

but misinterpreted or misread a fairly trivial aspect, and “f.t.” (follow through) when 

you have had to follow through an incorrect solution to see what effects the initial 

error may have had on other parts of a question, in order to avoid over-penalising a 

student for a single error. 

• Non-standard but correct work, unless contrary to the wording of the question or 

the spirit of the course, usually gets full marks. 

• In many cases, if no working is shown full marks cannot be awarded. The Tutor 

Notes should make the practice clear. It is often worth reminding students to look 

at the part of the course which explains what level of detail is needed when words 

such as “write down,” “calculate” or “prove” are used in a question. (Often, they 

are explained on the front cover of an assignment booklet.) 

• If a wrong answer is obtained with no working given, then, of course, neither method 

nor answer marks should be given. 

• Marks can always be split as you feel appropriate; e.g. if part of a question has 3 

answer marks you can mark between 0 and 3 depending on how good you think the 

answer is. Often the Tutor Notes will give a mark scheme with a detailed breakdown. 

On some courses you can even give half a mark if you wish, so long as you round 

up half marks to give an integer mark for the whole question. 

• You can add marks for a particularly well executed piece of work to mitigate the 

loss of marks elsewhere within the same question, but this is the exception rather 

than the rule. Where this does occur it should only involve a slight adjustment of 1 

or 2 marks. In all cases, the total number of marks for each part of a question (as 

defined by the Assignment Booklet) must be respected. 

• It is important to notice the process a student has gone through to achieve an 

answer, as well as the final result. A correct numerical result obtained via false 

steps should not get full marks. 

• If you notice that two scripts are virtually identical, and you suspect that the two 

students concerned have collaborated more than is appropriate, or that one student 

8

has copied from the other, please consult your Staff Tutor before sending the scripts 

to Walton Hall. 

Finally, it is worth double-checking that you have added up all the part marks correctly 

and that the overall assignment mark on the PT3 is correct. There is a fairly 

high percentage of assignments submitted where the overall grade is incorrect, even on 

mathematics courses. Naturally, in our case it is only due to tiredness! 

In the example that follows the tutor has provided part marks. Note that, as shown 

in this example, a total mark for a question should appear next to the solution as well as 

on the PT3. 

Example 3.1 . MS221 02 

It is important to let the students know where marks have been lost. The next example 

demonstrates how a fairly brief message from the tutor can be very helpful. Note the use 

of “minus one” in brackets making it explicitly clear where the mark was lost, but more 

importantly the part mark has been given as well. 

Example 3.2 . M208 03 

9

In the following example, the solution in the Tutor Notes starts by stating un+1 = 

8 n+1 +(−6) n+1 and un−1 = 8 n−1 +(−6) n−1 separately, before substituting into un+1un−1 − 

u 2 n. The tutor has docked a mark because the student hasn’t done this. But the question 

didn’t specify that this was explicitly needed, and the solution is perfectly clear, so in fact 

full marks would have been appropriate here. 

It is often obvious that a question was unclear if most students make the same mistake. 

Unfortunately, it is usually not obvious until after you have marked quite a few scripts. 

For this reason, it is wise to retain early scripts until you are happy that your own marking 

scheme is correct and consistent. 

Example 3.3 . MS221 01 

In the following example the tutor has included no part marks on the script and has 

simply put a score of 3/9 on the PT3. The student will have difficulty in knowing where 

and why 6 marks were lost. When so many marks have been lost on a question the tutor 

should provide sufficient notes to allow the student to see where they have gone wrong, 

10

and what they need to do to improve. The two brief notes below are unlikely to assist 

the student to fully assess their mistakes on M249, Practical Modern Statistics. 

Example 3.4 . M249 02 

Compare with the following, where the tutor explains fully why a mark has been lost. 

Example 3.5 . M249 02 

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4 Correction and explanation 

Even more important than accurate grading is the teaching which you do on an assignment. 

There are many ways of teaching, and we show examples of a variety of techniques. 

In most cases, you can put appropriate comments and corrections on the student’s script. 

If there is not room on the script, you may wish to attach a separate sheet with further 

comments, or a model solution, referencing the point to which it applies. 

Copies of Tutor Notes should not be sent to students. Occasionally a course team may 

provide model solutions or additional notes which may be sent to students. These should 

be used sparingly, and ideally should be annotated to help the student address his or her 

particular problems with the question. In the following example, the tutor has enclosed 

part of a model solution and shown the student how and why the correct approach works 

– but has left the student to complete the question on their own. 

Example 4.1 . MST209 01 

Specimen solutions can be very useful, but they should be regarded as an addition 

to, rather than a substitute for, direct comments on the student’s own work. Students 

12

may sometimes omit all or part of a question; the above points apply and you may need 

to make a judgement as to how much explanation and how much of a model answer you 

give. 

After reading your comments, the student should understand 

• which parts have been done well; 

• which parts are incorrect, or could have been done better, and why; 

• how to correct the faulty parts; 

• where to get further help, if necessary. 

In the first example below, from M208, the student has not understood how to show 

that the set T = {(a, b, 2a − b) : a, b ∈ R} is a subspace of the vector space R 3 . The tutor 

has explained what is required, given a reference and part of a model answer; this is very 

thorough teaching. Notice that the reference is very specific. A particular page in the 

course material is indicated, making it far more likely that the student will actually look 

at it. 

Example 4.2 . M208 03 

13

The next example, from M248, Analysing Data, is another case where the tutor has 

explained what needs to be done to improve the student’s solution, as well as giving a 

reference to the course materials. 

Example 4.3 . M248 03 

The next example, from M208, shows that good teaching does not always mean you 

have to write a lot! The comments are brief but very effective. If the student repeats 

his working with n 3 used in place of n 2 he will immediately be able to solve the problem 

14

correctly. And the tutor has not failed to take advantage of an opportunity to remind the 

student about what appears to have become a bad habit! 

Example 4.4 . M208 04 

Next we show a different method of teaching: this student on MS221, Exploring 

Mathematics, had the right idea, but did not explain it well. The tutor annotated the 

student’s proof and added a comment to explain why the additions were necessary. 

Example 4.5 . MS221 02 

Here is another student’s attempt at the same problem. The tutor has explained why 

it does not work, pointed out some incorrect notation, given a reference and guidelines 

on how to construct a solution. The tutor has encouraged the student to complete the 

15

solution. This approach proactively engages the student with the comments left by the 

tutor, making it far more likely that the student will learn from the feedback. 

Example 4.6 . MS221 02 

Next we show a few examples where the tutor has not been so helpful. In the first, 

from MST121, an omission has been pointed out, but the student does not recognise the 

type of equation and has therefore not expected two solutions. The tutor has missed 

the opportunity to make effective comments and indicate a common error (dividing by a 

factor that may take the value of zero). 

16


In the next example, from MS221, the student is trying to find the closed form for a 

sequence. She has made some errors in doing so. The tutor has marked her script to show 

where errors have been made but the lack of comments is far from helpful. The tutor has 

not allowed marks for correct follow through. Read the example, and then perhaps you 

jot down some notes as to what the tutor might have said. Our suggestions follow the 

example. 

Example 4.8 . MS221 01 

17

With a weak student, it may not be appropriate to comment on every single detail 

(this can demoralise students) but the tutor could have done some of the following. (You 

may have thought of other things too, but do bear in mind that it may not be appropriate 

to make quite this many comments on one solution!) 

• pointed out that she has made two sign errors, in the −b and b 2 terms in using the 

formula; 

• pointed out that the reason for her sign error in the line 6 = −10.67−0.97B +0.63B 

(in multiplying out the brackets on the previous line, she appears to have said 

(−0.97)(−B) = −0.97B rather than +0.97B); 

• pointed out that her subsequent line doesn’t follow correctly from this one, as she 

appears to have forgotten about the 6 on the left-hand side – it should read 0.34B = 

−16.67; 

• pointed out that 0.34B = −10.67 would give B = −31.38 (to 2 d.p.) rather than 

−3138.2 – she appears to have misplaced her decimal point; 

• encouraged the student to clear fractions from the auxiliary equation by multiplying 

by 3, and then to attempt to factorise it. (Clearing fractions is a good idea in any 

case, since the use of the quadratic formula tends to be less error-prone if all the 

coefficients are integers!); 

• encouraged her to identify clearly the values of a, b and c as an intermediate step 

before substituting into the formula; 

18

• pointed out that, while her stated values −0.97 and 0.63 for r are (correct to 2 d.p.) 

consistent with her (wrong) version of the formula, the corresponding exact values 

are irrational, and that she should therefore have stated these exact values in surd 

form and worked with this form subsequently; 

• suggested that she check these roots by substituting them into the auxiliary equation; 

• acknowledged that her value for A follows correctly from her value for B; 

• pointed out the unwanted minus sign before the first term in her closed form; 

• encouraged her to check that her closed form does indeed produce the given two 

initial terms of the sequence (and maybe also to check that her closed form and the 

given recurrence system both produce the same third term); 

• awarded more marks! Admittedly there were several errors, but they were all minor 

and she appears to understand the method. 

The previous example showed poor follow-through on a student’s incorrect work. In 

the next one, from MST121, the tutor has explained how the student could have got more 

marks if he had correctly followed through after an algebraic slip. This is good tuition – 

it would have been even better if the tutor had noticed the further errors in the student’s 

work in part (e) – can you find them? 


19

Finally, here is an example from M381, Number Theory and Mathematical Logic, 

from a student new to the OU. Students coming in new to the OU at second or third level 

often have great difficulty expressing their answers correctly. The tutor here has given 

a good and substantial explanation on Question 3, a proof by induction. On Question 

4(i) she has, quite justifiably, been unable to understand the student’s reasoning. She 

has confirmed his view that the statement under investigation is false, and has given a 

counter-example to show this. On Question 4 (ii), the tutor has tried to point out where 

the student’s argument breaks down, as well as giving a counterexample. The PT3 for 

this assignment offers further help on presentation, and is given as Example 12.9 on page 

52. 

Example 4.10 . M381 01 

Since this example, from a Level 3 course, is more involved, we give the question before 

the student’s attempt. 

3. Prove, using mathematical induction, that the following formula holds for all integers 

n ≥ 1. 

3 

12 5 

+ 

22 22 2n + 1 

+ · · · + 

32 n2 1 

= 1 − 

(n + 1) 2 (n + 1) 2 

4. For each of the following statements, decide whether it is true or false, and give a 

proof or counterexample as appropriate. 

20

(i) If a and b are positive integers such that gcd(a, b) = p, where p is prime, then 

gcd(ap, bp 2 ) = p 2 . 

(ii) A number of the form 10k + 3, where k is a non-negative integer, must have a 

prime divisor of the same form. 

21

5 Asking questions, giving hints and encouraging checks 

It is not generally good practice just to provide a complete answer. It is often more appropriate 

to ask questions and give hints as to how the student can re-assess the question, 

and then go on to solve it. Clearly, if you are asking the student a question you should 

expect, and indeed encourage them, to contact you if they can’t find an answer. Such 

questions and hints must allow the student to progress and therefore the question(s) that 

you ask must be chosen in the light of your judgement of the student’s knowledge and 

ability. It can also be useful to use questions with students who are finding the course 

easy in order to maintain their interest and spur them on to greater heights. In many 

ways this area is one of the most difficult to prescribe, since it is very dependent on what 

you feel the individual student’s requirements are, and your estimation of their ability. 

In the example that follows the tutor has made a judgement that all the student 

required was a hint. This is at exactly the right level for this student. Since he is clearly 

quite strong, he should be able to finish the argument for himself, using the references 

given. 

23


In the next example, the student has answered the question – and obtained full marks 

– but the tutor has given a hint as to how presentation could be improved. The student 

is encouraged to search Maple’s help facilities himself, the use of such pages being an 

integral part of the teaching on MS325. 

Example 5.2 . MS325 01 

24

It is important to encourage students to check their work both in terms of making 

sure that they have answered the question, and checking that their answer is correct. In 

the following example the tutor has encouraged the checks that the student could have 

made, and pointed out that the student’s final result was not a sensible answer to the 

question. 

Example 5.3 . MS221 03 

The amount of teaching you provide on a script will vary enormously depending on 

the quality of the student’s script and how a question and subsequent answer affords you 

25

the opportunity to intervene. In the example that follows the tutor has made a brief 

comment which will almost certainly enable the student to discover their error. 

Example 5.4 . MS221 03 

Deciding when a lengthy response is required and when a more succinct comment will 

do is one of the key features of correspondence tuition. 

In the example which follows, the tutor has made comments, and posed the student 

questions, to make them think more deeply about what has been asked of them. The 

student has correctly found (− 7 3 , ) as an interval of attraction for the attracting fixed 

4 4 

point of f; the point of part (c) of the question is that although the first two terms of the 

iteration starting with x0 = −3 aren’t in this interval, the third term is – and hence we 

can be sure that the iteration sequence will tend to this fixed point. The tutor gave also 

a clear explanation on the PT3 of the significance of “hence” in the question. 

26

Example 5.5 . MS221 02 

6 Alternative methods 

You may sometimes find that a student has used a different method from the one given in 

the Tutor Notes. What you do about this will depend on the course and on the way the 

question is worded. If any method is permitted, then of course you can give full marks 

to any correct working – you may still wish to explain the expected method, especially 

if it is preferable for some reason. However, sometimes a specific method is stated in 

the question, or is part of the philosophy of the course, and in this case you will need to 

deduct some marks and explain how the question should have been tackled. 

In the M248 example below, the question specified that the student was required to 

obtain the solution by hand. The tutor has made an effective, succinct comment drawing 

the student’s attention to the need to show sufficient working to justify that this is what 

has been done. The correct answer has been achieved, but the student might, for example, 

have used the course’s statistics package to obtain it. 

Example 6.1 . M248 02 

27

In the next example, from MST209, Mathematical Methods and Models, the student 

has suggested two methods. The tutor has considered both, commented on how to improve 

the weaker attempt, and advised the student to seek advice when different methods yield 

different results. 


In the MST121 example below, the student has used the quadratic formula to solve 

28

the equation x 2 − 3x = 0. The tutor has just ticked the answer and made no comment 

at all. How might you have advised this student? Would you use another example to 

illustrate the points you may make? 


In the final example, from MST121, the student was required to decide whether each 

of a number of sequences converged, and to explain the decision by reasoning about how 

each formula behaves. This student checked some values of each sequence, probably using 

Mathcad, but did not consider the behaviour from the formula. The tutor explained the 

reasoning for each (we just show one) and at the end gave a clear explanation of the 

difference between checking values and reasoning. This is good tuition. 


29

7 Supporting weak students 

Most students on the Faculty’s courses obtain fairly high TMA scores (75% upwards) and 

it can be very demoralising for those who don’t. Often weak students don’t attend tutorials 

and their written work is the only opportunity you have for providing encouragement. How 

successful you are may well influence a student’s decision as to whether to continue with 

the course. Below are two examples which demonstrate responses to efforts by weaker 

students. 

In the first case, the student has actually done most of the question correctly, but has 

failed to appreciate the distinction between having a calculator set in degrees or radians 

mode. Rather than just marking the final line with a cross, the tutor has done some 

“detective work” to identify the error, and provided an encouraging comment to help the 

student find the correct result. 

Example 7.1 . MS221 03 

30

In the second example, another less than satisfactory solution, the tutor has encouraged 

the student on making a good start, provided details of a workable method and given 

some of the intermediate working. The student should be able to follow this recipe to produce 

a complete solution. To make the teaching here even stronger, the tutor could have 

encouraged the student to contact him / her if the proposed method caused difficulties. 

Example 7.2 . MS221 01 

It is easy to cover a poor script with coloured ink. Not only is this depressing for 

the recipient, but too many comments overall can detract from important feedback on 

key areas of work. It may sometimes be necessary to omit less crucial points in order to 

emphasise basic concepts. 

Where a question has been left out, or has gone badly wrong, providing the solution 

alone may not help the student’s understanding. It can be useful to annotate it or refer 

the student to specific passages in the course materials where explanations can be found. 

In the following example from MST121, where a student appears to have given up midquestion 

and has left out subsequent sections the tutor not only provides a reference, but 

also tries to convince the student of the value of submitting even partial solutions. 

31


The next example, from M338, Topology, shows a proof which is rather shaky to begin 

with, but whose last three lines are correct and almost all that was needed. The tutor 

has awarded it just 1/5, together with a rather dismissive remark – a mark of 4/5 would 

have been appropriate, together with a more useful comment on leaving out the first few 

lines and just adding one small point to complete the proof. 

Example 7.4 . M338 02 

32

Contrast this with the much more supportive approach of the tutor in the example 

which follows. 

Example 7.5 . M338 02 

33

The way in which you use the PT3 is particularly important for students with a lower 

overall TMA score, as this is the first thing they see. 

Section 12 of this document contains a couple of very good examples [Examples 12.8 

and 12.9] of ways in which tutors have responded to students with scores of around 

50%. Though very different in style, both start off with positive comments, both provide 

constructive suggestions for improving general aspects of the students’ approaches and, 

most important, both encourage the students to contact them with problems related to 

either the current or the next TMA. 

Sometimes students who are finding an assignment difficult may blame the questions 

or the course materials (see the examples in Section 11 on Student criticisms). You will 

need to use your knowledge of the student to decide how best to handle such a situation, 

though it may be that a telephone call or separate email will be easier than attempting 

to deal with it on the script. 

Where you feel that some additional tuition would help a student over a difficult 

patch of the course or provide useful study skills, you should approach your Staff Tutor 

or Regional Student Services. It is usually possible to arrange one or two special sessions 

either face-to-face or by telephone, whichever is appropriate. If two or three students who 

are struggling with similar aspects of the course can be grouped together, they may well 

be able to provide ongoing support for each other following these sessions. 

8 Challenges to good students 

You will probably have some students whose work is very good, and you might like to 

encourage them to think beyond the confines of the question. Often you may think there’s 

not much you can do except tick their answers and give some words of praise. However, 

these students need your appreciation of their efforts just as weaker students do, and 

perhaps there are some places where you can stimulate them to further enquiry. Some 

courses have especially challenging problems which you can suggest they attempt; some 

students may respond eagerly to the idea that they are capable of tackling them. On the 

34

assignment, a hint or a question may lead the bright student into new paths. Here is an 

example of such a hint, from MST121. 


35

Another approach is to invite the student to go beyond what was asked of them. In the 

example below, from M338, the student had easily dealt with the question, but indicated 

frustration at having to perform lengthy calculations. The tutor responded by setting a 

challenge designed to convince the student that even arithmetic can be beautiful! 

Example 8.2 . M338 04 

9 Presentation and notation 

In producing their answers, students may give arguments that are essentially correct but 

nonetheless flawed from a presentational point of view. For example, they may use the 

wrong notation, or they might not give enough written explanation to support their work. 

This is quite a common occurrence, particularly when a student is new to the subject, but 

the importance of developing good presentational skills should be stressed to all students. 

You may still feel that an answer merits full marks; this will depend on how essential 

the presentation is to the argument. Also, how much you correct may vary according to 

whether the student is weak or strong; to avoid detracting from the significant issues on a 

weak script, you might let a student get away with a slight misuse of notation which you 

would point out to a stronger student (who had not made other errors!). However, it is 

very important to explain the correct notation, or the correct logical form of an argument. 

This could be done by referencing the course material, handbook, etc. 

This first example received full marks, but the tutor commented on what has probably 

become a bad habit. 

Example 9.1 . M208 03 

36

Here is another example, from the same TMA, which also received full marks. The 

tutor did not overlook the opportunity to make a teaching comment about the style of 

presentation of the work. 

Example 9.2 . M208 03 

37

In this next example, no comments were given by the tutor at all. What might you 

have said? 


The following points could have been addressed: 

• There is only one word in the student’s answer! The tutor could have inserted a few 

phrases, such as, “To find the integrating factor p, proceed as follows . . . ” before 

the calculation for p; 

• The student should be encouraged to check that their p is correct, by checking that 

y = 5 

x 2 ln (|x|) + c 

x 2 does indeed recover the original differential equation; 

• The restriction x > 0 was given in the question, so there is no need for |x| here: just 

x would do; 

• There is no explanation as to what c represents. 

When commenting on the correct use of notation, it will help the student if they can be 

shown why such conventions are important, as illustrated in this example from MST209. 


38

Even on courses not requiring it, large numbers of students may well produce their 

assignments on a computer. This can lead to presentation problems, as illustrated in this 

example. 


The tutor picked up on the incorrect use of notation, but perhaps could have stressed 

why this was particularly important in this instance, as it resulted in lines of incorrect 

mathematics. 

10 Graphs, diagrams and computer output 

Many questions will require the use of graphs, diagrams or computer outputs; they may 

also be useful even where they are not essential. You may wish to encourage students 

to use them where appropriate, check the outputs are sensible and sometimes to suggest 

alternatives. First is an example from MS221 where the student has to explain why the 

39

graph of the function f(x) = (3x − π) sin x lies below the x-axis for 0 < x < π but above 

3 

the x-axis for π < x < π, and then use the result to find the area enclosed by the graph, 

3 

the x-axis and the lines x = 0 and x = π. The student has real difficulties in solving this 

problem, and the tutor has made some suggestions with regard to Mathcad use. 

Example 10.1 . MS221 03 

In the next example, from M249, the tutor has – by annotating the student’s graph 

with straight lines – justified his comment that it is possible to make a more detailed 

description of the graph than the simple one which the student made. 

40

Example 10.2 . M249 02 

M249 uses the SPSS software package, which frequently produces far more output in 

a given situation than is required to answer a particular question. Students are asked to 

extract and submit only those parts of the output which are used in their answer, (or if 

they do submit everything, to highlight the parts they are using), but some do not. 

The next example illustrates a situation where the student has not been selective. The 

student has submitted, without comment, the following page of the output, leaving the 

tutor to identify which values constituted part of the student’s answer (the two ticked 

values in the upper table and the four in the “Estimates” column on the lower table). 

The tutor had to identify the relevant values himself but awarded full marks. 

Example 10.3 . M249 02 

41

Ideally, the tutor would have stressed yet again to the student the need to extract 

the relevant values and present them as part of a coherent solution, possibly deducting a 

mark for the failure to do this. This might save the tutor a considerable amount of time 

and effort when marking the student’s later TMAs! 

When students are asked to provide computer screen dumps or printouts from specific 

computer systems it is useful to ask students to check before the assignment deadline 

that they are able to print. When marking screen dumps it is best to draw attention to 

problems graphically with text to the side to avoid confusion. The example below shows 

how a tutor has clearly annotated a printout and added text to the side to indicate a 

problem. 


It is important that tutors follow through the inputs to files as far as possible and 

indicate where errors have been made. It may not always be possible to identify an error. 

42

In this case a tutor should post a message on the Tutors Conference for the course asking 

for guidance, as it is likely that another tutor will have identified the problem. As a last 

resort the tutor could email the E & A Board Chair to ask for clarification. 

In the first example below the tutor has left the student to try to identify the error 

with little guidance. The problem was to determine the speed of a stone falling under 

the force due to gravity and an air resistance proportional to the square of the speed 

of the stone. The student had entered the correct data for the stone and air resistance 

parameter but failed to adjust the speed term for f(v) to g − kv 2 , a quite common error. 

A nominal half-marks appears to have been awarded for the students effort. 


In the next example the tutor has identified the error and asked the student to reconsider 

the inputs in the light of the output, indicating that checking both output graphs 

and calculations to earlier parts of the question might have led the student to expect that 

an error had been made. The problem was to consider the range of motion of a crate 

of relief supplies, which was released from an aircraft such that a parachute opened 2 

seconds after release from the aircraft. 

43


11 Student criticisms 

In the following example from M820, Calculus of Variations and Advanced Calculus, a 

student complains mildly about a TMA which the Course Team acknowledged as problematic. 

The tutor responds by reassuring the student that he is not alone, and that some 

compensation will be made, while also providing support for the Course Team. 

Example 11.1 . M820 01 

44

In the following example from MST121, eight marks were allocated for using Mathcad 

to verify by two methods the solution of an equation. The student has provided an 

acceptable solution, followed by a comment on the question. The tutor’s response was 

less than helpful. 


A more appropriate comment for the tutor to make could have been along the lines of 

“Yes, 8 marks may seem rather generous, but not everyone will be adept at using Mathcad, 

so I would not complain – just be thankful for a few easy marks. We are just beginning 

the course and as you progress Mathcad will be used in more complex situations. It is 

also used in MS221 and MST209, so early familiarisation will prove of real benefit later.” 

45

Students new to the OU may have preconceptions about the subject they have chosen 

to study. For example, students embarking on mathematics courses often remember the 

way they were taught at school and do not expect to have to do much descriptive work. 

Sometimes a reluctance to engage with specific aspects of the course can lead to more 

general criticisms. It is important to clarify expectations early on and to explain the 

reasoning behind the approach taken by the Course Team. 

Occasionally criticisms indicate problems which go beyond the question or the course 

materials. The student may be having particular difficulties with the course, possibly 

exacerbated by problems that have little to do with mathematics. The following excerpt 

came from M336, Groups and Geometry. 

Example 11.3 . M336 02 

The tutor’s response was a friendly note on the PT3, indicating that she would be 

phoning the student to talk about the problems he was having with the course. In 

criticisms indicating extreme anger or distress you might want to contact your Regional 

Student Services team for help or advice. 

In general you should find that you can deal with student criticisms effectively. However, 

if you feel that a criticism of the course has some foundation and may need to be taken 

further, talk to your Staff Tutor or contact the chair of the Course Team. In the event of a 

student criticising the way you’ve graded an assignment, you should follow the appeals procedure 

which is described on the SOL Reference website http://www.open.ac.uk/tutors/sol/. 

46

The student will find this in the Assessment Handbook 2 , together with the more general 

procedure covering any decision which students may feel has affected their studies. 

12 General comments and the PT3 form 

Since you may have no contact with some of your students other than through TMAs, it is 

very important to phrase your comments as tactfully and helpfully as possible, especially 

to any who are very weak. If you are too critical or unsympathetic, a student who could 

struggle through and gain much from the course may fall at the first TMA. Do give praise 

where you can, and while you must, of course, be fair in your marking and realistic to your 

students about their prospects, please remember that most students spend much time and 

effort on their TMAs; to have a solution simply crossed out and “Rubbish” written on it 

by their tutor will be upsetting, infuriating, or both. It is particularly important to be 

positive in your comments on the PT3 form; students receive their TMAs back with their 

copy of the PT3 form on top, so it is the first thing they see; you don’t want them to be 

deterred from even looking at the marked script. 

There is much useful advice on the SOL website http://www.open.ac.uk/tutors/sol/ 

about the use of the PT3 form, and we hope you will refer to this. Meanwhile, here are 

a few suggestions. 

• If you possibly can, start and finish on an optimistic note; 

• You may wish to mention a few specific points of difficulty, and suggestions for 

coping with them – e.g. a reference to a page or section of a unit or chapter – or to 

highlight the main points which the student will need to remember, or which would 

be useful for revision; 

• You may also wish to refer to points that apply to a number of questions, eg solutions 

that have no words of explanation, misuse of brackets, etc; 

• On TMA02 (and later assignments) you could check your comments on previous 

PT3s to note if any improvement has been made. However, do remember that 

sometimes students will not have received the previous TMA back before submitting 

the current one, so please don’t complain to students who don’t appear to have 

immediately followed your advice; 

• If a student has experienced personal problems and dropped seriously behind with 

the course, you could suggest some strategies for catching up and, if you feel it is 

appropriate, you could suggest a special session with the student. This may need 

to be followed up by a phone call to the student once the TMA has been returned, 

and if the student accepts your offer of a special session you would need to arrange 

it via your Staff Tutor or through your Regional Student Services; 

2 Students can access this via StudentHome. Tutors can access this via the SOL Reference website. 

47

• You could use the form to remind the student about tutorial dates, to mention any 

personal items the student has told you about, or to encourage further contact. 

Here are some examples of comments on PT3 forms; they are in differing styles but 

the first two examples offer helpful, positive advice and support. 



48

Here are some examples where the tutors have not been so helpful. The M208 student 

with a grade of 45 may find the comments demoralising, to say the least, while the 

comments to the M373 student are rather vague and dismissive of the substantial amount 

of work put in by the student, and are particularly unhelpful as this is the first TMA for 

the course. The MST209 and MU120 students, both with grades of 92, might appreciate 

a comment showing more insight into their work. 

Example 12.3 . M208 05 

49

Example 12.4 . M373 01 


Example 12.6 . MU120 05 

The previous two PT3s pose the problem of what you can say to a student who is 

doing very well. Here is an example of one tutor’s praise of a student’s excellent script. 

The student should not only be very pleased with the comment but also well motivated 

to keep up this high standard in subsequent TMAs. 

50

Example 12.7 . MS221 01 

Here are two examples of encouraging comments on weaker TMAs. The first explains 

the importance of reading the question and ensuring that all parts are answered, and references 

to similar exercises in the units are given. The second comments on the student’s 

answers and offers detailed advice about presentation. 


51

Example 12.9 . M381 01 

52

Whatever the quality of a TMA, there are some sorts of comment which should never 

be made on a PT3 form. The following three examples are, in turn, unprofessional, 

unsympathetic and ill-advised. The first is from MST121, the others from M249. 

Example 12.10 . 

(a) “I am sorry to have returned this so late, but I have been very busy with 

other work.” 

This immediately conveys to the student the impression that the tutor regards his 

/ her OU work as of minimal importance. When a student has possibly burned the 

midnight oil to get a TMA in by cut-off day, this is not going to be received very 

enthusiastically. 

(b) “If there is anything you do not understand or are not clear about YOU 

MUST CONTACT ME.” 

This sounds far more like a military command than a sympathetic assurance that 

further help is available. 

(c) On a TMA to which a total mark of 73 has been given: 

“This was a good score for a challenging assignment. Well done. As your 

technique improves, you will soon achieve 85%+.” 

This is a rather rash assurance to give to the student, with possible unforeseen consequences. 

Finally, here is an example that incorporates nearly all of our “good practice” ideas. 

Make a note of the good points you can find here, and see if you have found more than 

we suggest after the PT3. 

Example 12.11 . M248 01 

53

We noticed the following: 

• It begins and ends with praise for a very good TMA; 

• There are some pointers to notes on the script; 

• The tutor uses the PT3 to remind the student about the next tutorial; 

• The comments are well laid out and easy to read without being too detailed; 

• Perhaps a comment encouraging the student to contact the tutor if necessary would 

have made this PT3 even better! 

13 The monitoring process 

In order to ensure an adequate standard of feedback and grading, and to help you develop 

your skills in correspondence tuition, a sample of your work is monitored each year. 

We hope that you will view monitoring as correspondence tuition on your own work as 

a tutor. Monitoring is a University-wide requirement with an important place in the 

Quality Assurance – Staff Development cycle. In the Department of Mathematics and 

Statistics, it is usually done by a Staff Tutor or an experienced Associate Lecturer. 

Monitoring fulfils three main purposes: 

• To maintain consistency of grading (scores) across all tutors on a course; 

• To check that students are receiving prompt and adequate feedback; 

• To help you enhance your correspondence teaching skills. 

We discuss each of these below, but first we include a copy of the monitoring form on 

which the monitor will tell you about your work. You will see that it covers many of the 

points we have discussed. 

54

Example 13.1 . Monitoring form 

55

Consistency of marking 

Students need to feel confident that the credit they gain for their work is not dependent 

on the tutor to whom they are allocated. The monitor will check that you are following 

the mark scheme and any guidelines in an appropriate way. If the marks you award are 

significantly out of line with those given by other tutors, this will be pointed out to you. 

Persistent leniency or harshness may be reported to the Award Board, which will consider 

adjusting the marks of the students affected. 

Inconsistent marking across a tutorial group is of greater concern as it is more difficult 

to rectify. This is less likely to occur if you mark a number of scripts together and make 

a record on your tutor notes of any additions/amendments which could affect this. 

Prompt feedback 

It is important that students receive feedback as quickly as possible, so that it can benefit 

their continuing studies. The monitor will note the turn-around time on your scripts, 

which should preferably be within 14 days of the assignment cut-off date or receipt. If 

you anticipate delays on a particular assignment you should warn your students and inform 

your Staff Tutor. In the event of a particularly long delay – or at your request, under 

certain circumstances – the Staff Tutor may consider making alternative arrangements 

for the marking. Even if you have alerted your students to a possible delay an apology 

on the PT3 may not go amiss. 

Teaching by correspondence 

The remainder of the monitoring report form, reproduced on the previous page, is concerned 

with those aspects of your work which have been covered elsewhere in this booklet. 

The monitor may highlight additional teaching opportunities, or suggest different ways 

of dealing with a particular student problem or situation, illustrating the points made with 

photocopies from scripts you have marked. Equally, the monitor may congratulate you 

on aspects of your work which deserve particular commendation. 

We are well aware that you may have significant face-to-face teaching experience, and 

colleagues with whom you can discuss this aspect of your work. Correspondence tuition is, 

however, more likely to be new to you and opportunities to talk about it may be few. The 

monitoring form is one way in which we can invite such a dialogue. It can be a salutary 

experience to see a script several weeks after you have marked it and try to remember (or 

work out) why you wrote the comment that now seems less than helpful. Imagine how it 

must strike a student! 

Your response to a monitoring report will in many ways mirror a student’s response 

to a marked TMA. We hope that our monitoring is done with the same degree of care 

and sensitivity that we expect of your marking and we aim to be friendly and supportive. 

Like tutors, monitors each have their own style. Some will write more than others; some 

will attach copies of work that has impressed them as well as those offering suggestions 

for improvement. 

56

What happens to the report? 

The monitoring form has four copies, of which one is retained by the monitor and one 

returned to the Faculty. The other two are sent to your Staff Tutor, who will forward one 

copy to you, possibly with a covering note. The Staff Tutor will know of circumstances 

which may have affected your work, such as reasons for late marking or difficulties with 

a particular student, and can make a note of these to accompany the fourth copy, which 

will be retained on your file. If you are unhappy with the monitoring report, or wish to 

discuss any of the points raised, you are encouraged to contact your Staff Tutor. 

Monitoring Levels 

In the Faculty of Mathematics, Computing and Technology, we normally allocate tutors 

to a monitoring grade. If you are new to the OU or to a particular course a sample of 

your work on most TMAs will be monitored. As soon as we are confident that your work 

is of an appropriate standard you will be moved up to the next grade, which usually 

involves the monitoring of two or three scripts from alternate TMAs: this is the most 

usual grade for monitoring. If your work is of a exceptional standard, you may be moved 

to the highest grade, involving a sample of two or three scripts on one or two TMAs. This 

general regime may occasionally be varied in the case of a specific course. 

Time scale of monitoring 

On receipt of marked scripts at Walton Hall, the required sample from each tutor is selected 

and photocopied by Assignment Handling staff. The copies are sent to the Faculty, 

from where they will be forwarded to the monitor. Monitors send their completed reports 

to the Faculty or the person in charge of monitoring for the course, who passes them on 

to the Regional Centre. With delays possible at every stage, several weeks can elapse 

between marking an assignment and receiving a monitoring report form. 

14 Conclusion 

We hope that this document has given you some insight into the possible range of styles 

of dialogue between students and tutors. The richness and variety of the differing backgrounds 

students bring with them into the Open University ensure that you will be presented 

with a challenging range of scripts. As you mark these you will develop your own 

style of correspondence tuition and skills as a tutor. Through your continuing dialogue 

with each student you can create an atmosphere in which the student will feel comfortable, 

actively encouraged and confident in his or her own learning process. We hope you 

find this as rewarding as we do. 

57

The Open University Faculty of Mathematics, Computing and Technology 

Correspondence Tuition Summary 

You may like to keep this reference sheet with your Tutor Notes 

On the Script 

Praising the Inclusion of Appropriate Content 

• praise good solutions and well-presented arguments 

• acknowledge the relevant use of course material 

Correcting Mistakes 

• correct the points that are wrong – explain why, and indicate what would be suitable 

• correct inappropriate notation or style 

• identify inadequate or excessive amounts of material 

• do this in a sympathetic manner 

Awarding Marks 

• explain how the marks were awarded and itemise part marks 

• show where and why marks were deducted 

• demonstrate how the marks could have been improved 

Stressing the Use of Course Material 

• indicate the techniques that are being used 

• give references to Units / Exercise Booklets / Handbook where appropriate 

Developing the Material 

• suggest further examples illustrating the concepts 

• show how solutions can be checked 

• ask questions which make the student reflect on the methods, concepts, etc 

On the TMA Form (PT3) 

Style of Comments 

• begin and end with “positive” statements on content, style, etc 

• include a salutation at the start, and sign off by name at the end 

• stress ways of improving performance rather than criticising what is wrong 

• use a friendly tone; use the student’s name 

• offer support to those with low marks 

Advice on Content and Presentation 

• note the strengths in the assignment 

• praise good presentation and style 

• advise how the work could be improved 

• indicate any relevant sections of course material 

• note any improvements over previous assignments 

General Advice 

• remind the student of tutorial dates, if appropriate 

• give any other relevant helpful information 

58

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