A tutor's guide to teaching and learning at UQ - TEDI - University of ...

Section 3: Effective Small Group Teaching and Learning 31Managing student behaviourJust as you, as a member of staff, are bound to behave according to the UQ Code ofConduct (see Section 6 in this guide), students are also required to behave according toUniversity policies, including the Student Charter (see Section 6 in this guide), whichoutlines the expectations and responsibilities relating to students. For example, theStudent Charter states that, students as individuals can be expected to:♦♦♦♦Treat other members of the University community with respect and courtesy.Treat other members of the University community equitably.Respect the opinions of others and deal with disagreement by rational debate.Avoid conduct which might reasonably be perceived as discrimination,harassment or bullying.And, as members of the University community, students can be expected to:♦♦Respect University property and the facilities, such as library, computing andlaboratory resources, which the University provides to support teaching andlearning, so that these are available to fellow students.Avoid conduct which disrupts the teaching, learning or research activities ofother students and staff, or which interferes with others performing their duties.It’s unlikely that you will ever have to draw students attention to these policies in order todeal with problem behaviour, however it is important for you to know that they exist. Moreoften than not, the kind of behaviour issues you will come across as a tutor will be related tothe following kinds of students (adapted from: http://www.ust.hk/celt/ta/taguide/skills/manage.htm).The expert studentOften, you will have one (or two) ‘experts’ in your class, students who seem to have acomment or opinion about just about everything! While you will probably find thesestudents frustrating and disruptive to the flow of the session, it’s important not to "putthem down" or openly show your frustration. This may discourage other students fromoffering their comments and opinions, but also may impact on the ‘expert’ student quitenegatively. Sometimes, people who appear to be ‘experts’ are over-compensating for anactual lack of self-esteem and may perhaps feel ‘beneath’ the rest of the class (e.g., amature-age student, a student from a different discipline or experience background, etc).In class discussion times, allow them to respond, but use techniques such as‘redirecting’ (see section on questioning above) to encourage other students to have ago. Often peer pressure will also work to eventually limit their activities. If you can’tseem to work around the person using subtle directing and redirecting (e.g., “ThanksSue – that was very interesting…how about someone else…?”), then you may want totalk with them along before or after class – be gentle, alert them to their ‘overzealousness’in discussion and how it would be the other students, if they didn’tdominate so much…etc.