Picture a classroom where your voice is not lost among 50 others, but instead, you are one of the few minds in the cohort. The instructor's attention is not divided, and you are receiving personalised feedback and an opportunity for active participation. This is the essence of the Oxford Tutorial method teaching approach.
At The Oxford Institute, tutorials involve sitting together with classroom experts or tutors, receiving individual feedback, sharing your opinions on a topic, and learning how to think critically.
This guide offers an in-depth discussion of the tutorial teaching method at the University of Oxford, including how our summer program incorporates it and some of its key benefits for students.
What is the Oxford Method Tutorial Teaching Approach?
Tutorials are an essential part of educational practices at the University of Oxford. Every tutor works with a small group of 2 to 3 students. Tutors are experts in the subject area.
The tutorials conducted at Oxford University normally last an hour and occur either once or twice a week. The students present their prepared exercise to the subject tutor, who provides personal feedback and input from the students regarding the topic allotted.
Additionally, these allow you to discuss subject inquiries with tutors. Moreover, you get personalised feedback on your assignments. You may also learn about a new concept and get new assignments.
Overall, this method promotes inquiry, articulation, and reasoning. Students express their views on various topics and enhance their critical thinking abilities.
In contrast to tutorial teaching, lectures in class are quite different, as class sizes are large, and students may not all have the opportunity to voice their opinions.
How does The Oxford Institute adopt tutorial teaching in the Oxford Summer School?
Our Oxford Summer Program takes place at St. Anne's College in Oxford each year. We aim to give students a flavour of Oxford University life in a supervised manner as much as possible.
Therefore, students are taught using the famous tutorial-style teaching methodology.
Additionally, students have access to dining halls at Oxford and also experience the residential life at St. Anne's College.
Small cohorts of 2 to 3 students are under one subject expert tutor. In this way, each student receives special attention. They can raise their questions and share their ideas more effectively than in a traditional classroom setting.
Key Benefits of the Tutorials for Summer Students
This approach to teaching provides several advantages for the students in our summer school. Some of these advantages are present below.
- Personalised Academic Attention: Due to the small group size, students feel heard, seen, and well-directed. The pace and discourse adapt to the strengths and weaknesses of each student.
- Enhanced Critical Thinking & Articulation Skills: The tutors at the Oxford Summer Program focus on encouraging the students to express their views, analyse, and critique concepts. Also, students learn to articulate their opinions with sound justification. These skills have immense applications in life.
- Confidence in Speaking and Debates: Confidence is a natural outcome as well. Our alumni are now more confident in their speaking abilities than they were before. All thanks to the active engagement that the tutorial teaching method demands.
- Active Engagement Ensures Improved Retention of Content: We believe that conversation provides learning opportunities that plain memorisation can't. Engaging with intellectual concepts ensures improved retention of the academic concepts by the learners.
- Early Exposure to University-Style Learning: As already highlighted above, the tutorial method imitates how students learn at top universities, enabling students to achieve an original and valuable academic preview.
- Helpful for Pre-University and Exploratory Students: This program and teaching method are definitely beneficial for those who plan to pursue university studies in the near future. These students are aware in advance of what they have in store for them. Similarly, those who want to explore a subject area in depth and have some interest in, say, Artificial Intelligence, can choose AI as one of their subjects in the program. By giving them special attention, they will learn new things quickly and develop a better understanding of whether they want to pursue AI studies or not.
The Bottom Line
The Oxford tutorial method of teaching is not about sitting in the last row and absorbing boring lectures. It is about sitting at the table and actively participating, challenging your ideas, and understanding how a concept exists, not just what that concept is.
At The Oxford Institute's Summer Program, we ensure personalised and focused academic moments that are genuinely exciting. You won't just be attending classes; your expert tutors will also encourage you to participate in them.
Therefore, if you are looking for a summer programme that feels less like school and more like university, it starts here.