Our tutors are the lynchpin in our student’s success. That’s why we choose one representative from each of our four academic faculties to receive the accolade of Faculty Tutor of the Year. From these four winners we then select one as Home Learning College’s overall Tutor of the Year.
The four candidates are selected via a combination of student votes on the Virtual Learning Community (VLC) and feedback from our faculty managers, who select the team members with the most exceptional performance record over the past 12 months. Consideration is given to the speed with which they mark assignments, general feedback from students and the level of support provided to colleagues.
This year, we’re delighted to announce that our Tutor of the Year 2010 is Mike Tucker from the Vocational & Business faculty. Mike was nominated by his faculty manager and also received far and away the most student votes from the hundreds logged on the VLC.
During 2010, Mike voluntarily took on extra work to cover a colleague’s maternity leave. Tutors generally mark around 25 to 30 assignments per week, but during this six month period Mike consistently marked around 60, with his usual care and attention to detail. He also maintained an active presence on the VLC, answering ad hoc student queries, and more than fulfilled his role as Deputy Faculty Manager.
The other three Faculty Tutors of the Year 2010 are:
- Accounting - Paul Buzzard
- Bookkeeping - Nikki Russell
- IT & Computing - David Piers
Paul has continually coped with a high workload and always goes the extra mile to maintain his skills and knowledge, and to help students and colleagues alike. Over the past year he has gained a number of additional qualifications while acting as a full time carer for his disabled children and wife. Paul received the second highest number of student votes on the VLC.
Nikki works extremely hard and is very popular with students and staff. She has high expectations of herself and this shows in the quality of her student feedback, level of organisation and dedication to her role and personal studies. Nikki will always go the extra mile, is a pleasure to work with and is described as a real asset by her faculty manager.
Since David’s appointment in April 2007, he has taken every opportunity to further develop his tutoring skills. David takes every opportunity to help students maintain a high level of motivation and achieve their goals. He has the ability to effectively communicate sometimes challenging concepts on the phone and over email. Similarly, he is always willing to help fellow tutors as required
We’d like to thank all our students who voted on the VLC, and to congratulate all our winning tutors on their hard work and dedication.
Dave Snow
Home Learning College Academic Director