Williams Home > Strategic Planning > Curricular Innovation > Phase IV: Final Curricular Proposals from the CEP > Tutorial Program
Phase IV: Final Curricular Proposals from the CEP
WILLIAMS SIGNATURE TUTORIAL PROGRAM
The CEP proposes a major expansion of the tutorial program, with a particular new emphasis on the sophomore year. The resulting signature program would build from our current system to create a distinctive educational experience affecting the majority of Williams students.
- OUR PRESENT TUTORIAL PROGRAM
Tutorials are currently described in the catalog as follows: [Williams College Bulletin 2000-2001, 45.]"Tutorials place a much greater weight on student participation than do regular courses or even small seminars. In general, each tutorial will consist of two students meeting with the tutor for one hour or 75 minutes each week. At each meeting one student will make a prepared presentation -- read a prepared essay, work a set of problems, report on laboratory exercises, examine a work of art, etc. -- and the other student and the tutor will question, probe, push the student who is presenting her work about various aspects of the presentation. The student then must respond on the spot to these probings and questions. A tutorial is directly concerned with teaching students about arguments, about arriving at and defending a position, and about responding on the spot to suggestions and questions."
The CEP has worked to articulate the strengths and weaknesses in Williams' curriculum, and to ascertain both what makes Williams unique now and what might define the "profile" of a Williams education in the future. In discussions with students, faculty, alumni, and trustees, tutorials have consistently arisen as an educational experience that sets Williams apart. Indeed, students often report that the tutorial was the cornerstone of their Williams career. [Report of the Ad Hoc Committee to Evaluate Tutorials, 1997, 3.] The value of tutorials to the students who take them is evident in a number of measures. The results of the standard SCS forms show tutorials outranking all other 300- and 400- level courses in terms of their "educational value." A 1997 survey of 1,100 alumni (365 respondents) who had taken tutorials reported that some 80% regard the tutorial as "the most valuable" of the courses they took at Williams. [Report of the Ad Hoc Committee to Evaluate Tutorials, 1997, 4.] Faculty teaching tutorials are equally enthusiastic.
There are a number of reasons why students and faculty value tutorials so highly. The tutorial format provides a highly individualized educational experience that presupposes close personal attention on the part of the faculty to the intellectual needs of each student. (Such personal intellectual attention is a major reason students choose to attend Williams. [Summary of Data Presented at Board Retreat, January 2001, 5.]) In return, the tutorial demands intense and independent work by each student. In surveys, students report that they work very hard in tutorials, and that their work is richly rewarded. Furthermore, the tutorial format nurtures many of the intellectual skills most important for students -- writing, critical and independent reasoning, and oral presentation.
Despite the strengths of the present tutorial program, relatively few Williams students benefit from it. Fewer than 35% of our students now take a tutorial before graduation, and the total number of tutorial enrollments has dwindled somewhat from an average of 249 per year in '91-'94 to an average of 206 per year in '95-'01. [Tutorials data reported by the registrar, 1990-2001. Note that although the total number of tutorial enrollments has decreased, the number of students per tutorial is at an all-time high -- averaging 8.6 students/tutorial in '00 and '01. More and more tutorials are filled to or beyond the capacity of 10 students.] There are many reasons why this may be so. Currently, most departments offer tutorials only in 400 level courses, and these are in specialized subjects such that the tutorial may not fill to its capacity of 10 students. Some students are intimidated by the perceived intensity, exposure, and specialization of the tutorial. As a result, those students who do take tutorials typically take them at the very end of their Williams careers.
- PROPOSAL
We propose a significant expansion of the tutorial program, an expansion which would both increase the number of tutorials and spread the benefits of tutorials into earlier parts of our students' careers. In particular, we propose 1) the creation of a significant number of tutorials which would be accessible to students in the sophomore year, 2) an increase in the number of upper level tutorials (typically taken by junior and senior majors) and 3) an increase in the profile and visibility of the tutorial program at Williams. Such an expansion would address the curricular needs of Williams students in a number of ways.
- Tutorials designed to include sophomores (see details in section IV) give students the opportunity to build critical intellectual skills early in their time at Williams, so that they can then use and build on these skills in the junior and senior years. Tutorials for sophomores also give students the experience of having significant responsibility for their own learning early in their careers, thus shifting their sense of themselves as learners from passive to active in ways which will enrich later coursework. The sophomore year is an ideal place for a first tutorial, as students typically have a few courses in a discipline behind them and are beginning to form intellectual affiliations with particular fields. The close intellectual bond formed between faculty and students in the tutorial will serve to provide guidance and advising in the sophomore year. Indeed, the most effective advising occurs when a faculty member learns how a student's mind works and gets to know him or her in a profound way. Although we are equally concerned with the experience of students in the first year, we find tutorials to be better suited to sophomores. Students in the first year are typically not yet ready for the intensity and independence demanded by tutorials, while sophomores are preparing to step into the upper level courses in their disciplines.
- Several of the critical skills emphasized by tutorials are of current concern based on both senior survey data and longstanding observations of faculty. For example, only 40% of our graduating seniors report having improved "quite a bit" or "very much" in speaking effectively while at Williams [Senior survey data, Spring 1999, 5-5.]. The skills of oral argumentation and critical analysis are addressed by all tutorials, and writing is addressed by most. Expanding the number of tutorials would bring their benefits to a much larger fraction of our students, simultaneously addressing the community's concerns about intellectual skills, intellectual independence, and connections between students and faculty.
- The expansion of the visibility of the tutorial program (through separate and more prominent listings in our catalogs, web information, and admissions materials) will serve to alert the community to the importance of the tutorial mode of instruction. It will allow students looking for tutorials to find them easily, even before they have declared a major or found a departmental home. It will put a distinctive program behind the perennial claim that Williams values individual interaction between students and faculty, and fosters intensive and independent student learning.
- Tutorials speak to the class size problem. Although having more very small courses would also mean having more large courses, many faculty and students agree that a student course load consisting of 4 courses with about 40 people in them is less satisfactory in terms of student/faculty interaction and student guidance than (for example) 2 courses of 40, one of 80, and one of just a few (e.g. a tutorial). Thus, it may well be worthwhile for departments to make a few of their lecture courses larger in exchange for creating new tutorials (or other very small classes).
- Tutorials designed to include sophomores (see details in section IV) give students the opportunity to build critical intellectual skills early in their time at Williams, so that they can then use and build on these skills in the junior and senior years. Tutorials for sophomores also give students the experience of having significant responsibility for their own learning early in their careers, thus shifting their sense of themselves as learners from passive to active in ways which will enrich later coursework. The sophomore year is an ideal place for a first tutorial, as students typically have a few courses in a discipline behind them and are beginning to form intellectual affiliations with particular fields. The close intellectual bond formed between faculty and students in the tutorial will serve to provide guidance and advising in the sophomore year. Indeed, the most effective advising occurs when a faculty member learns how a student's mind works and gets to know him or her in a profound way. Although we are equally concerned with the experience of students in the first year, we find tutorials to be better suited to sophomores. Students in the first year are typically not yet ready for the intensity and independence demanded by tutorials, while sophomores are preparing to step into the upper level courses in their disciplines.
- CORE FEATURES OF WILLIAMS TUTORIALS
Among the many possible features of tutorials at Oxford and at Williams, the CEP considers the following to be core elements of tutorials as proposed by this initiative:
- The student is at the center of this mode of instruction. The intellectual responsibility for grappling with the course material, creating a "vocabulary" for discussion, and placing the ideas into context resides with the student. In contrast to lecture or discussion courses, or even small seminars, it is the student presenter who speaks first and presents arguments or solutions to problems. The other student(s) are likewise responsible for questioning, challenging, and expanding upon the student presenter's work. The faculty member takes a "back seat" in the tutorial hour, at least for the first part of it.
- Each student is "on" each time the tutorial meets -- either presenting a paper, problem set or artistic work or offering a critique of it. Students who give the critique will have been given a copy of the work the previous day so that they can prepare their response.
This feature does set certain limits on the number of students in a tutorial grouping. If the tutorial meets for an hour, two students are able to participate meaningfully in this manner. If the tutorial meets for 2-3 hours, then 3 or 4 students could participate.
- "Ancillary" lectures (no more than one per week) and reading (e.g., basic textbook material) could be assigned as background information to help students prepare their work each week, but not as a substitute for having students grapple with the central material of the assignment on their own. Note: the model of an ancillary lecture for foundational background is currently being used successfully in 400-level physics tutorials.
As thus described, we expect that many tutorials would qualify as writing-intensive courses, and that all tutorials would qualify as speaking-intensive courses as these are currently conceived in the Skills and Contents proposal. Not every tutorial would be required to meet the criteria for particular "skills" courses; rather the instructor would design the course to fit the pedagogical goals of the subject matter, and then it would be determined -- as with any course -- whether that course should "count" as fulfilling one or more skills requirements. [There are many exciting, interesting, and innovative modes of instruction that would also satisfy the writing and speaking skills requirements. Some of these already do, or might in the future, combine elements of tutorial instruction. For example, a small seminar might require that students make presentations, might run as a tutorial for one or two weeks during the semester, or might require that students give critiques of each other's work. We applaud all of these innovations and suspect that those which incorporate some elements of tutorials will help students develop skills that will help them in tutorial courses and vice versa. In order to maintain some coherence and integrity to the tutorial program proposal, however, we are distinguishing them from tutorials as defined above.]
- The student is at the center of this mode of instruction. The intellectual responsibility for grappling with the course material, creating a "vocabulary" for discussion, and placing the ideas into context resides with the student. In contrast to lecture or discussion courses, or even small seminars, it is the student presenter who speaks first and presents arguments or solutions to problems. The other student(s) are likewise responsible for questioning, challenging, and expanding upon the student presenter's work. The faculty member takes a "back seat" in the tutorial hour, at least for the first part of it.
- SOPHOMORE-LEVEL TUTORIALS
We propose an increase in sophomore-level tutorials. We define a sophomore-level tutorial as one which does not require extensive background in the field, and which is designed primarily for sophomores. Clearly the number of prerequisites for such a tutorial must be limited.
While we hope that sophomore-level tutorials will be aimed primarily at sophomores, instructors need not limit enrollment to sophomores only. Some instructors might choose to do so, but others might simply indicate that preference will be given to sophomores. Others might leave enrollment open to students at all levels, with no specified preference.
Why the sophomore year?
Tutorials designed to include sophomores give students the opportunity to build critical intellectual skills early in their time at Williams. These skills include speaking, critical thinking, and writing. Students can then use and build on these skills in the junior and senior years. Tutorials for sophomores also give students the experience of having significant responsibility for their own learning early in their careers.
The sophomore year is a good place for a first tutorial, as students typically have a few courses in a discipline behind them and are beginning to form intellectual affiliations with particular fields. The close intellectual bond formed between faculty and students in the tutorial will serve to provide guidance and advising in the sophomore year.
Many have noted the lack of an advising system for students in the sophomore year. Students at this level are left to make important decisions about the selection of a major without the benefit of an advisor. While some students seek out faculty in their area of interest to ask for advice, others are left feeling as if there is no one to whom they can turn. More tutorials aimed at sophomores (indeed, more small courses aimed at sophomores) will provide a natural mechanism for setting up informal advising relationships between faculty and students.
Why not the first year?
First year students are typically not yet ready for the intensity and independence demanded by tutorials. They are trying to understand the expectations placed on them by their first college courses. Students in the first year are still learning how to organize their time, and it is not generally advisable to place students in a tutorial before they have developed skills for managing the pace of college level work. However, individual faculty could choose to allow first year students to enroll in tutorials geared for sophomores, just as there is no current restriction on first-year students taking tutorials.
Can sophomore level tutorials work?
In short, yes. Sophomore tutorials have already been offered with good results. For example, the Geosciences department has regularly offered tutorials specifically aimed at the sophomore level. Other departments and programs have also offered tutorials that satisfy the definition of a sophomore-level tutorial as given above (often in courses which draw a mixed audience of students from sophomores through seniors). These include Astronomy, Economics, Environmental Studies, Philosophy, Religion, Theater, and Psychology among others.
We do not recommend that every sophomore-level course be taught as a tutorial. Nor do we expect that these courses will exist in every department. We do, however, urge departments and programs to consider the possibility of creating such courses.
- APPROACHES TO TUTORIAL TEACHING: EXAMPLES
The CEP appreciates that tutorial instruction is not the best mode of instruction for some courses, and certainly does not suggest that the tutorial format should be mandated. However, in the course of considering this proposal we have encountered many creative and effective ways that tutorial instruction is being implemented, and further suggestions for tutorials which might be taught in the future. We include a number of these ideas as examples of ways the core tutorial model can work in a variety of disciplines.
- Supplementary lectures: As mentioned above, a number of tutorials presently being offered in the sciences include supplementary lectures in addition to the tutorial portion of the course. These happen as deemed necessary by the instructor -- typically either once a week or else a few packed into the beginning of the term to bring students up to speed on necessary background.
- Students sharing presentation time: Several tutorials have recently been offered in Chemistry in which one student gives a prepared lecture on the week's material, while the other student presents solutions to a series of worked problems in a problem set and/or presents a brief review of a scientific research paper. For each part of the tutorial period the non-presenting student gives critical feedback and asks questions. Students alternate weeks as lecture and problem set presenter.
- Optional section of course: For courses which are typically very large (examples include the core sophomore major courses in Chemistry, Biology, Psychology, and Art History) it would be impossible to teach all 100+ students in tutorial sized groups. However, several instructors have proposed having one or two special tutorial-based sections of these courses. Students might self-select for this option, or might be chosen by faculty based on their demonstrated readiness for intensive independent work. (The model of small, lab-oriented, intensive sections of science lecture courses was quite successful when run as part of a Ford Foundation grant program in the recent past).
- Supplementary lectures: As mentioned above, a number of tutorials presently being offered in the sciences include supplementary lectures in addition to the tutorial portion of the course. These happen as deemed necessary by the instructor -- typically either once a week or else a few packed into the beginning of the term to bring students up to speed on necessary background.
- IMPLEMENTING THIS INITIATIVE
If this proposal is approved, the details of its implementation will be developed next year. At present, however, some aspects of the plan are clear. The CEP does not recommend requiring individuals or departments to teach tutorials. Instead, the CEP anticipates that the implementation plan will significantly reduce some of the staffing disincentives which currently prevent faculty from teaching tutorials. We recommend that the availability of tutorial offerings be reevaluated several years after curricular reform, to assess whether other approaches are called for.
Incentives for students to take tutorials:
The goal of this proposal is not simply an expansion in the number of tutorials given, but rather a major increase in the fraction of our students taking tutorial courses. We expect that a dramatically expanded set of tutorial offerings, with a significant number of courses at the 200 level, would by itself attract many more students. As the number of tutorials grows, the tutorial experience would become less exceptional, and student sentiment that tutorials are "extra hard" or only for an elite group would likely subside. In addition to the natural growth in tutorial enrollments that would come from an expansion of the program, there are several incentives which will encourage students to take at least one tutorial during their time at Williams.
- Getting to know a faculty member well early in the college career: sophomore advising. The opportunity to get to know a faculty member very well as part of a tutorial will likely be very appealing to sophomores, who are looking for academic advising from those who share their intellectual interests. Many students have reported that their biggest disappointment at Williams has been having many large classes and, in some cases, not getting the opportunity to know faculty well until at least the junior year.
- Fulfilling skills requirements: In a related proposal, "Skills and Contents Requirements," the CEP describes a set of critical intellectual skills for graduating Williams students. We have proposed that these skills will now be required and that tutorials be prominent among the ways to fulfill both the writing and the speaking requirements.
- In future years the faculty may consider the possibility of a credit hour system. If such a system were to be adopted, it could be appropriate to give some increased credit towards graduation for tutorials.
- Getting to know a faculty member well early in the college career: sophomore advising. The opportunity to get to know a faculty member very well as part of a tutorial will likely be very appealing to sophomores, who are looking for academic advising from those who share their intellectual interests. Many students have reported that their biggest disappointment at Williams has been having many large classes and, in some cases, not getting the opportunity to know faculty well until at least the junior year.