Tutor Training, Phases I-IV >>

Phase I

Objectives:  Phase I of PBL training is aimed at understanding the theory and practice of PBL and learner-centered teaching and learning.  As a result of Phase I faculty and students will be able to:

Distinguish teacher-centered education from learner-centered education and PBL, specifically with regard to the shifts of emphasis, the theories of learning and instruction, and the perspectives that underlie these approaches to education;

Describe the structure of PBL and self-directed learning at U. of Miami.

Phase II

Phase III

• Objectives: Phase III is aimed primarily at acquiring the basic skills of facilitating the PBL process and secondarily at the skills of leading small groups. Specifically faculty will learn the basic strategies that foster well functioning PBL groups.
  
  Method: Coaching is the primary method used.  Prospective tutors will be divided into groups of 3 or 4. They will take turns tutoring a group of real students while being observed by their peers through a video camera and a one-way window. Upon completing her/his turn each tutor trainee will receive feedback from the rest of the tutor trainees. The group will then discuss the “unfinished business” and will help the next trainee prepare for her or his role.  Each group will be facilitated by a “coach.”
  
  Schedule:
  TBA

• Materials:
• Please click here for a Checklist to Guide Feedback to Trainees. 
  Please click here for Guidelines for Feedback

Phase IV

• Objectives: Phase IV is aimed at acquiring the more advanced skills of facilitating the PBL process and leading small groups.  “Advanced” skills refer to skills that are required to address subtle issues or infrequently occurring problems in the tutoring process.
  
  Method: Role enactment and individual practice with feedback is the primary method used.  Subtle issues and infrequently occurring problems, by definition, seldom arise in the course of a brief demonstration of small group activity. Therefore, to enable faculty to practice dealing with these situations we have to create these uncommon occasions.  And this can be done effectively through role-play. We will draw from a bank of the common presenting symptoms of dysfunctional groups. Either students or faculty can enact these problem situations while participants take turns dealing with them. There are advantages and disadvantages to each method.
  
  Schedule:
  TBA

• Materials:Please click below for
• A Sample List of Common Problems of Tutoring for Phase 4 Training
• Components of Expertise for Small Group Leaders
• Details of Components of Expertise for Small Group Leaders
• Diagnostic Strategies for Small Group Leaders
• Information Sheet on Small Group Teaching
• Instructions for Observers
• Annotated Bibliography on Small Group Teaching