Answers

• Our commitment to you

• Expectations for students

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Our commitment to you

• Academic Skills Tutors (ASTs) will always treat people with respect and will communicate with you in a polite way.

• We will email details of your appointment to you. You will also receive a reminder the day before the appointment is due to take place. If we have to cancel or make changes to your appointment booking we will notify you by email.

• Your tutor will wait for you for up to ten minutes after the start of scheduled appointment time but they may not be available to support you if you arrive more than ten minutes late. If you do not turn up after 10 minutes the appointment will be cancelled and you will be invited to book into another appointment should you wish to.

• Your tutor will work with you to find out more about you and your work, so that the 45-minute appointment can be adapted to your needs. This means that we will ask questions about your work and any adaptations you may need to get the most from the appointment.

• The tutor will focus on supporting you to develop skills to enable you to work as an independent student. This means we will not proofread, edit, or make changes to your work but provide you with strategies and guidance about how to do this yourself.

• We can work with you twice on one piece of work or if it is a dissertation once per chapter. We can review up to 500 words of an assignment.

• The tutor may refer you to other resources or services in the University depending on your needs; they will ask your permission before contacting another service on your behalf.

• You will receive an email after your appointment that will outline what was discussed, any tools or strategies that could be useful for you, and the actions you can take to improve your work. This email will also invite you to complete a survey and provide further feedback.

• Please send any queries, compliments or complaints about the service to AcademicSkills@arden.ac.uk

 Expectations for students

• It is very helpful if you can provide details of the support you require when you book your appointment.

• We ask that you notify us if you are unable to attend your appointment. Your meeting invite contains a link for cancelling the appointment. Alternatively you can email the tutor directly or email AcademicSkills@arden.ac.uk 

• If you arrive more than ten minutes after the scheduled time of your appointment without informing the tutor, then the appointment will be cancelled. You will need to re-book an appointment at a different time.

• We expect students to be ready and able to participate in their appointment: this means that you should be in a setting that is safe and appropriate for talking, listening and learning. For example, you should:
  • not be driving
  • be free from distractions
  • be suitably dressed

• You will get the most from your tutorial if you communicate effectively with your tutor so we recommend turning on your camera and microphone during the appointment.

• Please respect our tutors’ rights to work in an environment free from abuse, aggression and for them to feel safe in their work. If tutors have any concerns about their or anyone else’s safety they may end your appointment and seek support from other services.

• Academic Skills Tutors will support you to develop your work; this means they will not edit work directly or advise on a sample of work that is more than 500 words.

• Academic Skills Tutors can offer support with academic skills, including writing and wider study skills. Please contact your module lecturers with any questions about subject content.

• Please tell your tutor if you would prefer to receive feedback after the appointment in a specific format, such as a PDF or audio recording.

• Should the Academic Skills Tutor not be able to answer your question they may wish to refer you to another service within Arden University. Please notify your tutor if you do not want them to contact other services on your behalf.