The Progress Profile

The response to this tool was an overwhelmingly positive one with 98% of student-tutor pairs recommending the tool for use by others. While there was some variation in the perception of such aspects as the user-friendliness of the tool and its effectiveness in helping pairs to plan lessons, the majority of students and tutors found the Progress Profile beneficial to their program of work.

Advantages

These were the most frequently cited positive comments about the Progress Profile (see Table 5 for a summary).

1. Integrates Evaluation with Teaching and Learning
The Progress Profile was seen to be a very holistic tool: goal setting at the beginning of the process and evaluation at the end of the process became part of the whole program so that evaluation was seen as integral to, and not separate from, the entire teaching and learning process.

2. Provides Structure and Focus
Tutoring pairs found that it provided a useful structure to enable them to set goals and plan learning sessions. It also helped them to focus more clearly on the why, what and how of teaching and learning.

3. Is Easy to Use
With the exception of the Progress Review section, the majority of pairs found the tool easy to administer and use.

4. Helps Students Identify Learning Needs
Many students at the start of their programs have rather general ideas about what they need or want to learn. For example, they may just say they want "to write better." This tool helped them to move beyond generalities and to get more specific about their individual learning needs.

5. Helps Tutors Feel Less Anxious
One area of anxiety for tutors is determining whether students are progressing. This tool helped them to feel more confident about monitoring and assessing student progress. It also helped them evaluate the effectiveness of their tutoring.