How can we ensure limited individual tutorial time is reflective? The reflective individual tutoring model for Higher Education

Abstract

University tutoring can play an important role in the transition from content-centered learning to student-centered learning in the transformations that are taking place in higher education institutions. This transition needs evidence-based proposals that go in this direction but that adapt to what teachers are already doing when they individually tutor their students without adding new workloads to their saturated schedules. Reflective Learning is conceived as an active Student-Centered Learning methodology that aims to increase learners agency, focusing specifically on developing learners capacities to influence their learning environments and their lifelong learning trajectories. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no model that describes how to implement reflective individual tutoring in higher education, leaving a significant gap in knowledge and research about this area of university teaching activity. The aim of this work is to present the RITHE (Reflective Individual Tutoring in Higher Education) model, based, on one hand, on the lessons learned studying highly effective tutors in primary and secondary education, and on the other, on the theoretical and methodological principles of reflective learning. This article will explain a tutorial proposal, which is structured in three blocks and seven phases. The model is intended to serve as a guide for university educators, with applications in various areas of knowledge, and to encourage evidence-based practice research on the subject.