Autoethnography of tutoring in the Russian university: from theoretical knowledge to practical implementation

ABSTRACT

Unlike traditional teachers, tutors now are much less able to confine their practice to the classroom setting. Herein, we address the challenges of actual tutoring practice at one Master’s degree program comprising offline and online learning activities along with student work placements. Building on the autoethnography and narrative analysis we highlight core themes structuring tutoring experience. We examined the challenges we met. We offer suggestions for tutors supporting students in a blended learning environment, and we argue acknowledgment of different roles and strategies applied by tutors across learning contexts make them more productive and less vulnerable towards conflicting messages of other actors involved in instructional communication.

KEYWORDS:

• Tutoring
• higher education
• autoethnography
• narrative
• experience

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anna Paukova

Anna Paukova is an Independent Researcher providing consultancy and research on usability of electronic devices.

Milana Khachaturova

Milana Khachaturova is an Associate Professor and the Head of the Doctoral School in Department of Psychology at National Research University Higher School of Economics.

Petr Safronov

Petr Safronov is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administrationand a consultant for school principals and charity foundations.