The Crown Jewel of Oxford

1
The Crown Jewel of Oxford?

• If there is any product of which Oxford has
  special reason to be proud, which has stamped its
  mark on the lives and characters of
  generationshas excited the outspoken envy of
  other nations..
• Lord Curzon, Chancellor of Oxford (1909)

2
According to Rose Ziman (1964)

• This product, this special method for getting
  intellect to sparkle, for filling heads with
  knowledge, for making undergraduates big with
  wisdom is why Oxford is the most famous teaching
  university in the world.

3
The Oxford Tutorial

• Thanks, you taught me how to think
• Edited by David Palfreyman

4
The Goal of the Tutorial

• It provides the undergraduate with the
  opportunity to discuss particular topics in
  considerable detail with the professor (North
  Report, 1997).
• At its heart is a theory of teaching young men
  and women to think for themselves. The
  undergraduate is sent off to forage for himself
  and to produce a coherent exposition of his ideas
  on the subject set (Franks Commission, 1966)

5
The Jewel Analyzed

• Weekly one hour meeting of the student and the
  professor.
• Does not replace other methods of learning the
  subject, such as instruction by lecture, private
  study, or group projects.

6
Nuts Bolts

• The tutorial assumes all these, and includes
  their results in the preparation of a WEEKLY
  ESSAY, which is presented ORALLY, listened to by
  the professor and discussed immediately.
• Informality is the key.

7
What I Have Learned

• Seems to work best with 1 to 3 students.
• The professor is not a teacher in the usual
  sense.
• Student finds the information.
• Teacher acts as a constructive critic.

8
Dr. ReevesVice-Principle of St. Annes College

• No one will dispute that this is the crown of
  the educational process. What is not so fully
  accepted is that the very production of an essay
  by a student demands that it should be subjected
  to DETAILED, INDIVIDUAL CRITICISM, otherwise his
  educators have failed him at the last.

9
Interested?

• The Oxford Tutorial
• A Liberal Education and that includes the
  sciences!
• Modern Linguists as Multi-taskers
• Perfection in Politics and Philosophy
• Tutorial Teaching in Economics
• Knowledge is a wild thing, and must be hunted
  before it can be tamed
• Been there Got the t-shirt The perspective of a
  recent survivor of the tutorial system

10
Download

• Download the book for free from the Oxford Centre
  for Higher Education Policy Studies
• http//oxcheps.new.ox.ac.uk/MainSite20pages/resou
  rces.html
• Or e-mail me at dwhite_at_uu.edu

11
Successful Examples

• Emily Lean
• Completed Major Paper Structuring Ethically
  Strong Organizational Work Teams The Critical
  Role Leader Integrity Plays, Presented at
  Organizational Science 2007 Winter Conference,
  February 2007.
• Landon Preston
• Completed Major Paper Storing Up Treasures A
  Quantitative Analysis of Materialism, Religious
  Activity, and Ontology, Presented at 21st
  National Conference on Undergraduate Research ,
  April 2007.

12
Successful Examples Continued

• Clovis Simas
• Completed Major Paper An Empirical
  Investigation of the Link Between Market
  Orientation and Church Performance, On Second
  Review at International Journal of Nonprofit and
  Volunteer Sector Marketing.
• Sam Turner
• Completed Major Paper Determining the Affect
  that the Introduction of Free Online Services has
  on the Adoption Rate of New Company Offerings,
  On First Review at Canadian Journal of
  Administrative Sciences.
• Kyle Huggins David DeLaughter
• Completed Major Paper The Impact of
  Environmental Turbulence on Influence Strategy
  Usage in an Interfirm Channel Setting," Presented
  at American Marketing Association Winter
  Educators' Conference, February 2002.