Northern College Good Practice Guide in Teaching and Learning

9.1 In adult education there exists a wide variation with respect to the tutors' approach to session plans. This is true as much for the Northern College as for other institutions in this sector. As a matter of good practice, all tutors are advised to plan their sessions with care and to prepare in advance detailed and well-organised session plans.

9.2 Effective session planning can be seen to consist of three stages. In the first stage, lasting about 10% of the overall time, tutors should plan to say something about the session itself so that students can have a clear idea of what to expect both in terms of the subject matter and how it is planned to be handled. Aspects for this stage of the session that tutors might want to include are:

personal introductions (where appropriate)
the students' starting points (i.e. their entry level of knowledge and skills)
an overview of the session
a brief description of what students expected to do during and after the session
the learning outcomes of the session

9.3 In the second stage of the session, lasting about 70 to 80% of the overall time, tutors should plan to use a range of teaching methods and learning activities to ensure that active learning takes place and interest is maintained. It is important to plan this stage so that it is not so tutor-led and content-driven that students do not have sufficient time to participate actively in their learning.

9.4 In the third and final stage of the session, lasting about 10 to 20% of the overall time, tutors should plan to summarise the main points of all that has been said and done. Whilst they might have checked that learning has been taking place throughout the session, it is most important that they do this again at this stage. They should plan to leave some time to allow students to reflect on what they have learnt and to provide feedback. Aspects for this stage of the session that tutors might want to include are:

a revisiting of the learning outcomes
an assessment of learning through a question-and-answer review of the session or through some other activity that shows that students have understood the session and achieved its learning outcomes
a review of the main points of the session
some guidance about the preparation that students might want to undertake for the next session or for another course

9.5 A proforma for a session plan that tutors might want to use to successfully complete each of the three stages described above can be accessed here.