Developing a Tutorial Template for PHIL 2001

PHIL 2001 (Introduction to Logic) is a second year philosophy course that is open to first-year students. Interest in this course has grown in the past few semesters, with enrollment of approximately 350 students per semester. In this course, skill practice is essential for student success and this practice is in large part achieved through tutorials which are run by teaching assistants. However, the efficacy and interest in the tutorials throughout past semesters have been mixed, lacking in consistent results and delivery. As such, the project aimed to create a database of examples and template materials that the TAs can draw from, ensuring consistency across the sections. Drawing from my experience as a long-term TA for the course, I provided insight into the needs of students, as well as the challenges faced by the TAs in tutorials. Through a highly collaborative process, a variety of resources were developed to be shared and used in future semesters, including: a weekly curriculum for tutorials, an overview of key concepts to be covered in tutorials, a problem bank featuring examples drawn from pop-culture, news, and philosophical texts, and a TA ‘best practices’ guide. These resources are highly transferable to future semesters and will improve both the quality and consistency of tutorials. Additionally, this model could be adapted for other courses with tutorial sections.