Social psychology (psychology)/Tutorials/Introduction/Tutor notes

Notes for tutors and/or working or old information not currently part of the tutorial.

Notes for tutors
This class has three main sections:
 * 1) Intro and overview of websites and assessment, especially e-portfolio
 * 2) Name games/icebreakers
 * 3) Exploring social psychology

Equipment

 * Stickers for name tags
 * Coloured markers
 * Butcher's paper
 * Digital camera
 * People Bingo handouts (1 per person)
 * Spare hard copies of the unit outline (in psych office)

Names

 * Names provide a basic building block for developing social interaction.
 * Name Tags - big & bold - use each week.
 * Make an effort to learn the names each week of the people you are working with.
 * Some form of name-game will be included most tutorials to help.

Sociometric icebreaker
In an open space (rearrange tables and chairs)... allow firstly mingly and meeting, chat, etc. to create a social vibe, then announce a category. Join in, watch the flow of grouping, and then ask briefly about each major grouping, with a question or two to help students tease out their group or position, and what its like to be in those groups.
 * People Map (this isn't used, but contains ideas about how to conduct the groups/line-ups, especially 'where you live')

Contact info

 * Tutor introduction
 * Contact details (and who to contact about what)
 * Tutors or convener can be contacted for essay support.
 * Students are encouraged to attend drop-in tutorials (after lectures in weeks specified in outline) hands-on support
 * Technical, admin, extension, etc. questions should be directed to the convener.

Photographs of group / group work

 * After the class, make some photographs of group and/or group work for recording the tutorial knowledge and sharing online.

Not used
These are ideas from earlier versions of the tutorial which are no longer used.

Name games/icebreakers

 * People Map
 * People Bingo
 * The purpose of this activity is to facilitate people in meeting one another and finding out a little bit of information about one another.
 * Issue each person with a People Bingo sheet.
 * This activity is a bit like 'speed-dating' - the idea is to meet as many people as possible, and to gather as many signatures as possible, on the "People Bingo" sheet.
 * Any one person may only sign another person's list once.

Brainstorming/concept mapping
Introduce the main ideas underlying Brainstorming, Mind-mapping, and Concept Mapping emphasising that:
 * They are particularly useful in the early stages of developing knowledge
 * Their value is in providing techniques for quickly mapping ideas and possibilities
 * They work best when people feel unconstrained in bringing ideas forth; the goal is to generate as many ideas as as possible and to provide a rough organisation of the ideas and their interconnections.
 * All contributions are valuable and should be added; even if they seem silly or duplicate they may later trigger other better ideas.
 * Critical discussion and reorganising/redrafting comes later.

Group photograph

 * This is a very simple exercise which will help to give the group an 'identity' and give individuals a sense of 'membership'.
 * Simply take a few photographs of them as a group - can be done inside or outside.
 * Tips:
 * Use a place with consistent lighting hitting students' faces (not backlit)
 * Make sure the group is physically close together
 * Fill the frame with the group
 * Take several shots - they don't need to be serious - have fun :)
 * Send the best photo to the convener who will put them online.