ABSTRACT

This article draws on findings from a qualitative case study of a first-year online unit (subject) offered by a large public university through Open Universities Australia. It includes the student voice, taken from formal evaluation surveys, and the voice of casual academic tutors, provided through first-hand interviews and questionnaires. What emerges from the findings is the high value placed on tutors by their students and the tutors’ important contribution to student success, contrasted with the low value and lack of recognition given to tutors in the contemporary, marketised academy along with the destructive effect this has on tutors’ professional and personal wellbeing. Suggestions for future research to begin addressing this situation are included. Comments on the relevance of the research to the conditions created in higher education by the COVID-19 pandemic conclude the article.

摘要

本文借鉴了一所大型公立大学通过澳大利亚开放大学提供的第一年在线单元（科目）的定性案例研究的结果。它包括来自正式评估调查的学生声音，以及通过第一手访谈和问卷调查提供的临时学术导师的声音。从调查结果中可以看出，学生对导师的高度重视以及导师对学生成功的重要贡献，与当代市场化学院对导师的低价值和缺乏认可以及由此产生的破坏性影响形成鲜明对比。关于导师的专业和个人福祉。包括对未来研究开始解决这种情况的建议。