Tutors play a pivotal role in bridging the gap between lecturer and student, and in facilitating student-centred learning. It is essential, therefore, that tutors develop the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes to ensure “quality” learning outcomes. A new Tutor Development Program has been developed for the Faculty of Information Technology, which comprises eight Schools across seven campuses. Being a Faculty-wide Program, it will ensure a minimum standard of tutoring across the Faculty, and will provide a pool of tutors who can move across the School boundaries. In turn, this flexibility will allow support of collaborative approaches to subject delivery across Schools that have similar subject material but a different computing focus. This paper highlights the major influences that have shaped the design and delivery of the Program, and discusses the diverse “conversations” that have helped to determine its quality.

Keywords: tutor development, learning community, defining quality