Planning your Progress meeting

You will set the agenda for these meetings.

Growth
Get prepared for your progress meeeting.
Author

Ben Whalley

What are progress meetings for?

Students often find that the transition from school to university is difficult. This is rarely because the material you study is more complex. Most of the time, it is because the way you are expected to learn is different, and because you must take more responsibility for your own learning.

Progress meetings are regular ‘checkpoints’ in the year where you can:

  • review what you have done so far, and how successful it has been
  • ask questions about the course, or about the way you are working, and
  • work with your tutor to make plans for the weeks to come

The aim is to provide space to reflect on your progress, and give you the confidence to take responsibility for your own learning.

Part 1: Scheduling the meeting

As a reminder, progress meetings will

  • include your tutor and one or two other students
  • last around 45 minutes
  • be held face to face in your tutor’s office

Agree with 1 or 2 other students that you will attend the meeting with them. You should agree who you will pair-up with from the students in your workshop group.

You tutor will have given you instruction on how to arrange the meeting (if you haven’t heard from them, drop them an email).

Coordinate with the other students to set the agenda and time for the meeting.

Part 2: Setting the agenda

Before the meeting, it’s important to know what you want to get from it.

Part 1

  1. Make a list of 3 things you want to discuss in the meeting (see suggestions below)
  2. If you like, get feedback on your proposed agenda from Psybot

Record the agenda for the meeting here

Suggestions

Here are some suggestions for agenda items a student might include in their first progress meeting:

  1. Study Strategies and Time Management
    • Discuss how well current study techniques are working, and share your experiences with other students.
    • Seek advice on managing workload and balancing time between lectures, assignments, and personal study.
  2. Understanding Key Concepts
    • Address any confusion or difficulties with specific topics or modules.
    • Ask for guidance on additional resources to help grasp challenging material.
  3. Preparing for Upcoming Assessments
    • Discuss preparation for upcoming assessments.
  4. Career and Development Opportunities
    • Discuss potential career paths in psychology and any relevant work experience or volunteering opportunities.
    • Ask for guidance on building skills or experience that may benefit future career paths.

Remember, the meeting should be tailored to your specific circumstances.

Part 3: Making good notes

Credit: Dilbert, by Scott Adams (2015)

After the meeting, all students should make notes on:

  • what was discussed
  • any actions that were agreed (and a deadline if there is one)

Then, agree among the students in the meeting who will send out an email with notes from the meeting.

Save a copy of the notes from the meeting with Psybot

These notes are important because they will feed into your next progress meeting.