Co-Tutor

You should record correspondence between you and individual students about their specific circumstances in Co-Tutor. Examples of information that should be added to Co-Tutor include:

• emails about absence from timetabled lectures or seminars,
• digital register non-compliance,
• attendance or non-attendance at scheduled meetings,
• notes of supervisory meetings,
• emails discussing support and referrals to other services and reasonable adjustments,
• correspondence about pastoral issues, placements and dissertation/project work.

Generic information that is not specific to the individual student should not be held into Co-Tutor. For example, group seminar announcements and general module information should not be added to Co-Tutor. This information will not be particularly useful in establishing a student’s specific circumstances. The Learn noticeboard should be used instead for module information.

Before you upload documents, it’s worth considering if the information is required. Examples of documents which should be uploaded are feedback forms, progress reports, and notes from meetings. You might also want to upload emails that have been sent previously but that have not already been saved to Co-Tutor.

All Loughborough University staff will have the default staff user access which lets you browse and search for students from any school giving access to their basic profile (the “Dashboard”). You will also be able to add entries into the Academic/ General area. The default user setting will only allow you to view comments that you have made. Access to detailed information on each student’s record, like comments and records, is controlled by the permissions you have as a user of the system (i.e. you will only have access to comments and data for a particular student if you need it).

If you work in a School: The School administrator with the Co-Tutor Administrator role will ensure that you have the correct role for Co-Tutor. Please contact your School Admin Team if you are unsure.

If you are not in a School: Please request access by emailing Sro1-school@lboro.ac.uk

Yes. Co-Tutor is a secure corporate system and prevents information being saved in multiple locations.

Yes, if it is required to understand the context of a student’s situation or studies or provide appropriate support. Communications between yourself and the student will help to provide a full picture of the student’s situation in a timely and consistent way. It is safer to record this sensitive data once in Co-Tutor than having it stored in other systems which may be less secure (i.e. local desktop files, paper files, individual email inboxes). Access will be restricted to the appropriate people as identified by the Co-Tutor roles.

You should carefully consider how to word personal information on Co-Tutor, particularly when it concerns another student or member of staff. Any student can request their Co-Tutor record as a part of a Subject Access Request. Please ensure that your text is factual rather than expressing an opinion.

Roles are allocated to Co-Tutor users to ensure that they have the correct level of access to student information. If you need more information about Co-Tutor roles and access please contact sro1-school@lboro.ac.uk

This is where the entry is saved in Co-Tutor and defines who can access the information. When an entry is made from within the system you can choose from the following: Academic/General, Pastoral Care, Research, Dissertation/Project work, Placement, Clerical/Office. When Co-Tutor is copied into an email the system saves the entry based on the information it has (student email address, sender email address, and Co-Tutor email address copied in)

You will see ‘Categorise this meeting/entry and its visibility’ on the bottom of the ‘Add a Comment’ ‘Send a Message’ ‘Record an Attended Meeting’ and ‘Record a Missed Meeting’ screens when you are adding to a student’s record.

The default area is ‘Academic/General’ and it is recommended to use this category unless you are making an entry about a placement or about a dissertation/project. Only tick one box unless you need to share your entry more widely within Co-Tutor roles (e.g. to allow a Personal Academic tutor to see a Placements issue). Don’t worry, the people who need to see it will have (or can get) access. The box to the left of this category list shows which Co-Tutor roles will have access to the information.

Permissions vary so that only people who need the information can view it. The level of access assigned to a Co-Tutor role determines what can be seen on a student’s record. For example, a Placements Supervisor will be able to view and edit the Placement areas of Co-Tutor but will not have access to information added by a Personal Tutor.

All users will see that an entry has been made but the details can only be viewed by those with permission. The exception to this is the highly sensitive flag (currently under development), which will only be visible to a few Co-Tutor roles.

If you need more information about Co-Tutor roles and access please contact sro1-school@lboro.ac.uk

What you can view depends on your Co-Tutor role in relation to the specific student. If you are a Personal Tutor, you will see most entries for your Tutees. As a Dissertation Supervisor, only entries related to the student’s dissertation will be visible (you will see if more entries have been made but will not have access to that information).

You don’t need to tick more boxes. The student’s Personal Tutor already has permission to see all entries. If you want to notify them of your entry, add their email to the ‘Notify Additional Staff’ field.

Open Co-Tutor https://co-tutor.lboro.ac.uk/home

Enter the Student ID number, name or email address in the search area on the home page.

This opens the student’s dashboard. The menu on the left-hand side displays the areas of Co-Tutor you can access for that student.

Open Co-Tutor https://co-tutor.lboro.ac.uk/home

Enter the Student ID number, name or email address in the search area on the home page. This opens the student’s dashboard.

If a student is an Elite or Performance Athlete, it will be clear on this first page.

Open Co-Tutor https://co-tutor.lboro.ac.uk/home

Enter the Student ID number, name or email address in the search area on the home page.

This opens the student’s dashboard. Click on ‘Add to Record’

Under ‘Meetings’ click on ‘Record an Attended Meeting’ or ‘Record a Missed Meeting’

Document the necessary information. Press ‘Save’.

You need to ‘Add a Comment’ - start by opening Co-Tutor https://co-tutor.lboro.ac.uk/home

Enter the Student ID number, name or email address in the search area on the home page.

This opens the student’s dashboard. Click on ‘Add to Record’

Under ‘General Entries’ click on ‘Add a Comment’.

Add your comments, notes, documents and hit the ‘Save’ button.

Access to archived records will depend on your Co-Tutor role in relation to that student. Personal and other Academic Tutors will not be able to view a full record once the record is longer active. If you require access to Co-Tutor, for example to provide a reference, please contact your School Administration team. Department Administrators will be able to view records of student’s who have left Loughborough University: See ‘How can I see a student’s Co-Tutor record?’ for instructions.

It is best practice to log in to Co-Tutor to make an entry.

• Administrators and Support Staff are strongly recommended to log in to view a record and then to send correspondence from within the system.
• Academics are encouraged to log into Co-Tutor to view communications when context would be helpful for advising the student. CCing is appropriate to ensure that communications are recorded.

CCing Co-Tutor can be useful when you have all the information you need and are replying to a thread of emails which should be included in Co-Tutor.

Logging in to Co-Tutor is preferable to CCing emails for data security but there will be occasions when emailing students and copying Co-Tutor is appropriate.

• Co-Tutor will recognise your email address/ Co-Tutor role in relation to the student you are emailing. For example, a personal tutor CC-ing an email to co-tutorrecord@lboro.ac.uk will result in the message being filed under ‘Pastoral Care’. If Co-Tutor can’t determine an obvious category area it will default to ‘Academic/General’
• Emails to co-tutorplacements@lboro.ac.uk will be filed under ‘Placement’
• Emails to co-tutormeetings@lboro.ac.uk will be filed under ‘Meetings’

Both will result in an entry on Co-Tutor with a categorisation based on your Co-Tutor relationship with that specific student. By logging in to Co-Tutor you will be able to see the student’s record with previous correspondence and notes. This gives you context and will inform your next steps.

• Administrators: It is best practice to log in, this is strongly advised.
• Academics: Please CC emails to Co-Tutor when appropriate to ensure that communications are recorded. Logging in will still be important for context in some circumstances

Adding to a record from within the Co-Tutor system allows you to change the category that the entry will be saved to. CC-ing Co-Tutor will file your correspondence based on your email address, the students email address and the Co-Tutor address you CC. If Co-Tutor can’t determine an obvious category area it will default to ‘Academic/General’.

To document missed/attended meetings and minutes email co-tutormeeting@lboro.ac.uk

For placement correspondence email co-tutorplacements@lboro.ac.uk

For all other comments and entries email co-tutorrecord@lboro.ac.uk

Yes, at the time you make an entry onto Co-Tutor you can copy emails to named members of staff. Choose ‘Notify Additional Staff’ when you are making the entry. You should insert the staff members University email (only recognised staff email addresses are allowed).

No. Co-Tutor only files correspondence from University staff email accounts. UG and most PG students cannot access Co-Tutor (some may be granted access if they hold a supervisory role)

Office and group Loughborough email accounts can CC Co-Tutor if the address is known to Co-Tutor (send a list of any required email addresses to it.services@lboro.ac.uk)