[TUTR] TUTR FAQ's - with answers.
Cristin Olafsson
cristin at shaw.ca
Tue Aug 9 11:22:38 PDT 2011
Greetings Unto the Populous of Tir Righ – At most events I attend I get asked many questions regarding The University of Tir Righ (TUTR) and am finding that there is a LOT of mis-information out there. I decided to combat this by generating a list of FAQ’s to help the populace as a whole and to possibly come up with some solutions. Please forward this at will to all lists in the Principality as information is always good!!!SO – in no particular order here are many questions I get asked and ones that were forwarded to me by others who wanted answers:What is the difference between TUTR and ITHRA??The simple answer to that is TUTR is only in Tir Righ and ITHRA is throughout An Tir. Why don’t we have ITHRA anymore?We do – it exists and is alive and well. At my last check there were no active/warrented chancellors in Tir Righ but this may have changed.Why and how did TUTR form?As there was a lack of ITHRA chancellors able to manage Tir Righ the idea came up during a discussion to form a Principality level University so that there could be a structured teaching body that so many members of the populace had expressed and interest in. A committee of interested people was formed and through many, many hours of discussion the framework for TUTR came into being. There were discussions on financial policy, degree systems, curriculum, heraldry, officer positions, access by the populace etc. The goal of TUTR was to have the organization very transparent and accessible by all. Sometimes this is a challenge. The pipe dream of a very organic and simple to use process has fallen by the wayside at times and we get bogged down trying to finish the details of TUTR. When it was recognized by the crown the building blocks were not finished. This has left the organizers scrambling at times to provide a structure that is still a bit shaky. We are currently trying to fix and strengthen this so that it is a strong and reliable system that is easy for anyone to implement. Because of this some of the following questions will be vague because they are still being worked on.How do I find out what courses I have taken?The answer I would love to give you is “let me run a query on that database and I will email it to you!” The answer I need to give you is a database is a very long and tedious thing to build. It can take up to a year to have all the bits and bytes worked out. Vicountess Gweyneth Gower has put in countless hours along with her amazing husband creating a database for us. It is in the data input stage and we are still testing and trying to get it set up so that it is easy to use. The best thing you can do for yourself ALWAYS is to keep track of your courses and the sessions you took them at if you are interested in completing any degrees. There is always the human error factor in data entry and having your own records is always a good idea.Degrees – what is up with all those degrees?Yeah – there are a few of them! The original idea behind the Newcomers Diploma was for it to be something that could be completed in a weekend workshop and handed out at the end similar to Lions Gate’s Newcomers Weekend that is held annually. It is intended to be the basics to give everyone a consistent message and a start in the SCA so they can branch out from there.After that the degree system was tailored after a University. You can specialize more, there is room for continued studies and mastery of different areas. Again – this in one of those things that looked GREAT on paper and we are now trying to figure out a really stable and consistent way of implementing. What are core courses, who can teach them?The idea behind the core courses was to provide an outline – more like an annotated bibliography – and a time framework so that multiple teachers could offer the course but the material would still be consistent. This is still the goal – but WOW is it a LOT of work!! Trying to get everyone together to discuss this, agree on it and get it all published. I wish I could say it is going to be a speedy process but I am not sure how to ensure that.How do I determine if a class counts for TUTR credit?The basic requirement is that it is on a topic that falls into the SCA timeframe or is an SCA related/administrative topic. So “How to Autocrat and Event” is a modern but essential part of the SCA so it would be included. The ever famous “Bedwarming for Beginners” from years ago would not be a recognized class.How do Credits work?Typically it is 1 credit per hour of teaching. This is why we need to have an outline AND timeframe for Core Courses so that every student gets the same info and the same number of credits.Are Credits transferrable between TUTR and other SCA Universities and out of Kingdom workshops (eg. Pennsic)Yes – TUTR will accept transfer credits from ITHRA, THUA and out of Kingdom classes but there is no guarantee that they will be for the EXACT credit the other University offered them for. Now – please don’t take this as an invitation to flood my email box with a list of all the courses you have taken! The policy for the credit transfer, like everything else, still needs to be finalized and then the database needs to be finished so there is a place to record it all. Something important to remember, TUTR does accept courses but not all other Universities accepts outside credits in reverse. If you are working on an ITHRA degree please check with your chancellor to see if they will accept the credits. I can only speak for what TUTR will accept.Who does what in TUTR?The basic structure is as follow:Governor – Principality Officer responsible for the administrative running of TUTR. They report to the Principality Seneschal the same as any other officer. Deputy Governor – contingency deputy for aboveDean – an individual who assists with the running of a TUTR session by supporting the Shire/Barony in the organization of the classes, teachers, registration, etc. The Dean keeps the paper documentation of the courses offered, student registration information etc. There is no limit to how many Deans there can be nor do Deans have ‘regions’ that they support. If a Dean can travel or has time to assist a branch they are welcome to do the work. Registrar – an assistant to the Dean at a branch level to help with the registration and money collection for a session. This can be a position that is held for the one event or a longer term thing if the branch holds a lot of sessions or has a multi-week course that they want to turn into a TUTR recognized thing.We also have a handful of Advisors who are generating forms, databases, financial policy and many other very necessary items. Without them we would be lost!I want to organize a TUTR session in my area – how do I start?In an idea world you find an Dean to support your event and they would then walk you through the process. In our real world some of our Deans are VERY new so they are also asking that exact question.Here are the basics – Find a date and a site. The site has to have multiple rooms for classes, a common room for the populace to hang out when not in class, a central registration/gate area and coffee . . . . always lots of coffee (well, I guess not really but it sure makes me happy). Once you have determined how many classrooms you have available you have to then determine what kind of classes you can teach. Combat classes typically need a gym. Classes with fire or dye need good ventilation and destruction proof flooring. Classes for making stuff usually need tables and chairs. You need to recruit teachers AND students. The recruiting of teachers is sometimes a bit tricky. They are either really busy or think that it is a lot of work or don’t think they are ‘good enough’ to teach. There is sometimes bribing or convincing needed but the new teachers are some or the best! They have passion for the topic. Planning the schedule is a bit of a fine art but once you do it once you are a pro! Registration is easy if you have the right spreadsheets (which I can provide) and the right forms thanks to Elena and Lenora for their amazing work there!! There are also financial policy bits that you need to comply to but they are not difficult. I think the next class I design will be a “How to Run a TUTR Session” so that more and more people are comfortable and confident with the process.What kind of fees should I charge for a TUTR session?Fees for a TUTR session are the exact same as any other event. There are two types of fees – session fees and teacher fees.Session fees can be called a Site Fee or a Registration Fee – they are the exact same thing. This money is collected from every person entering the site. The only people not charged this are the usual ones like Royalty etc. or Instructors. Yes – Instructors get in free to the site. If there is a feast you can charge them that portion for sure. So – the Site Fee has to cover all your site rentals and expenses and any Instructor travel (see next question). If you are having a small TUTR session at an existing event like an Investiture or a Coronet there could be a small Registration fee of $2 or $3 to cover administrative costs such as photocopies, pens, etc. There is also no travel costs provided as the instructors are already attending the eventIf the TUTR session is the event then that cost is going to be much higher and you can expect the same as any event - $10 - $15. The instructor fees are what the instructors are charging for their class. This is to cover photocopies, consumables, materials etc. If you are organizing a TUTR session expect that the Instructor fees will be given directly back to the Instructor and do NOT include them in your budget. If the Instructor donates that money back to TUTR then it is a bonus. The sorting out of the budget for something like this is usually like a fun mathematical puzzle!Are Instructors Travel costs covered?Yes – TUTR policy allows for a maximum honorarium of $50 per 2 hours course taught at a stand alone TUTR session when an instructor has to travel to get there. When doing your budget it is best to figure out how much your session can afford for travel and then start recruiting teachers based on how many teaching hours you can afford. If you are a teacher and you REALLY want to teach but don’t need travel covered please be kind and share that with your organizer. It will directly affect their budget.Ok – that is enough for today – If you have questions that were not answered here or if this information has generated more questions please email me off list and I will make another list!Also – if this has motivated you to volunteer to be a part of TUTR in any capacity please also email me off list and we will find you work!!!!My email address is cristin at shaw.caIn ServiceYrsa KetilsdorrirDeputy Governor for TUTR
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