Student union activities developed immensely
At the beginning of 2020 we had plans for new and larger events, development of a new tutoring method, impact growth and more effective involvement of students.
After a couple of months, everything changed at once – as for all of us. Tamko’s operation has always been very intensive. Everything was done face to face and in a moment we had to adapt to a completely new reality. We started developing remote coffee breaks, learnt online meeting practices and totally re-planned the spring.
Tamko has always had good contacts with TAMK management and we were informed of the coming changes in real time. Teaching and student services had to be changed. There were challenges at the beginning but new routines were quickly learnt and TAMK invested in students’ support services. Unfortunately, the remote study challenges have left their marks on many students’ wellbeing and motivation for a long time.
Tutor training is one of Tamko’s most important tasks. Last spring, the training had to be totally re-planned without sacrificing the quality of tutoring. Orientation weeks were re-modelled based on the situation requirements to give students as good orientation as possible.
Our active event organisation stopped and we had to cancel our autumn events. Implementation of Tamko’s council elections during the pandemic required investment. Together with Tampere University’s student union TREY we represented students in the universities community’s pandemic group. Tamko and TREY also made a comprehensive municipal election impact plan for spring 2021.
Tamko’s operation developed immensely in 2020. We learnt completely new practices and our member services continued to develop. Our number of members remained stable despite the exceptional year. We can thus proudly continue as the oldest and largest student union in Finland.
Photo: Jaakko Saarilampi