Master’s Students’ Perceptions and Expectations of Good Tutors and Advisors in Distance Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore non-thesis Master’s students’ perceptions and expectations of good tutors and advisors in distance education programmes. It also examined whether these perceptions and expectations are related to student characteristics including age, gender, university, programme, semester, and previous online learning experience. The current study was conducted within the framework of Transactional Distance Theory. Using a mixed methods approach, a questionnaire was administered to 143 students in four programmes in two universities in Turkey and interviews were conducted with 11 of these students. Results showed that good tutors and advisors in distance education provide a stimulating student-centred learning environment, have a caring and individualised interaction and communication with students, and have subject expertise and basic technology skills. The results of this study will improve distance education tutors and advisors’ practices in supporting graduate students’ education and research.

OLJ September 2022 26(3)

“…Of these, 1042 articles were marked as irrelevant, leaving 31 articles for full-text review. Twenty-one additional articles were removed upon full-text review because they did not meet inclusion criteria resulting in 10 articles included in this scoping review (Cross, 2018;Fynn & van Vuuren, 2017;Grady, 2016aGrady, , 2018bGupta, 2018;Kara & Can, 2019;Kumar & Coe, 2017;Kumar & Johnson, 2017Schroeder et al, 2016). See Figure 1 for a PRISMA flow diagram (Moher et al, 2010) and Table 2 for a summary of all articles included in the review.…”

“…To best understand the context behind the advising provided, Table 2 highlights some key features, including the purpose of the article, type of study, type of advising (e.g., research vs. general), and type of program (e.g., discipline). Articles were published between 2016 and 2019 and represented institutions from three countries; most were published in the United States (n=8, 80%) (Cross, 2018;Grady, 2016aGrady, , 2018bGupta, 2018;Kumar & Coe, 2017;Kumar & Johnson, 2017Schroeder et al, 2016), South Africa, (n=1, 10%) (Fynn & van Vuuren, 2017), and Turkey (n=1, 10%) (Kara & Can, 2019).…”

“…Provide human link to the institution (Fynn & van Vuuren, 2017) Use personal knowledge Reach out to colleagues for advice (Kumar & Johnson, 2017) Investment in Student's Personal and Academic Growth Enhance critical thinking Support students in improving their critical thinking skills (Kara & Can, 2019) Use scaffolding Provide structure and scaffolds in research education (e.g., job-aids, step-by-step activities, and template) (Kumar & Johnson, 2017) Use personal knowledge Know your field -have subject expertise (Kara & Can, 2019) Provide individualized support Accommodate students' needs and individualize the process (Kumar & Johnson, 2017) Be available Be available (Gupta, 2018) Organizing Theme C: Investment in Student's Personal and Academic Growth All articles highlighted this theme. Several of the codes in this theme interconnect across themes.…”

Decision Support Model for Evaluating the Performance of Tutor’s Teaching using Moodle

“…They are [4] the fuzzy logic and HC methods [17], the fuzzy logic and fuzzy cluster methods [15], the fuzzy methods [5], the DEM and AHP [16], and the Tsukamoto fuzzy logic, the fuzzy TOPSIS, and the fuzzy MOLP [6]. The research is related to the characteristics of good tutors for online learning [11], [13], [1], [10], and [12]. References of material are taken from journals, books, articles, internet, and thesis.…”

“…By using 11 criteria in assessing where Moodle is already used by more than 200 countries in the world [7] and log data in the Moodle database with 50 tutors at Indonesia Open University [8], the assessment results can be beneficial for institutions in improving the tutor performance. The criteria which have been operated based on the needs of institutions, have been widely done by previous studies; such as [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], and [15].…”