Page 80 - Universitas Terbuka Center of Excellence In Asia 2010 and The World 2020 (A Journey Towards a Leading Open and Distance Education Institution 1984-2008)

In 1993 there were 13 Regional Offices receiving incentives to conduct
tutorials, while in 2000 , the number was increased up to 18 Regional Offices (of

which 12 of them ran face-to-face tutorials, 2 of them ran written tutorials, and 4
of them ran tutorials by radio). In semester 2001.1 the number of Regional

Offices that ran face-to-face tutorials increased up to 21 Regional Offices with
the tutorial incentives as much as 2 to 4 million rupiahs.

From the experience of encouraging tutorials at the Regional Offices from
1999-2000, it was apparent that face-to-face tutorials were the most favored by

students. This was reflected from the number of Regional Offices conducting
face-to-face tutorials compared to the other mode. Students learning habit which

relies more on face-to-face interaction and communication might be one of the
reasons why face-to-face tutorials are the most favored one. (Wardani,2003). In

addition , in face-to-face tutorials students interacted directly with the tutor and
their peers, they were able to express their opinion directly, immediately

received feedback, and were able to socialize with other students, staff or
managers of education. Face-to-face tutorials were carried out 4 to 8 times.

Every session took 2 hours. The general activities consisted of explanation of
learning materials , discussion, exercises or other activity needed by the

students.
The tutorial incentives given to the Regional Offices which were basically

aimed at encouraging them to provide tutorial services proved to work although
in a small scale. Based on this success , UT executive managers decided that

Regional Offices were ready to provide tutorials without being funded by UT
headquarters. Therefore, beginning from semester 2001 .2, the incentives had

been stopped . Students were charged for the tutorial services and Regional
Offices managed them. This was done to empower them in giving the learning

support services to the students.

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