Advancing Open and Distance Learning: Research and Practices

This study addressed the reforming of an online civic education tutorial at the Indonesia Open University or Universitas Terbuka (UT). Several contemporary literatures were reviewed to determine best practices, including social constructivism and a democratic form of teaching. Constructed from the review of literature, the paper proposed a new model of pedagogical approach to the existing practice of the online civic education tutorial. The proposed model for the online civic education tutorial in this study was based on the Community of Inquiry framework from Garrison, Anderson & Archer (2000) that promoted a social constructivist approach, and a democratic form of teaching. The learning of the tutorial in the model was theorized to occur within the community through the interaction of social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence. In social and cognitive presence, students would form an online community where they would have collaborative discussions among students and between students and tutors, as well as would be expected to practice critical thinking. Teaching presence would occur when tutors promoted a democratic environment in the class, where they would model civic dispositions throughout their teaching. Tutors would show their respect and tolerance to students while facilitating discussion activities and giving direct instructions. Students would also be expected to be tolerant and respectful when they have discussions with other students and tutors. Through this model, students would be expected to gain civic knowledge, civic skills and civic dispositions, as well as experience with a democratic interaction that mirrors the interactions in a democratic society.