THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DISTANCE LEARNING: A STUDY ON WEBINAR TUTORING AT MAKASSAR REGIONAL UNIVERSITAS

Abstract

Unlike its conventional counterpart, distance learning is expected to overcome any access difficulties imposed by geographical barriers. It has the capacity to fit learning into areas throughout the country including remote areas situated in island areas. This is supported by a wide selection of learning-service modes, e.g., face-to-face tutoring, radio tutoring and online tutoring, with the latter made accessible particularly to remote learners. In addition to the learning modes, learners may work through both print and non-print learning materials. During 2020, the outbreak of COVID-19 gave rise to strict constraints in the learning mode regularly applicable in face-to-face setups, leading Universitas Terbuka to immediate shifts in carrying out tutoring services from traditional face-to-face to webinar basis (known as Tutorial Webinar or Tuweb). This research aims to scrutinize student assessment on the concept of distance learning through the implementation of Tuweb at Universitas Terbuka of Makassar. Quantitative descriptive method was selected, with data collected from a modified Likert-scale questionnaire that included 20 items. The research was restricted to a population of the entire students in Tuweb during the even semester of 2022. Results of descriptive analysis from 2.963 questionnaires using SPSS 23 show that the score ranged between 10.792 and 11.183 at a mean of 10.945. This indicates that the implementation of webinar tutoring (Tuweb) at Universitas Terbuka of Makassar well corresponded to the concept of distance education designed by Universitas Terbuka.