Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-

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Student opinion of tutorial provision in the

Universitas Terbuka of Indonesia

Yahaya Hiola & Dennis Moss

To cite this article: Yahaya Hiola & Dennis Moss (1990) Student opinion of tutorial provision in the
Universitas Terbuka of Indonesia, Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning,
5:2, 34-38

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/0268051900050206

Published online: 07 Jul 2006.

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 Student opinion of tutorial
provision in the
Universitas Terbuka of
Indonesia
Downloaded by [197.156.93.89] at 05:56 29 December 2017

Yahaya Hiola of the Ministry of Higher Education, Indonesia, and Dennis Moss of the School of
Education, University of Wales, Cardiff, report on an evaluation study conducted within the
Universitas Terbuka (Indonesia) with specific reference to tutorial provision as seen from the
viewpoint of the students involved. It seeks to identify the attitudes of students towards tutorials,
to the problems of tutorial attendance (and the reasons for non-attendance) and to identify some
of the issues faced by an institution which tries to provide tutorial support in distance education
in the third world.1

Yahaya Hiola and Dennis Moss

T
he Universitas Terbuka (the Open Uni-
versity) of Indonesia was established in
September 1984 with the intention of
increasing the opportunities lor higher
education within the Indonesian archipelago.
The aims, objectives, and organisation of the
Universitas Terbuka (UT) are reported else-
where.2'3 Briefly, the UT operates as an Open
University broadly similar to the operation of
the United Kingdom Open University but
currently lacking the latter's diversity of
media. The headquarters are based near
Jakarta on the island of Java, but there are 32
Regional Units distributed throughout the
islands of the Indonesian archipelago.
It is important to bear in mind that certain
features of Indonesian geography and demo-
graphy have particular implications for the
UT. The island archipelago is widely spread
over an area greater than Western Europe.
Within this distribution are areas of very high
population density (notably on Java and near
certain regional cities) interspersed with
thinly populated rural areas. These factors
are particularly relevant to the ways in which
tutorial support is provided. It is also impor-
tant to bear in mind that the population of
Indonesia is increasing rapidly and that insti-
tutions such as the UT are likely to be called
upon to increase their student intake signifi-
cantly in the near future.
Methodology
The present study was conducted in one
Regional Unit of the UT at Ujung Pandang.
The unit was chosen since it is classified by
Djalil4 as being of medium size in terms of
geographical area and student population
(2,000 as compared with 10,000 in Jakarta and
a few hundred in some of the more remote
rural areas). In addition Ujung Pandang is a
large mainland peninsula also incorporating
several small islands within the regional unit,
thus reflecting to some extent the features of

34 Open Learning, June 1990

 Indonesia as a whole in its variable
population density and communication
problems.
The survey, conducted in late 1986/early
1987 involved planning the distribution of
questionnaires to 50 tutors and over 900
students. The students to be sampled were
those who registered for the end of semester
examinations in December 1986. Thus they
represented the sample of students who
have remained in the system for a complete
study period. The problems of drop out and
deferment of examinations are therefore
ignored in this study. Full details of the
questionnaires, the piloting procedures and
the method of distribution and collection are
described by Hiola.5 However, in short, the
students were asked to complete the ques-
tionnaire during attendance at tutorials held
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before the examination. In the event 592 out
of the 953 students who were registered for
examinations (62 per cent) attended tutorials
and completed the questionnaire.
Results
Students were asked to rate their degree of
satisfaction with the overall provision made
in terms of tutorial support. 63 per cent
declared themselves to be fairly or com-
pletely satisfied, while just over 20 per cent
were either not very or not at all satisfied.
This compares to a tutor rating of 94 per cent
satisfied and only 6 per cent dissatisfied with
the quality of the tutorials being provided.6
In attempting to determine how the
students responded we analysed their satis-
faction by two other factors, gender, and
part-time/full-time status. The results show
no differences in gender but 64.5 per cent of
part-time students expressed a positive
degree of satisfaction compared to only 52.6
per cent of full-time students.
It may be that the degree of satisfaction
relates to factors other than the content of the
tutorial. For this reason we examined tutorial
time, frequency of provision, tutorial group
size and access to tutorials as being factors
likely to affect the attitude of part-time dis-
tance learners in particular.
Timing
Asked when, during the day, they would
prefer tutorials to be held, only 10 per cent
Open Learning, June 1990
opted for the evening (12.5 per cent of males
and 4.5 per cent of females). This is in com-
plete contrast to the Open University in
Britain where daytime tutorials are rarely
held during the working week due to the
work and/or family commitments of the
majority of students. It is interesting to note
that 60 per cent of female students would
prefer morning tutorials. The whole question
of gender differences is discussed in detail
elsewhere.7
The preference for daytime tutorials may
be partially explained by examining a
related question concerned with the number
of hours worked by respondents in employ-
ment. The pattern of employment is quite
different from that in Britain with only around
30 per cent of students working full-time and
27 per cent working less than 22 hours per
week. Given the large proportion of part-
time students who are also only employed
part-time (but who may have family
responsibilities and commitments which
make evening tutorials undesirable) it is not
surprising that there is a marked preference
for daytime tutorials. For example, students
in part-time employment may have time
during the day to attend tutorials. Mothers of
children may prefer to attend tutorials while
their children are at school. Of the students
surveyed, most were either teachers or civil
servants. Only a small proportion (5.8 per
cent) are employees in private industry and
of these, almost 30 per cent favoured evening
tutorials.
Pattern of tutorial attendance
The pattern of tutorial attendance shows
some interesting differences between
groups, notably with regard to part-time and
full-time status, gender and previous qualifi-
cations.
While 35.2 per cent of full-time students
attended most or all of the tutorials provided
since enrolment, this figure increased to 49.5
per cent for part-time students. Female
students are more likely to attend tutorials
than males, with 53.7 per cent attending all or
most tutorials compared to 44.9 per cent for
males. However, the most interesting dis-
tinction relates to previous qualifications.
There is a marked difference in atten-
dance pattern between the groups with the
less qualified people being much more
35
 likely to attend tutorials. This of course has
major implications for future tutorial policy
within the UT and would be a significant
factor in considering how the university
might diversify to offering lower level quali-
fications such as Diplomas for less well quali-
fied entrants.
We were also interested to know why
some students did not attend tutorials and so
students were asked to indicate their major
reasons for failure to attend.
Table 1 Reasons for needing to miss a tutorial
Percentage
Reasons for Missing Tutorial indicating this
as a reason
Demands of employment 44.1%
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Shortage of time 30.7%
Too far to travel 30.2%
Financial difficulties 20.1%
Family duties 18.6%
Bad time of day 15.7%
Tutorials are for below average 6.8%
students
Tutorials are a waste of time 6.3%
From table 1 it is clear that the main
reasons for missing a tutorial are due to the
domestic and employment pressures on
students rather than because tutors are per-
ceived as being inadequate. However, these
factors will have to be fully addressed in
considering future tutorial provision and
tutorial location. For example, in a related
question it was established that over 50 per
cent of students face a journey to and from
tutorials in excess of 36 kilometres with only
30.8 per cent having journeys of less than 16
kilometres. This reflects the problems of the
uneven population distribution in rural areas
of Indonesia and the difficulties in locating
tutorial centres within reasonable travel dis-
tances (and travel times) of students. When
considering the provision of such facilities
we most not forget that UT is a distance
teaching institution in a third world country
and that the problems of surface com-
munication can be much greater than they
might be in Western Europe or North
America. This may be due in part to a poor
infrastructure of roads, inadequate public
transport and low ownership levels for per-
sonal transport. Table 2 illustrates the trans-
port issue quite well in summarising how
students attend their tutorials.
36
Table 2 Method of transport to attend tutorials
Public Transport 64.7%
Motorbike 28.7%
Lift in Car 17.2%
Own Car 4.9%
Walk 4.6%
Thus far we can see that in general,
tutorials are well received by the students,
especially by the least qualified students.
However, pressures of work, family and
finance together with travel distance and
time are probably a more significant
negative effect on tutorial attendance in Indo-
nesia than in many Western countries
operating distance learning systems.
Attitudes of students to tutorials
We have already seen that around two thirds
of all students are satisfied with the overall
tutorial provision. Students were also asked
to rate the degree of helpfulness of their
tutors during tutorials. Here the response is
more positive with almost 77 per cent
indicating that tutors are either fairly helpful
or very helpful.
There are no other really significant
differences here with all groups expressing
broadly similar responses.
Students were then presented with 12
statements relating to their detailed attitudes
towards tutorials. Each statement was a
description of how the student might feel
towards tutorial experiences (e.g.
motivating rather than frustrating; student
centred rather than tutor centred etc). The
results showed that on the whole the students
are responding very positively towards
tutorial provision. The only problems
appear to be the shortage of tutorial time and
perhaps some difficulty with the subject
matter.
Related to the first of these points, students
were also asked to indicate how many
tutorials they would prefer in a semester.
36.8 per cent of all part-time students and 38
per cent of full-time students would like four
or more tutorials per semester instead of the
three provided at present. This again
reinforces the finding that the content of
tutorial provision is meeting the needs'of the
students. In relation to tutorial provision,
there is a tradition in Indonesia higher
Open Learning, June 1990
 education that students form small groups to
pool resources and purchase extra tuition
directly from their tutors. When the students
in the survey were asked whether they had
arranged such additional consultations the
results again reflected the value placed on
tutorials, especially by the lesser qualified
students and, notably, by women students.
57.5 per cent of all students had attended
more than three such tutorials since first
enrolling in UT. Findings show that the most
likely groups to make such arrangements
were females, part-time students and those
with only a high school qualification. This
further reinforces the point that the regi-
stered students who are less well qualified
entrants regard the tutorial system as an
important part of their distance education.
Any attempt to phase out or reduce the extent
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of such provision might have grave conse-
quences for student performances.
8
Perhaps
significantly, Holmberg reporting the work
of Baath9 notes that more frequent inter-
actions between tutors and learners in dis-
tance education is likely to produce a high
degree of student activity and
responsiveness and by implication, reduce
drop out.
Discussion
The detailed characteristics of the registered
students in the UT are 1reported by Hiola10
and by Hiola and Moss.* They indicate that a
high proportion of students have minimal
entry qualifications. This particular group
seem to value highly the tutorial provision
made by the UT. This has implications for the
university as it plans its developments into
the next decade and beyond. One future
option for UT is to expand its role and draw in
lower level courses, perhaps equivalent to
the Open College provision within the United
Kingdom. However, the likely clientele for
such courses would be less well qualified
than existing UT students and in other dis-
tance teaching universities with such student
characteristics, drop out rates are very
high.1213 Such a development might imply
that significant additional funding would be
necessary for face-to-face tuition. If the high
costs of this form of tuition are to be reduced
then in all probability this could only be done
if it were parallelled by improvements in the
study guidance and support given by the
Open Learning, June 1990
other presentation media. For example, the
greater use of broadcast television might act
as a supplementary source of tuition which
could be very cost effective. Television can
also play a useful role in supporting isolated
learners who come to feel that they are part of
a larger group as a result of watching the
programmes.
It may also be necessary to develop more
extensive remedial sections in self-
instructional texts and to perhaps provide
lower level introductory courses for those
enrolling with minimum entrance qualifica-
tions.
If tutorials are to be retained, but made
more flexible and receptive to learner
needs, then the experiments being con-
ducted with telephone tutorials and side
band radios might 14 need to be expanded.
However, Robinson notes that there are
physical limitations to the expansion of inter-
active technology such as telephone
tutorials. The geography and population dis-
tribution of Indonesia suggest that it might be
worthwhile to implement different forms of
tutorial provision in different regions. For
example, centres with a high population
density and reasonable ground com-
munication could operate a conventional
tutorial system while more remote, less
densely populated regions, could make
more use of the interactive media (radio and
telephone) to counter the problems of long
distances.
The results presented here reflect the
situation in only one regional unit of UT. It
would certainly be worth extending
elements of the study to different regions of
Indonesia in order to obtain a more complete
assessment of the impact and problems
associated with tutorial provision in distance
education in this unique developing country.
References
1
Detailed information from the evaluation can
be sought directly from the authors.
Information is presented here in summary form
2
for reasons of space.
Hiola, Y. (1989) 'Investigating face to face
tutorial provision in the Universitas Terbuka
(Open University of Indonesia), Unpublished
Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wales, Cardiff.
3
Hiola, Y. and Moss, G.D. (1989) ibid.
4
Djalil, A. (1985) Research on tutorial systems in
the Universitas Terbuka of Indonesia, Stage 1:
Exploratory Study, Jakarta, Universitas
Terbuka/IDRC.
37
 5 10
Hiola, Y. (1989) ibid.
6
Hiola, Y. and Moss, G.D. (1989) 'Face to face
tutorial provision in the University of Terbuka
(Open University of Indonesia), Distance
Education, Vol.10, No.2.
7
Hiola, Y. and Moss, G.D. (1990) 'The
characteristics of students registered in the
Universitas Terbuka (Open University) of
Indonesia,' Distance Education, 11 (1) in
press.
8 K. (eds) The Distance Teaching Universities.
Holmberg, B. (1981) Status and Trends in
Distance Education.
9
Baath, J. A. (1980) Postal two way communication
in correspondence education, Lund, Gleerup.
Downloaded by [197.156.93.89] at 05:56 29 December 2017
38
Hiola, Y. (1989) ibid.
111
Hiola, Y. and Moss, G.D. (Unpublished:
submitted to Distance Education), ibid.
12
Rumble, G. (1982) 'The Universidad Estatal a
Distancia Costa Rica', in Rumble, G. and Harry,
K. (eds) The Distance Teaching Universities.
13
Fleming, A. (1982) 'The Allama Iqbal Open
University, Pakistan', in Rumble, G. and Harry,
14
Robinson, B. (1984) 'Telephone Teaching' in
Bates, A. (ed) The Role of Technology in
Distance Education.
Open Learning, June 1990