Social Presence in Online Graduate Program Tutorials at Distance Education

This study examined Ihe existence of social presence in online tutorials at a graduate program in a distance teaching university in Indonesia. The concepl of social presence in this study is parr of the framework of the Community of Inquiry from Garrison. Anderson and Archer (2000). Community of Inquiry framework is used as a concept and tools to support the learning experience in online learning through computer mediated communication (CMC). The model of Community of Inquiry assumes thor. learning occurs within the community through the interaction of three core elements, include: social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence. According to Garrison, et a/., social presence is defined as the ability of participants to identify with the group or course of study, communicate purposefully in tntSiing environment and develop personal and affective relationships progressively by way of projecting their individual personality. It creates the academic setting for open communication, sense of belonging to the group and its academic goals. It also produces an environment for learners to express themselves freely and openly. The method of this study used content analysis. Data was collected from transcripts of the discussion activities and interactions between students and tutors in online tutorials of three courses in the graduate program. The transcripts of online tutorial activities were analyzed by using conlent analysis with a message unit. By using the message unit as the unit of analysis, code makers generally see the message that emerges from the interaction between students and tucors in the initiation, discussion and assignments, to determine the category. The result of the study was that the social presence occurred in the online tutorial of the three courses in the graduate program, even though it was not fully optimal