ACTION PLAN ON COMMUNICATION PRACTICES: ROLES OF TUTORS AT EMU DISTANCE EDUCATION INSTITUTE TO OVERCOME SOCIAL BARRIERS IN CONSTRUCTING KNOWLEDGE

Abstract

The research involved an action plan for the improvement of the quality of the Distance Education Institute of Eastern Mediterranean University and based on EUA norms. This research is part of a work based learning process to enhance the contribution of online pedagogy and teaching process for online tutors. The research aimed to stress the importance of communication process and investigate roles of tutors in facilitating communication to overcome social barriers in constructing knowledge in online learning-teaching process. The research has an inductive nature and an action research approach was employed to change professional practices through collaborative activities. Therefore, focus group, trainings, in-depth interviews, and research diary were used as data collection techniques in this qualitative research. Content analysis was implemented to triangulate the data. The research results revealed that tutors were novices in online pedagogy and they had no prior knowledge on the importance of communication and socialization to help students construct knowledge in their learning process. The research puts forward an in-depth understanding on how to teach online courses based on Salmon's five stage model through the action research activities. The work-based project provided change and development which contributed to the professional development of the tutors in online pedagogy. As online pedagogy is one of the critical factors to reach out quality improvements, the research puts forward to filling the gap on the roles of tutors in facilitating communication to construct knowledge by practical and collaborative work of the professionals. In this respect, researcher and the participants gained reward of the professional learning and experiences from the learning cycle of the participatory action research.