This study aimed at assessing the perceptions of 167 teachers about the tutoring system
adopted in an online training course involving teachers from 20 Schools of Sesimbra, Setúbal
and Palmela counties. The course, called “Distributed Knowledge with Web 2.0”, was
officially certified as a blended learning modality, with the duration of 50 hours, 41 of which
occurred online in two editions, the first in February and the second in July of 2012, each one
of them involving respectively 82 and 85 teachers, divided in four classes with about 20
trainees each. This blended learning course was designed at producing educational materials
in digital format, and included autonomous and group activities, knowledge sharing and
reflection. A learning environment, supported by the Ning platform, was set up. At the end of
the course, the trainees answered to a pencil and paper survey, in order to evaluate the
adopted online tutoring strategy. Additionally the trainees’ final reports contained evidence of
how the trainees assessed the tutoring model component of the course; both the survey and
the reports were the basis for this research. The results show that the teachers who attended
the two course editions disclosed very positive perceptions about online learning, a modality
they consider adequate to their current professional status and conditions. The trainees also
showed their intention of, in the future, opting for blended training arrangements. Future
developments of this study involve a content analysis of the tutor’s posts, in order to
understand more accurately the tutor’s messages characteristics, in their social and cognitive
dimensions
