This study aims to analyze the existence of teaching presence in the fully online tutorial of the Master
Program of Public Administration at Universitas Terbuka (UT), and the constraints that inhibit the
presence of teaching presence in the online tutorial. The concept of teaching presence in this study is part
of the Community of Inquiry framework (Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 2000). The roles of the tutor in
teaching presence are as: (1) instructional designers and organizers; (2) facilitators, and (3) direct
instructor. This study used content analysis and interviews. Sample text of the initiation and discussion
activities of 9 (nine) courses during the twelve-week period of online tutorials were analyzed using
message unit to identify whether teaching presence occurred in the interaction between students and tutors
in the online tutorials. Depth interviews were conducted with three (3) tutors of the courses being studied.
The findings indicated that teaching presence occurred in the 9 (nine) courses of the Program. However,
the roles of tutors in the online tutorial were dominated by the roles as instructional designers and direct
instructor. The tutors did not do much role as the facilitator of discussion activities
