{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,24]],"date-time":"2026-04-24T07:48:52Z","timestamp":1777016932771,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"EDEN Digital Learning Europe","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,20]],"date-time":"2026-02-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1771545600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["edendle-j-ejodel"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The expansion of online distance education has intensified debates about professional roles and competencies required for effective online teaching. This study examines how professors and tutors at Universidade Aberta (UAb, Portugal\u2019s Open University) perceive and prioritise their professional roles and competencies. We employed sequential exploratory mixed-methods design: focus group analysis (n = 7) informed survey development assessing eight roles and 65 competencies via five-point Likert scales among 57 faculty (38 professors, 19 tutors). All roles were rated important (M &gt; 4.0), with pedagogical (M = 4.68), social (M = 4.67), evaluator (M = 4.67), and adviser (M = 4.65) emerging as priorities. Professors rated pedagogical role significantly higher (M = 4.79 vs 4.47, p = 0.025), whilst tutors emphasised social (M = 4.89 vs 4.55, p = 0.034) and technologist roles (M = 4.63 vs 3.97, p = 0.004). Top competencies included assessing student work, demonstrating availability, adopting ethical posture, providing timely feedback, and being empathetic. Findings reveal convergence around core functions and meaningful differentiation between roles, suggesting complementary specialisation within dual-role systems. Implications address professional development programme design and institutional policies for recognising diverse competency requirements.\nHighlights\n\nSequential mixed-methods study examined role\/competency perceptions among 57 distance education faculty at Portugal\u2019s Open University.\nAll eight professional roles rated important (M &gt; 4.0), with pedagogical, social, evaluator, and adviser emerging as top priorities.\nSystematic differences revealed complementary specialisation: professors prioritise pedagogical design (M = 4.79), tutors prioritise social facilitation (M = 4.89, p = 0.034).\nTutors rated technologist role significantly higher (M = 4.63 vs 3.97, p = 0.004), reflecting differential technology engagement.\nFindings inform differentiated professional development pathways and policies recognising diverse competency requirements.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.65043\/eurodl.177","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,20]],"date-time":"2026-02-20T11:08:43Z","timestamp":1771585723000},"page":"4","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Professional Roles and Competencies in Distance Higher Education: Perspectives from Professors and Tutors at Universidade Aberta, Portugal"],"prefix":"10.65043","volume":"28","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1100-2429","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"D\u00e9rcio","family":"Martins","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4973-6727","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lina","family":"Morgado","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"54529","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,20]]},"reference":[{"issue":"1","key":"key20260220113603_B1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"22","DOI":"10.17718\/tojde.285708","article-title":"Assessment of a multinational online faculty development program on online teaching: Reflections of candidate e-tutors","volume":"18","year":"2017","journal-title":"Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education"},{"key":"key20260220113603_B2","first-page":"301","volume-title":"Manual de investiga\u00e7\u00e3o qualitativa","year":"2014","edition":"2."},{"key":"key20260220113603_B3","unstructured":"Anderson, T., & Dron, J. (2012). Learning technology through three generations of technology-enhanced distance education. 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