摘要:This paper deals with the online tutoring in distance higher education as a teaching practice mediated by the digital technology of information and communication (DTIC). It is supported by the documental research in order to present a synthesis of the distance education (DE) legal milestones in Brazil to reflect upon the role of the tutor in undergraduate courses in this education mode. Besides that, it reviews theoretical references on the online tutor for their importance in mediating the teaching and learning process in the electronic classroom. It concludes that, in the field of distance education policies, the debate on the online tutoring is necessary to understand and recognize the teaching work performed by the tutor acting in not-presential higher education.