Toward an Extended Theory of Transactional Distance

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Toward an Extended Theory of Transactional
Distance
Or The Emperor's New Clothes?

• Nathan Lowell
• National Center on Low-Incidence Disabilities
• University of Northern Colorado

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Introduction

• Moore (1973) Theory of Transactional Distance
• distance ?(dialog, structure, independence)
• Problems
• only about 50 of variability
• definitions are limited

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Definition Problems

• Dialog is what the student says
• Structure is the way the content is arranged
• Learner Independence is the ability of a learner
  to succeed in any environment

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Definition Problems

• Dialog
• Is not construed as two way communication
• Does not consider the nature of the dialectic
• Does not consider post-modern perspective

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Definition Problems

• Structure
• Is immutable in the short term
• Students may use only parts of the structure
• Teacher's perception of structure varies from
  students'

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Definition Problems

• Learner Independence
• Much quoted in the literature as necessary
  characteristic for distance learners
• Independent learners will succeed in any
  environment
• Less a requisite of students than a symptom of
  inadequate design

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Application of Transactional Distance

• General consensus is Less is Better
• Some distance is required
• Too much distance cannot be bridged

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Why some distance is required
Learning Occurs
Individual Cognos
Content Domain
Zone of Proximal Development
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Why too much distance is a problem
No Learning Occurs
Content Domain
Individual Cognos
Zone of Proximal Development
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Proposed new model
Transactional Distance
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Groundwork Factors

• Context
• Social Presence
• Fluency

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Context

• Tinto (1976)
• Social connectedness is the primary predictor of
  persistence
• Pressure to stay gt Pressure to leave
• Perceived distance might be affected by
  contextual factors

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Social Presence

• Current meaning
• Social Salience -- Being there
• Original meaning
• Theoretical maximum capacity for a communications
  channel to carry social cues (Short/Williams/Chris
  tie, 1976)

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Social Presence

• What are the interactions between Social Presence
  and Dialog?
• When Social Presence is low, it tends to suppress
  communication.
• When Social Presence is high, it tends to foster
  communication.

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Fluency

• A two headed domain
• Expertise in the communications channel
• Expertise in the content domain
• If you don't speak the language ...
• If you don't know what you're talking about ...

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Fluency

• The higher the level of fluency, the more
  transparent the communications channel becomes.
• Teachers don't consider lecture a technology
• They're fluent in the language
• They're experts in the content
• Students don't have the same advantages

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Fluency
Communications
Accomplishable Tasks
Content Domain
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Fluency
Zone of Proximal Development
Communications
Accomplishable Tasks
Content Domain
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Fluency

• Possible effect on Transactional Distance by
  making the ability to communicate difficult
• Challenging content domains
• Use of unfamiliar channels

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Questions

• How does social presence influence distance?
• How does context influence distance?
• How does fluency influence distance?

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Research

• Sample
• 18 courses 8 early, 5 middle, 5 late
• 147 students 77 early, 38 middle, 32 late
• Transactional Distance instrumentation
• Social Presence scale from Short/Williams/Christie
  
• Developed Context/Fluency scales

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Methodology

• Confirm Transactional Distance Theory
• Check for correlations
• Social Presence
• Context
• Fluency
• Check regression on factors

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Findings

• Of three factors in TDT
• Only dialog is significantly correlated to
  distance
• Structure and Independence not related
• Of the three new factors
• Social Presence and Fluency negatively correlated
  to distance
• Context scale fell apart

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Post Hoc

• No significant differences between early and
  late sample
• 25 of sample
• In first online course
• Had 4 or more online courses

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Post Hoc

• Correlations on distance
• Dialog, Social Presence, Fluency
• Failed to support Structure, Independence,
  Context
• Only within Novice/Expert Groups

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Discussion

• Fluency may influence dialog
• Ability to manipulate the channel
• Ability to interpret encoded social cues
• Social presence may influence dialog
• Cyclical model of dialog motivation
• Implication on post-modern analysis

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Issues

• Failure to support Transactional Distance
• Lack of instrument sensitivity?
• Previous support artifact of video environment?

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Additional Research

• Examine relationships among dialog, fluency, and
  social presence
• Examine traditional transactional distance theory
  in online environments
• Refine Context Scale

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Thank you!