Physical separation leads to psychological and
communication gap, a space potential misunderstanding between the inputs of
instructor and those of the learner. It is a continuous rather than a discrete
variable, a relative rather than an absolute term. In any educational program,
there is some transactional distance, even where learners and teachers meet face
to face. Special organizations and teaching procedures are essential.
2. Two sets of variables: dialogue and structure
Dialogue describes the
interaction between the teacher and learner when one gives instruction and the
other responds. The extent and nature of dialogue is determined by: the
educational philosophy of the individual or group responsible for the design of
the course; the personalities of teacher and learner; the subject matter of the
course; and, environmental factors. Structure expresses the rigidity or
flexibility of the programÕs educational objectives, teaching strategies and
evaluation methods. For example, the extent of transactional distance is likely
to be relatively low in teleconference programs that have much dialogue and
little predetermined structure.
3. Characteristics
Transactional distance is a characteristics of every
educational program. Programs differ in transactional distance according to the extent of
dialogue and structure within them, and the interaction of dialogue, structure
and the characteristics of each learner.
ÒWhat determines the success of distance teaching is the extent to which the
institution and the individual instructor are able to provide the appropriate
opportunity for, and quality of, dialogue between teacher and learner, as well as
appropriately structured learning materials.Ó (Moore, 1991:5)
