Transactional Presence as a Critical Predictor of Success in Distance Learning

This paper argues that, apart from interactive activities, the perceptions of psychological presence that distance education students hold of their teachers, peer students, and the institution can be significant predictors of their learning. The "perception of presence" in this paper is defined as the degree to which a distance education student senses the availability of, and connectedness with, each party. This form of presence is designated here as "Transactional Presence" (TP). In this study, distance education student learning was assessed in the light of students' perceived learning achievement, satisfaction, and intent-to-persist. An analysis of student survey data indicates that a distance student's sense of institutional TP predicts all the selected measures to do with success in distance learning. While a sense of peer student TP is significantly related to satisfaction and intent-to-persist, the effect of teacher TP is found to relate only to student-perceived learning achievement. Implications of the TP construct are discussed with respect to the theory, research, and practice of distance education, along with recommendations for future research.     

Direct and indirect effects of online learning on distance education

This paper presents an exploratory study that investigates the effects of online learning on distance education students in an open university context. Two hypotheses are posited: (1) a direct relationship exists between students’ involvement in online learning and distance learning outcomes, and (2) an indirect relationship exists between these two domains via the mediating variable of an institutional Transactional Presence (TP), that is, a student's sense of the availability of and connectedness with an educational institution. Student learning achievement, satisfaction and intent‐to‐persist are used as indicators of outcomes of distance learning. The analysis of data garnered from 285 distance students reveals multifaceted relationships between students’ engagement in online learning, their perceptions of institutional TP and the three learning outcome variables. Besides the findings, the paper will discuss factors affecting students’ engagement in online learning in relation to different requirements, that is, optional or compulsory online use as well as the level of the course (undergraduate or postgraduate).     

Revisiting Zhang’s scale of transactional distance: refinement and validation using structural equation modeling

Transactional distance has been defined as barriers to students’ engagement with learning in the online environment. This research updates Zhang’s (2003) scale of transactional distance, which quantified the extent of the barriers, in light of the massive changes in today’s web-based learning environment. The resulting revised scale of transactional distance (RSTD) is a parsimonious version with 12 elements (compared to 31 original) that measure the transactional distance between student and teacher, student and student, and student and content. The RSTD has excellent factorial validity and reliability, yields better fit statistics, and is easier and less time-consuming to apply. The transactional distance values are unique predictors of student satisfaction, which is correlated to learning and persistence (a major concern with massive open online courses). This information can form the basis for a systematic approach to improving the design of today’s contemporary open, flexible, distance education courses and thus serve as a valuable tool for researchers and educators alike.     

Transactional distance theory and total quality management in open and distance learning

Abstract

Although our perceptions regarding distance education (DE) have changed significantly, there still remains a perceived lack of quality in the development, management and delivery of DE programmes. Unfortunately, DE offered in developing countries depends largely on first and second-generation delivery modes and relies heavily on print as form of information dissemination. Thus, technological drawbacks are often hailed as the main reason for such setbacks. This article discusses the findings of a comparative study involving an education programme that runs as both a contact and a distance programme. The assessment indices include access, delivery and output, while the Transactional Distance Theory is adopted to ascertain the extent to which the theory accounts for excellence in a given programme. Findings clearly support the importance of the relationships between dialogue, structure and autonomy. However, the researchers proffer that the Transactional Distance Theory should apply not just to learning material, but to the totality of a given programme. Finally, suggestions on enhancing the total quality of programmes in this context include: the introduction of generic courses; provision of bursaries; introduction and decentralisation of pre-orientation programmes, provision of quality learning material; and workable tutoring and counseling systems.     

Embodiment and the Risk of Reading

In this article, Anders Öhman discusses Gert J. J. Biesta's concept of the risk of education and what it could mean for the study of literature in the classroom. The article's point of departure is Bakhtin's theory of the utterance. The utterance, for Bakhtin, has to be embodied, that is, it has to be governed by a purpose: it must be uttered by someone, or at least the reader or listener must imagine that it is uttered by someone that speaks with an intent. A grammatical sentence that is not an utterance has no author and no direction or intention; it is therefore abstract and belongs to no one. Reading on the Internet, or digital reading, often consists of short passages or text fragments for which it is difficult to identify an author. These fragments are not embodied and thus the reader does not feel addressed by the text. Although Biesta does not reckon with Bakhtin's theory, his critique of “strong education” provides an analysis that runs along similar lines. According to Biesta, the notion of strong education and what he calls the “language of learning” regard knowledge as free of values thus rendering it abstract. In bringing together Bakhtin's and Biesta's analyses, Öhman concludes that in order for knowledge to elicit valuation, it must first become embodied; this process, in turn, is important to creating the conditions necessary for a dialogue to occur between the content of teaching and the students.     

Publications Received

This study examined teachers' perceptions of transactional distance in different teaching environments. The independent variable was the teaching environment, which was divided into three: entirely distance environment (Distance-E), blended distance environment (Distance-B), and the traditional environment (Traditional). The dependent variable was teachers' perceptions of the transactional distance, which pertains to their feelings as a result of the teaching process and indicates their evaluation of their ability to communicate with the students and explain the content and to determine their satisfaction from teaching in the different environments. One hundred sixty educators who teach in distance environments (Distance-E, n?=?66; Distance-B, n?=?94) and 160 who teach in a traditional environment completed a study questionnaire (Teachers' Transactional Distance Scale). The teachers' perceptions of the transactional distance were found to be sensitive to the seniority of the teachers, the number of students per class, and Distance-E. These findings show that the teacher's role should be redefined and that teachers should be trained for this new role in order to reduce the perceived transactional distance. Teaching a large number of students in a course transmitted entirely at a distance must also be reconsidered, despite clear economic advantages of large classes.     

Distance Education in Bahrain: Situation and needs

In Bahrain, 36 international universities from 10 different countries provide distance education services through 21 local agencies to more than 800 students. Results from a survey suggest that the majority of the distance education students are working, married, of middle income class, and studying for a Bachelor's degree. The students find the distance education option attractive because: (1) there are a limited number of places in the conventional Bahrainian universities and on particular courses, and limited scholarships and financial support available for conventional students; (2) the distance system is more open and flexible in respect of their regulatory requirements; and (3) the students find it caters better for those with poor secondary school scores, low income, family and job responsibilities.     

Gender Differences in Availability,Internet Access and Rate of Usage of Computers among Distance Education Learners

This study explores the level of availability of computers, Internet accessibility and the rate of usage of computers both at home and at the work place between distance education learners according to gender. The results reveal that there are no significant differences in all three aspects. The findings indicate that female distance education learners participate equally with their male counterparts in the utilization of computer technology to assist their study requirements as well as in their involvement in information and communication technology (ICT) to support the educational and learning process as demanded by distance education. Différences de sexe dans la disponibilité, l'accès À internet et la fréquence d'utilisation des ordinateurs chez les étudiants apprenant À distance. Cette étude explore le niveau de disponibilité, l'accès À internet et la fréquence d'utilisation des ordinateurs À la fois au travail et À la maison chez les étudiants apprenant À distance en fonction de leur sexe. Les résultats montrent qu'il n'y a pas de différences significatives dans chacun de ces domaines. Les résultats indique que les femmes participent À égalité avec les hommes dans l'utilisation de l'ordinateur pour les aider À faire face aux exigences de leurs études aussi bon que dans leur implication dans les technologies de l'information et À la communication (TIC) pour soutenir le processus d'éducation et d'apprentissage imposé par l'éducation À distance. Geschlechtsbezogne Unterschiede bei der Verfügbarkeit eines Internetzugangs und Nutzung von Computern bei Studenten des Fernunterrichts. Diese Studie untersucht die geschlechtsbezogne Verfügbarkeit von Computern, Internetzugang und Häufigkeit der Computernutzung daheim und am Arbeitsplatz bei Studenten des Fernunterrichts. Die Resultate zeigen, dass es bei den 3 Aspekten keine grossen Unterschiede gibt. Die Untersuchungen belegen, dass Frauen genau so oft wie ihre männlichen Kollegen die Computertechnologie zu Studienzwecken einsetzen und die Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologie (ITC) für ihren Lernprozess nutzen, so wie es im Fernunterricht verlangt wird.     

架起远程教育理论与实践的桥梁——访国际远程教育知名学者保罗·川内博士

[编者按] 教育理论与实践一直是一对矛盾,这在远程教育领域更加明显.近年来,国际和国内的远程教育实践都以飞快的速度发展,因此更有必要不断地反思实践,去发现和理解开放与远程教育成功实践背后的理论原理,从而推动和促进相应的理论实践.理论研究者和实践者之间也需要更多平等的对话与交流.从而架起远程教育理论和实践之间的桥粱.     

孟加拉国语言政策与规划研究

综述了孟加拉国语言概况,运用Cooper的语言规划理论,从地位规划、本体规划和教育规划三个方面梳理了孟加拉国的语言政策,并分析其特点。研究发现:孟加拉国多民族的"熔炉"文化造就了语言的多元化特点;孟加拉政府立法规定孟加拉语的国语地位,但英语已渗透到社会各个领域;孟加拉国的语言政策仍不完善,忽视少数民族语言。孟加拉国的语言政策和规划特征,可为我国语言战略的制定和实施提供参考。     

Examining distance education in Turkey

This article describes the distance education program at Anadolu University in Turkey and compares its problems and solutions with similar distance education programs in other Asian countries. A brief history is presented, enrollment figures are given and future directions are described. Conclusions suggest that open education is accomplishing the goals of the country's 1981 reforms and can continue to be helpful in the country's quest for modernization.     

Education Reform in Taiwan: A search for a 'national' identity through democratisation and Taiwanisation

Recent studies on globalisation and the literature of democratisation of society and education cannot explain the complicated interplay between democratisation, localisation and the pursuit of 'national' identity in both education and the broader society of Taiwan between the late 1980s and 2000. The paper argues that these three processes are indivisible in Taiwan. They involve not only the reallocation of power between the state, society and education, but also the redefinition of the territorial and social components of Taiwanese 'national' identity in relation to the Chinese mainland. In particular, social pressure groups, teachers and parents are empowered in policymaking processes at various levels, whilst the power of school principals and education officials to respond to these pressure groups is limited. The role of the school curriculum is now reversed from suppressing to promoting ethnic cultures and identities as points of a new collective identity: 'Taiwan people' with Taiwan as their ultimate homeland.     

From Fordism to neo‐Fordism: Industrialisation theory and distance education — a Chinese perspective

This article provides a Chinese perspective on the recent debate concerning industrialisation theory and distance education. It is argued that China's regular higher education has a craft‐like nature and that China's Radio and TV Higher Education (RTVHE) represents one of the most industrialised forms of education in the world. It is then proposed that China's RTVHE has entered a transitional phase from Fordism to neo‐Fordism in the period since the second half of the 1980s. Some specific conditions which limit the applicability of industrialisation theory to distance education in the Chinese context are then described.     

Continual Improvement of Online and Blended Teaching Using Relative Proximity Theory

This article applies Deming's Plan‐Do‐Study‐Act (PDSA) cycle of continual improvement to a course taught with both blended and online sections. It uses Relative Proximity Theory, an extension of the Theory of Transactional Distance, to measure the quality of online/blended learning as a function of the obstacles to a student's full engagement with a course. These obstacles can arise because of the student's transactions with fellow students, with the instructor, with the course content, or from the instructional technology used in the course. Using stepwise multiple regression, the most significant obstacles can be identified. Once the obstacles are known, strategies to reduce them are planned and implemented. Logistic regression is used to determine if the realized reductions are statistically significant and for setting the stage for further improvements.     

Memories of a fledgling teacher: a beginning teacher's autobiography

By evoking the concept of memory pictures, the author recalls her early years as a teacher. Rather than calling herself a beginning teacher, she characterizes herself as a fledgling teacher to capture the insecurity associated with the first years of teaching. This experience is narrated through five memory pictures: (1) the new school's many rooms; (2) the staff‐room as an arena for curriculum interpretation; (3) the reading road; (4) solving mathematical problems in the classroom; and (5) the assembly hall. These five memory pictures are related to theories of learning, teacher education, visions for child‐centred education and the author's current practice as a teacher educator.     

Intercultural-bilingual Education for an Interethnic-plurilingual Society? The Case of Nicaragua's Caribbean Coast

This paper aims to contribute to an emerging literature which treats multilingualism as more than, and distinct from, 'bilingualism plus'. It considers some paradoxes and tensions which arise when current Latin American models of 'intercultural-bilingual' education are applied to plurilingual and interethnic regions, such as Nicaragua's Caribbean Coast region. Here, three indigenous and two Afro-Caribbean minorities interact in common or overlapping territories, in ways which often entail the development of multilingual repertoires and dynamic, multifaceted identities. The paper focuses on intercultural-bilingual education programmes initiated in 1985, in two indigenous languages and in English/English-Creole, each with Spanish. It explores some complexities of Coast people's linguistic and cultural practices through autobiographical accounts, by workers in the programmes, of the development of their multilingual repertoires and allegiances. Finally, it suggests that the programmes' efficacy for the maintenance and revitalisation of cultures and languages and for the development of 'interculturality' is limited by their binary conception and design (vernacular+dominant language), and offers some pointers for further research towards their modification.     

Building a theoretical framework of web-based instruction in the context of distance education

This study attempts to analyze teaching and learning processes of web-based instruction (WBI) as shown in recent literature, and to develop a theoretical framework of WBI using a prominent existing distance education theory called Transactional Distance Theory in order to provide better understanding of the essential pedagogical components of WBI. Recent studies have shown that the key elements of the structure of WBI are (1) content expandability, (2) content adaptability, and (3) visual layout. And also three emerging types of interaction, or three aspects of dialogue, in WBI have been identified through the studies. Those types were: (1) academic interaction, (2) collaborative interaction, and (3) interpersonal interaction. Finally, both learner collaboration (or learner collaboravity, if we create a new term) and learner autonomy seem to have emerged in Web-based learning environments.     

The use of analogies in language teaching: Representing the content of teachers' practical knowledge

This study sought to determine how experienced language teachers use analogies to help students comprehend a text on the course of their regular teaching routines. It is assumed that analogies constitute one important component of the content of teachers' practical knowledge in the context of reading-comprehension instruction. The framework of the study drew from Shulman's notion of 'pedagogical content knowledge'; the perspective was the analogy-provider (e.g. teacher or textbook author). Eight lessons taught by eight different teachers were observed and analysed for the presence of analogies. The frequent use of analogies, continuously under discussion in the literature about science education, seems at least open to question. The research suggests that teacher education programmes for language teaching should include information about developing and evaluating instructional analogies.     

Marketing and the 'Re-enchantment' of School Management

In Britain, an emerging slogan in the Labour government's educational policy is 'standards, not structures'. With it may come a discursive shift in the management of the school. Just as educational structures have been marketized, so now there are some signs that school management is itself becoming marketized, thereby revealing an emergent 'common marketing' within the field of education. Although the signs are few within education, within the broader realm of management theory, the indications are stronger. In exploring this, the argument draws upon two concepts from the academic literature on marketing: relationship marketing; and internal marketing. What is common to both modes of marketing is the instrumentalization of the expressive, or the rationalization of the emotions for performative purposes. In relation to these concepts, brief reference is made to recent policy initiatives in the training of headteachers in Britain. In theorizing this, the relevance of Mestrovic's theory of 'postemotional society' is considered.     

The development and early care and education of dual language learners: Examining the state of knowledge

Early care and education (ECE) programs, policymakers and practitioners across the United States are facing the reality of the increase in the population of dual language learners (DLLs). To address these children's unique and varied characteristics and experiences, ECE programs find that they must adjust and adapt their efforts. However, there is limited evidence for early childhood strategies to support DLLs and limited understanding of DLLs’ development. There are increased accountability requirements for ECE programs to meet the needs of all children, including DLLs. This special section “The Development and Early Care and Education of Dual Language Learners: Examining the State of Knowledge” includes six articles reporting on the research activities of the Center for Early Care and Education Research – Dual Language Learners (CECER-DLL). The Center was federally funded to advance the research field to improve assessment, child care, and education for DLLs from birth through five years of age. This introduction and commentary discusses the most relevant findings from the set of critical reviews of literature and the secondary analysis of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey-Birth Cohort conducted by the Center. Also, the major methodological challenges and research gaps found in the literature reviewed, across topic areas, are presented and recommendations for future directions to advance research on the development and early care and education of DLLs are provided.