From: leigh@unibase.Unibase.SK.CA (Leigh Calnek)
Subject: Introduction to Distance Education Theory
Organization: Unibase Telecom Ltd.
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 15:50:12 GMT

(Re-posted from BANTHY-M)


Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 12:03 MST
From: "Prof. Charlotte Nirmalani Gunawardena" <LANI@BOOTES.UNM.EDU>
Subject: Introduction to Michael Moore
To: banthy-M@acs.ucalgary.ca
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Bangkok CMC Discussion

Topic: Theory of Distance Education

Introduction of Dr. Michael Moore - Discussion Leader

I am happy to introduce Dr. Michael Moore, associate professor of 
Adult Education at The Pennsylvania State University, and Director of 
The American Center for Study of Distance Education.  Dr. Moore has 
specialized in the practice, study and teaching of distance education 
for adults for more than 25 years, including seven years in Africa, 
over three in Canada, and nine in Great Britain.  He is the editor of 
The American Journal of Distance Education, as well as being on the 
editorial boards of similar journals in Great Britain, Canada, and 
Australia.  He has published more than 50 articles on distance 
education and is a frequent speaker at national and international 
conferences on this subject.  

Dr. Moore's 1972 theory of distance education is studied in courses 
about distance education in Britain, India and Australia, and is 
generally regarded as one of the first attempts to conceptualize and 
define this field of practice and study.  His practical experience of 
distance education includes nine years in the British Open University 
where he was involved in both course design and in learner support 
and instruction; many years of experience in teleconferencing, 
including experience in Wisconsin's Educational Telephone Network 
and at the Open University; consulting about training through 
distance methods in such organizations as a major international bank, 
a U.N. agency, and the Pentagon, and in 1989 and 1990 at the 
University of Helsinki, Finland; consultant to the Los Alamos National 
Laboratory, and Contractor for the Office of Technological 
Assessment; serving as evaluator for courses designed under 
sponsorship of the Annenberg/Corporation for Public Broadcasting 
Project.  In August 1988, he was elected Vice President of the 
International Council for Distance Education. 

We are very fortunate to have a person of Dr. Moore's caliber to lead 
the discussion on the theory of distance education.   We hope 
you will participate in the discussions and make this a wonderful 
learning experience for all of us. 

Lani Gunawardena
University of New Mexico, U.S.A.
Internet: Lani@bootes.unm.edu
Bitnet: Lani@unmb

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From: "Prof. Charlotte Nirmalani Gunawardena" <LANI@BOOTES.UNM.EDU>
Subject: DE Theory Topic
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From:     IN%"banthy-m@udevdiv.unibase.sk.ca"  5-OCT-1992 09:27:54.72
To:  IN%"banthy-m@acs.ucalgary.ca"
CC:  
Subj:     Abstract from First Speaker

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From: anderson@acs.ucalgary.ca (Terry Anderson)
Subject: Abstract from First Speaker
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Comment: Bangkok Distance Education Conference: Theory
Originator: banthy-m@udevdiv.unibase.sk.ca
Version: 5.5 -- Copyright (c) 1991/92, Anastasios Kotsikonas

Bangkok Project - Emerging Theories and Philosophy of Distance Education
Topic

First Speaker - Dr. Michael Moore
                Director, American Centre for the Study of Distance education
                Pennsylvania State University

Dates: Oct. 12 - Oct. 26

Host Dr. Lani Gunuwardena


Topic Abstract:

In spite of claimes to the contrary, there has been very little disciplined 
theorizing in the field of distance education.  We can begin our discussion 
with a brief exchange about what we would want for a theory to be considered 
helpful.

Furthermore, there has been virtually no attention given to philosophy - why 
we 'do' distance education.  I do not claim expertise as a philosopher, just 
an interested person in the street, but will try to lead a discussion on this

as well as to examine our emerging theory.

I will begin with the questions:
What do we want in a theory?
Do we care about having a theory?
Are we looking for one theory or many theories?
What will we do with a theory?

Let's together list the key characteristics in a theory, then see if we can 
generate these from our knowledge of literature, research and practice in 
distance education.  We might go on to analyse some supposed theories in
light 
of our criteria, but the agenda can be determined by the participants. . .

-- 
Posted by
Terry Anderson
Dept. of Educational Psychology                     Ph 403-284-0922
University of Calgary                              Fax 403-289-4471    
Calgary, AB. Canada T2N 1N4              InterNet ANDERSON@ACS.UCALGARY.CA

From banthy-m@acs.ucalgary.ca Tue Oct 13 06:18:00 1992
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From: <KWB107@PSUVM.PSU.EDU>
Subject: Moore;dist.ed.theory
To: banthy-m@acs.ucalgary.ca
Message-Id: <92Oct13.102312edt.9390@ugw.utcs.utoronto.ca>


  - - The original note follows - -

Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 21:51 MST
From:
 "BARBARA JENNINGS VOICE PHONE: (505) 845-8554 USERID: BJJENNI NODES
REACHABLE
 ON: BOOTES.UNM.EDU, AND SANDIA.GOV."
 <BJJENNI@BOOTES.UNM.EDU>
Subject: Moore;dist.ed.theory
To: deos-l@psuvm.psu.edu
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The following is a response to Michael Moore's topic abstract concerning
the question of theory in Distance Education:

        We would like to acknowledge a distinction between a scientific
        definition of theory and those found in education. An educational
        theory is looser in its definition, and might include:
                - explanation of phenomenon
                - a position
                - a philosophical construct
                - a model
                - proposed guidelines
        rather than an hypothesis to be proven right or wrong.

From banthy-m@acs.ucalgary.ca Tue Oct 13 07:10:00 1992
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From: <N0G@PSUVM.PSU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Moore;dist.ed.theory
To: KWB107@PSUVM.PSU.EDU
Cc: banthy-m@acs.ucalgary.ca
Message-Id: <92Oct13.111714edt.9399@ugw.utcs.utoronto.ca>

thanks to KWB107 for starting the ball rolling....I feel more comfortable
with
some of your suggestions than others... I feel fairly comfortable with
---explanation of phenomenon
--a model
not so sure about Philosophical construct
less comfortable with proposed guidelines or "a position"
perhaps you could explain what you mean by some of these, especially the last
  two. I have taken the view that a theory is essentially a parsimonious,
i.e.
as simple as possible, (hard for academics and other pedants) description of
what is known about a phenomenon at any given time. As such it is of course
constantly changing as new knowledge becomes available and also suggests
where
new knowledge is needed. The ideal theory to me is a map in a geography book.
A map of , lets say the planet Mars, tells us simply what is known, what is
blank nad is updated as we discover more.... a theory in education should be
the phenomena of teaching and learning and the organization of those, reduced
to simple terms, or lines, or figures, or....???? is this too simple an idea?
is it not big enough to accomodate for example what you call "a position"?
Write  me... Michael Moore.

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Date:     Tue, 13 Oct 1992 11:13:00 -0400
From: N0G@PSUVM.BITNET
To: BANTHY-M@acs.ucalgary.ca
Subject: Sending you "KEEGAN TRANS A1" in this note
Message-Id: <92Oct13.112347edt.9461@ugw.utcs.utoronto.ca>


                           1. TRANSACTIONAL DISTANCE
     
     The first attempt in English to define distance education and to
articulate a theory appeared in 1972 (1). Later this was called the theory
of
transactional distance (2). What was stated in that first theory is that
distance in education is not simply a geographic separation of learners and
teachers, but, more importantly, is a pedagogical concept. It is a concept
describing the universe of teacher-learner relationships that exist when
learners and instructors are separated by space and/or by time. This universe
of relationships can be ordered into a typology that is shaped around the
most
elementary constructs of the field, namely the structure of instructional
programs, the interaction between learners and teachers, and the nature and
degree of self-directedness of the learner.
     
     The concept of transaction is derived from Dewey, (Dewey and Bentley,
1949). As explained by Boyd and Apps (1980:5) it "connotes the interplay
among
the environment, the individuals and the patterns of behaviors in a
situation". The transaction that we call distance education occurs between
teachers and learners in an environment having the special characteristic of
separation of teachers from learners. This separation leads to special
patterns of learner and teacher behaviors. It is the separation of learners
and teachers that profoundly effects both teaching and learning. With
separation there is a psychological and communications space to be crossed,
a
space of potential misunderstanding between the inputs of instructor and
those
of the learner. It is this psychological and communications space that is the
transactional distance.

Psychological and communications spaces between any one learner and that
person's instructor are never exactly the same. In other words, transactional
distance is a continuous rather than a discrete variable, a relative rather
than an absolute term. It has been pointed out (by Rumble, p: for example)
that in any educational program, even in face to face education, there is
some
transactional distance. Seen in this way, distance education is a subset of
the universe of education, and distance educators can draw on, and contribute
to, theory and practice of conventional education. Nevertheless, in what we
normally refer to as distance education, the separation of teacher and
learner
is sufficiently significant that the special teaching-learning strategies and
techniques they use can be identified as distinguishing characteristics of
this family of educational practice.

Even though there are clearly recognizable patterns, there is also enormous
variation in these strategies and techniques and the behavior of teachers and
learners.  This is another way of saying that within the family of distance
education programs there are many different degrees of transactional
distance.
It cannot be emphasized too strongly that transactional distance is a
relative
rather than an absolute variable. The whole point and purpose of distance
education theory is to summarize the different relationships and strength of
relationship among and between these variables that make up transactional
distance, especially the behaviors of teachers and learners. (It should be
pointed out that other variables exist in "the environment, the individuals
and the patterns of behaviors" besides those of teaching and learning. This
means there is room for more than one theory. There is need for a theory of
distance education administration; a theory of distance education history;
a
theory of distance learner motivation and so on. The example of distance
learner motivation also points out that some theories, such as the theory of
transactional distance are more global than others, and that room exists for
more finely focussed, molecular theory within the framework provided by a
more
molar theory.)

The special teaching procedures fall into two clusters; in addition a third
cluster of variables describea the behaviors of learners.  The extent of
transactional distance in an educational program is a function of these three
sets of variables. These are not technological or communications variables,
but variables in teaching and in learning, and in the interaction of teaching
and learning. These clusters of variables are named Dialogue, Structure and
Learner Autonomy.
                                INSTRUCTIONAL DIALOGUE

Dialogue is developed by teachers and learners in the course of the
interactions that occur when one gives instruction and the others respond.
The
concepts of dialogue and interaction are very similar, and indeed are
sometimes used synonymously. However an important distinction can be made.
The
term dialogue is used to describe an interaction or series of interactions
having positive qualities that other interactions might not have. A dialogue
is purposeful, constructive and valued by each party. Each party in a
dialogue
is a respectful and active listener; each is a contributer, and builds on the
contributions of the other party or parties. There can be negative or neutral
interactions; the term dialogue is reserved for positive interactions, with
value placed on the synergistic nature of the relationship of the parties
involved. The direction of the dialogue in an educational relationship is
towards the improved understanding of the student.
      Whether dialogue occurs, and its extent and nature is determined by the
educational philosophy of the individual or group responsible for the design
of the course, by the personalities of teacher and learner, by the subject-
matter of the course, and by environmental factors. One of the most important
of the environmental factors, -- and the one that usually gets most attention
from persons both inside and outside distance education-- is the medium of
communication. As the distance education field matures it is to be hoped that
greater attention will be paid to variables besides the communication media,
especially design of courses and the selection and training of instructors
and
the learning styles of students.

Communications media.

     It is obvious that the nature of each communications medium has a direct
imapact on the extent and quality of dialogue between instructors and
learners. For example, an educational program in which communication between
teacher and learner is solely by one-way television, an audio tape, or a
teach
yourself book, will have no teacher-learner dialogue simply because these
media cannot carry messages back from the learner to the teacher. Students
usually make internal responses to what is communicated on the one-way
medium,
but they are not able to make their personal individual responses to the
teacher. By comparison, a student taught by correspondence through the mail
is
able to have two way interaction and therefore dialogue with the teacher,
though the medium slows down the interaction. The dialogue is less
spontaneous
but perhaps more thoughtful and reflective than a similar course taught in
either a classroom, or a computer mediated conference. It should be apparant
that this interactive nature of the medium of communication is a major
determinant of dialogue in the teaching learning environment. By manipulating
the communications media it is possible to increase dialogue between learners
and their teachers, and thus reduce the transactional distance.
     It is worth noting though that, as suggested above, a form of dialogue
between teacher and learner occurs even in programs that have no interaction,
such as when the learner is studying through printed self-study materials,
or
by audio tapes or or video tapes. Even in these media there is a form of
learner-instructor dialogue because the learner does have an internal or
silent interaction with the person who in some distant place and time
organized a set of ideas or information for transmission to, and what might
be
thught of as a "virtual dialogue" with an unknown distant reader, viewer, or
listener. By contrast, highly interactive electronic teleconference media
especially personal computers and audio conference media, permit a more
intensive, more personal, more individual, more dynamic dialogue than can be
achieved in using a recorded medium. Programs that use such media are
therefore likely to bridge the transactional distance more effectively than
programs using recorded media.

There are other environmental factors that influence dialogue and thus
transactional distance. These include: the number of students each distant
teacher must provide instruction to and the frequency of opportunity for
communication, usually determined by administrative and financial
constraints;
the physical environment in which the students learn and the physical
environment in which teachers teach (teachers have been known to conduct
audio
conferences from a telephone in a public hallway and student groups
frequently
attempt to engage in dialogue through noisy office speaker phones); the
emotional environment of teachers, especially the regard, or, more likely,
the
degree of disregard given to their distance teaching achievements by their
administrators, and the emotional environment of learners, especially the
regard with which their study is seen by significant persons in their home
and
work places.

Dialogue is further influenced by teacher personality, by learner personality
and by content. It cannot be said with certainty that any medium, no matter
how interactive its potential, will provide a highly dialogic program, since
it is controlled by teachers who might, for good reasons or bad, decide not
to
take advantage of its interactivity, and it is used by learners who might not
be able or willing to enter into dialogue with their teachers. Finally
experience suggests that the extent of dialogue between teachers and learners
in some content areas and some academic levels, is higher than in others,
where similar media are used. Teaching courses at graduate level in social
sciences and education offers opportunity for highly inductive, Socratic
teaching approaches, with much small group work or individual case study and
project work. Teaching basic information courses in sciences and mathematics
usually requires a more teacher-directed approach, with considerably less
dialogue.
Whatever the dynamics of each teaching learning transaction however, one of
the major determinants of the extent to which the transactional distance will
be overcome is whether dialogue between learners and instructors is possible,
and the extend to which it is achieved.



                               PROGRAM STRUCTURE

The second set of variables that determine transactional distance are the
elements in the course design, or the ways in which the teaching program is
structured so that it can be delivered through the various communications
media. Programs are structured in different ways to take into account the
need
to produce, copy, deliver, and control these mediated messages. Structure
expresses the rigidity or flexibility of the program's educational
objectives,
teaching strategies, and evaluation methods. It describes the extent to which
an education program can accommodate or be responsive to each learner's
individual needs.

As with dialogue, structure is a qualitative variable, and as with dialogue
the extent of structure in a program is determined largely by the nature of
the communications media being employed, but also by philosophy and emotional
characteristics of teachers, the personalities and other characteristics of
learners, and the constraints imposed by educational institutions.
     With regard to the media, a recorded television program for example is
highly structured, with virtually every word, every activity of the
instructor
and every minute of time provided for, and every piece of content pre-
determined. There is no dialogue and therefore no possibility of reorganising
the program to take into account inputs from learners. There is little or no
opportunity for deviation or variation according to the needs of a particular
individual. This can be compared with many teleconference courses which
permit
a wide range of alternative responses by the instructor to students'
questions
and written submissions. These media permit more dialogue and require less
structure. A common mistake among unskilled teachers using interactive video
or audio is to overstructure their programs in ways that make them resemble
one way media presentations, and so neglecting the potential for dialogue
that
could be achieved by having a looser structure. When a program is highly
structured and teacher-learner dialogue is non-existant the transactional
distance between learners and teachers is high. At the other extreme, there
is
low transactional distance in those teleconference programs that have much
dialogue and little pre-determined structure. As stated earlier, but it
cannot
be overemphasised, the extent of dialogue and the flexibility of structure
varies from program to program. It is this variation that gives a program
more
or less transactional distance than another.
     In programs with little transactional distance learners receive
directions and guidance regarding study through dialogue with an instructor
in
a program that has a relatively open structure, designed to support such
individual interactions. In more distant programs, where less or little
dialogue is possible or permitted, the course materials are tightly
structured
to provide all the guidance and direction and advice that course designers
can
anticipate, but without the possibility of the individual learner modifying
this in dialogue with the instructor.

     In highly distant programs therefore, learners have to take
responsibility for making judgements and taking decisions about study
strategies. Even where a course is structured to give maximum direction and
guidance, if there is no dialogue, students may decide for themselves whether
the instructions will be used, and if so when, where, in what ways, and to
what extent. Thus, the greater the transactional distance, the more such
autonomy the learner will exercise.     Since learners are such important
actors
in the teaching learning transaction, the nature of the learner, especially
the potential to undertake autonomous learning can have an important effect
on
the transactional distance in any educational program. There appears to be
a
relationship between dialogue, structure and learner autonomy, for the
greater
the structure and the lower the dialogue in a program the more autonomy the
learner has to exercise.
     Successful distance teaching depends on the institution and the
individual instructor providing the appropriate opportunities for dialogue
between teacher and learner, as well as appropriately structured learning
materials. Frequently this will mean taking measures to reduce transactional
distance by increasing the dialogue through use of teleconference, and
developing well structured printed support materials. In practice this
becomes
an extremely complex matter, because what is appropriate varies according to
content, level of instruction, and learner characteristics, especially the
optimum autonomy the learner can exercise. Much time and creative effort as
well as understanding of the characteristics of the learner population, have
to be devoted to identifying the extent of structure needed in any program,
and in designing appropriately structured presentations and interactions.
Much
skill is needed to facilitate the degree of dialogue that is sufficient and
appropriate for particular learners. To overcome transactional distance in
these ways, by appropriate structuring of instruction and appropriate use of
dialogue is very demanding. It requires the engagement of many different
skills and it requires that these skills are systematically organized and
deployed. It requires changes in the traditional role of teachers, and
provides the basis for selecting media for instruction.
     In distance education teaching is hardly ever an individual act, but a
collaborative process, joining together the expertise of a number of
specialists in design teams and delivery networks. The typical model is that
of the course team of content experts, instructional designers and media
specialists, providing structured materials which are then used as the basis
for dialogue between learners and specialist teachers who are often called
tutors. A very rough analogy for this process might be found in the
entertainment industry where the medieval troubadors who wrote and sang their
own songs gave way in modern times to the television team of writer, singer,
producer, camera persons, editors and others. The simile has a very limited
application, since there are additional processes that have to be organized
in
education, such as the need for the learner to practice, have feedback, and
counselling.

Structuring instructional processes.

The following are some of the processes that must be structured in each
distance education program:   
1. Presentation. In most programs there are presentations of information,
demonstrations of skills, or models of attitudes and values. The recorded
media (i.e. text, audio and video tapes and computer discs) are usually the
most powerful for delivering such presentations. For information with a short
shelf life the computer may be preferred over print as a means of rapidly
updating information and may also serve as an electronic library for persons
who find access to hard copy libraries difficult.
2. Support of the learner's motivation. Having planned or been given a
curriculum, a program of content to be taught, course designers and
instructors must stimulate, or at least maintain, the student's interest in
what is to be taught, to motivate the student to learn, to enhance and
maintain the learner's interest, including self-motivation. This is done by
various techniques of stimulation within films, recordings and text, through
feedback from tutors, and through unstructured, individual, personal teacher-
learner dialogue.
3. Stimulate analysis and criticism. These are higher order cognitive skills
with associated attitudes and values, that learners are expected to develop
in
higher education. Structuring the development of such skills and attitudes
at
a distance is especially demanding. The recorded media are often regarded as
having special authority, and the student must be assisted to analyse their
contents and to challenge them. Ways in which this can be done include:
hearing experts expose their differences on tape, or organizing discussions
by
teleconference in conjunction with a recorded or printed presentation are
appropriate techniques.
4. Give advice and counsel. The instructional program must provide guidance
on
the use of learning materials, on techniques for their study, and some form
of
reference for indiviuals who need help with developong study skills and
dealing with study problems. Many of these problems can be anticipated and
provided through structured teaching materials, but eventually many must be
dealt with on an individual basis by telephone, mail, e-mail and face to face
interviews.
5. Arrange practice, application, testing and evaluation. The students must
be
given opportunity to apply what is being learned, either the practice of
skills that have been demonstrated, or manipulation of information and ideas
that have been presented. For this purpose, written assignments are usually
important delivered by personal computer or by mail. The tutor is especially
valuable in responding to the learners' attempts to apply new knowledge. Even
highly self-directed learners are vulnerable in the process of application
since they do not know enough about the subject to be sure they are applying
it correctly. The well structured distance education course provides
opportunity for dialogue with an instructor as a means of helping the student
in this process of reality testing and getting feedback.
6. Arrange for student creation of knowledge. The opportunity for students
to
engage in sufficient dialogue to share with teachers in the process of
creating knowledge has been denied to distance learners until very recently.
It is this very important process that promises to be the personal computer's
main contribution to distance education.

Selection and integration of communications media.

To deliver teaching programs that are maximally effective in overcoming
transactional distance, it is necessary to select the appropriate medium to
provide each teaching process, with the appropriatness being dependent in
part
on other variables in the transactional environment, such as learner
characteristics and content characteristics. In general however, some
teaching
processes can be seen to be more appropriately delivered by certain media.
(Nevertheless the following table has to be regarded as a statement of
hypotheses, since there is little empirical evidence at present regarding the
relative strengths of these media for these processes.)

                             PRES   MOT   AN/CR     APP/EVAL   SUPP
Media with no dialogue
and highly structured
SELF STUDY GUIDE              X      X       X       X
AUDIO RECORDINGS/BROADCAST    XX     XX      X       X
VIDEO RECORDING/BROADCAST    XXX     XXX     X       X

Media with dialogue
structured...

CORRESPONDENCE               XX   XX   XXX    XXX     X   XX
VIDEO CONFERENCE             XX   XX   XX     XX      X    X
AUDIO CONFERENCE             XX   XX   XX     XX      XX  XXX
PC CONFERENCE                XX   XX   XXX    XXX    XXX  XXX
unstructured

The above table suggests by a larger number of crosses the strength of each
medium for delivering each of the teaching processes, namely presentation,
motivation, analytic and critical development, application and evaluation and
learner support. The practical significance of this idea is that the course
designers apply the idea of dividing the functions of the teacher -- and
delivering instruction that was assembled by a team of specialists, through
numerous media. The learner benefits from the highly structured presentation
strengths of the broadcast media as well as the dialogue possible by
correspondence and teleconferencing.


                         THE AUTONOMY OF THE LEARNER.

When the theory of Transactional Distance was first put forward, it
represented a fusion of two pedagogical traditions that, in the 1960's, often
appeared to be at war with each other. One was the humanistic tradition,
giving special value to interpersonal, generally open ended and unstructured
dialogue in education as in counselling from which many of the educational
techniques were borrowed. The other was the behaviorist tradition, which gave
great value to systematic design of instruction that was based on behavioral
objectives with maximum teacher control of the learning process. In the early
1970's distance education was dominated by the behaviorists. The importance
that was given at the time to challenging the behaviorists' hegemony is
indicated by the title of the first paper in which the theory of
Transactional
Distance was publicly presented (ICCE Proceedings, 1972); it was called
Learner Autonomy -the Second Dimension of Independent Learning. In that paper
it was argued that university correspondence educators (the term distance
education was not yet used) were constraining the potential of their method
by
neglecting the ability of students to share responsibility for their own
learning processes.
     Analysis of the data used to generate the concepts of distance, dialogue
and structure suggested that there were recognizable patterns of personality
characteristics among students who preferred, or who succeeded in, teaching
programs that were more highly dialogic and less structured, compared with
those who preferred, or succeeded in, less dialogic and more structured
programs. It also became obvious that many students used teaching materials
and teaching programs to achieve goals of their own, in their own ways, under
their own control. The term "learner autonomy" was chosen to describe this
process. Learner autonomy is "the extent to which in the teaching learning
relationship it is the learner rather than the teacher who determines the
goals, the learning experiences, and the evaluation decisions of the learning
program."  A description was given of an ideal, fully autonomous learner (in
gender specific terms that would be avoided if the description was written
today.) This ideal was a person who was emotionally independent of an
instructor, a person who in the words of educational psychologist Robert
Boyd,
"Can approach subject matter directly without having an adult in a set of
intervening roles between the learner and the subject matter (Boyd 19..)."
According to Malcolm Knowles such autonomous behavior should be natural for
the adult who, being adult, has a self concept of being self directed."
However this statement about learner autonomy did not suggest that all adults
WERE at a state of readiness for fully self directed learning. On the
contrary, as stated by Knowles, because learners are trained to be dependent
in the school system "adults are typically not prepared for self directed
learning; they need to go through a process of reorientation to learning as
adults" (Knowles 19..) While only a minority of adults might be practicing
as
fully autonomous learners, the obligation on teachers is to assist them to
acquire these skills.
     Distance education programs can be examined to see to what extent the
teacher or the learner controls the main teaching -learning processes, and
can
then be classified according to the degree of learner autonomy permitted by
each program. When this was done with the sample of programs generated in the
inductive study that provide the data for the theory of Transactional
Distance, a relationship was hypothesized between transactional distance on
the one hand and learner autonomy on the other. Students with advanced
competence as autonomous learners appeared to be quite comfortable with less
dialogic programs with little structure; more dependent learners preferred
programs with more dialogue; some wanted a great deal of structure, while
others preferred to rely on the informal structure provided in a close
relationship with an instructor. When tested in an empirical study, this
relationship appeared to exist, but far more testing of this is required
before it can be said to proven.

        DIALOGUE, STRUCTURE AND AUTONOMY IN TELECONFERENCE INSTRUCTION.

Since the theory of Transactional Distance was written, the most important
evolution in distance education has been the development of highly
interactive
telecommunications media. This is the family of teleconference media, i.e.
the
use of interactive computer networks and audio, audio-graphic, and video
networks, which may be local, regional, national and international and are
linked by cable, microwave and satellite. Their use has added the possibility
of, faster dialogue with the teacher and, by computer conferencing, more
individual dialogue. These media provide less structured programs than the
recorded or print-interactive media. Above all, the teleconference media
allow
a new form of dialogue that can be called inter-learner dialogue. Inter-
learner dialogue occurs between learners and other learners, alone or in
groups with or without the real-time presence of an instructor. By audio and
video-conference and by computer conference, groups can learn through
interaction with other groups and within groups. There are enormously
significant implications in this potential, in every process of teaching-
learning. In particular, such dialogue by learners to learners within and
between groups makes it possible for distance learners to share in the
creation of knowledge. This engagement of the "collective intelligence " is
what Kowitz and Smith (19..) define as the third and most advanced form of
instruction, after teaching basic knowledge and teaching technical abilities.
Groups and "virtual groups" also provide opportunities for exercises aimed
at
developing skills of analysis, synthesis and critique of knowledge, as well
as
testing and evaluating. In particular the personal computer is opening new
opportunities through its combined asynchronicity and relative lack of
structure. Not only can each individual student interact with the ideas of
others, but this can be in his/her own time and own pace. This is something
not available before in either distance education or conventional education.
It promises to give all students the benefit of shared learning but to reduce
the embarrassments experienced by many students in conventional education,
since the slow and reflective student is able to contribute as well as the
quicker and more extrovert.

The teleconference media permit learners to exercise and develop autonomy by
making presentations to classes and in other ways acting as resources for
their peers. Such participation in presentation also reinforces or enhances
motivation, including self direction. Being able to share the activities of
teaching, the distance teacher has access to a greater variety of activity
than can be accomplished by the teacher alone. Teleconference can provide a
more friendly and supportive atmosphere than less dialogic forms of teaching
and even compared to many conventional learning enviroments. It has been a
consistently observed phenomenon that students report pleasure at the
interdependence they develop in teleconferencing.
Instructors in teleconference mode must not overstructure, nor be overanxious
about keeping control of the details of the dialogue that develops among
students. Persons familiar with writing for academic publication often
overstructure, and miss the point that the media being used are powerfully
dialogic and therefore permit participation by everyone. Instructors must
give
everyone frequent opportunities to contribute, and be aware of who is not
contributing, yet not impose too much pressure.



                 PLACE OF TELECONFERENCE IN DISTANCE EDUCATION THEORY.

The arrival of teleconference technologies offers the opportunity of making
a
very important modification of figures that were presented in the original
theory of transactional distance. A place for teleconferencing must also be
found in the typology of programs that was developed as part of that theory.

Modification of graphical representation of distance teaching-learning.
In the original theory of transactional distance a series of graphical
drawings was used to show relationships between teachers and learners. This
was based on Maccia"s (19..) figure that showed a conventional classroom as
a
one in which a person A, the teacher, influences persons B,C,D, the students,
and was represented as follows.


                     figure of conventional teaching here

Following this principle, figures were produced to show distance teaching
learning relationships, with some programs having lines to show dialogue
between teacher and learners, and others with only one way communiation from
teacher to learner. In programs of less structure there were several rays
emanating from the source of instruction, to represent the greater
flexibility
from the learner's perspective.  (The term "telemathic" was used for
"distance".)

                           dist. teaching figs here
The modification that is necessary to take into account the impact of
teleconference technology is simple, yet has profound implications, as
suggested above. It requires a diagrammatic drawing together of the learners
into a network or networks that might be independent of the instuctor, or at
times linked to the instructor. What is shown in these diagrams is that in
all
forms of distance education, using such traditional media as correspondence,
or highly structured radio or television broadcasts or tapes, what was before
a bilateral relationship between a teacher and a distant learner is now a
multilateral relationship that brings an enormous number of dialogues between
and among participants.

                                 New diagrams:
                                  insert here



                   PLACE OF TELECONFERENCING IN THE TYPOLOGY

The typology of distance education developed in the original theory of
transactional distance, as reproduced in Sewart et al (19..) looked like
this:

                                 INSERT HERE

Compared with broadcast, recorded or correspondence media, learner-instructor
interaction by teleconference is more dialogic and less structured. Programs
are:  -s +d, i.e. less distant. On the original typology they fit
approximately above the tutorial and below the correspondence method.
What about autonomy?  Are learners more able to plan, implement, and
evaluate?
Compared with self-directed study, no, since there is an instructor who often
dominates or at least influences planning, implementation and evaluation.
Compared with other institutionally provided distance education programs,
such
as those delivered by correspondence, the higher degree of student
participation should result in relatively autonomous learning. There is
greater potential for instructors to consult the learner group by audio and
video and the individual by computer. There is greater potential for
individual self-directed implementation, and more self-evaluation. Above all
there is great potential for peer support, for peer generation of knowledge.
Therefore it can be hypothesized that in the hands of progressive teachers,
teleconferencing gives opportunity not only to reduce distance but also to
increasing the autonomy of learners.


Boyd, R., J.W. Apps and Associates. Redefining the Discipline of Adult
Education. San Francisco. Jossey Bass, 1980

 Dewey, J., and Bentley, A.F. Knowing and the Known Boston: Beacon Press,
1949.
                                     ****


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In response to the question: What do we want in a theory?, we submit that a
theory is a statement concerning the relationships among factors which has
predictive power.

C. Garcia
E. Littell
D. Mackin

University of New Mexico


-- 

Leigh Calnek
Internet: leigh@unibase.unibase.sk.ca
voice: 306/789-9007