title: Making the Connection: Moore’s Theory of Transactional Distance and Its Relevance to the Use of a Virtual Classroom in Postgraduate Online Teacher Education

authors: Falloon, Garry

subjects: online

abstract: This study explored the use of the Web-based virtual environment, Adobe Connect Pro, in a postgraduate online teacher education programme at the University of Waikato. It applied the tenets of Moore’s Theory of Transactional Distance (Moore, 1997) in examining the efficacy of using the virtual classroom to promote quality dialogue and explored how both internal and external structural elements related to the purpose and use of the classroom affected the sense of learner autonomy. The study provides an illustration of the complexity of the relationship that exists between the elements of Moore’s theory, and how the implementation of an external structuring technology such as the virtual classroom, can have both positive impacts (dialogue creation) and negative impacts (diminished sense of learner autonomy). It also suggests that, although Moore’s theory provides a useful conceptual “lens” through which to analyse online learning practices, its tenets may need revisiting to reflect the move toward the use of synchronous communication tools in online distance learning.

text: Making the Connection: Moore’s Theory of Transactional Distance and Its Relevance to the Use of a Virtual Classroom in Postgraduate Online Teacher Education This study explored the use of the Web-based virtual environment, Adobe Connect Pro, in a postgraduate online teacher education programme at the University of Waikato. It applied the tenets of Moore’s Theory of Transactional Distance (Moore, 1997) in examining the efficacy of using the virtual classroom to promote quality dialogue and explored how both internal and external structural elements related to the purpose and use of the classroom affected the sense of learner autonomy. The study provides an illustration of the complexity of the relationship that exists between the elements of Moore’s theory, and how the implementation of an external structuring technology such as the virtual classroom, can have both positive impacts (dialogue creation) and negative impacts (diminished sense of learner autonomy). It also suggests that, although Moore’s theory provides a useful conceptual “lens” through which to analyse online learning practices, its tenets may need revisiting to reflect the move toward the use of synchronous communication tools in online distance learning.

year: 2011

title: Utility in WTP space: a tool to address confounding random scale effects in destination choice to the Alps

authors: Scarpa, Riccardo

subjects: mixed logit

abstract: Destination choice models with individual-specific taste variation have become the presumptive analytical approach in applied nonmarket valuation. Under the usual specification, tastes are represented by coefficients of site attributes that enter utility, and the distribution of these coefficients is estimated. The distribution of willingness-to-pay (WTP) for site attributes is then derived from the estimated distribution of coefficients. Though conceptually appealing this procedure often results in untenable distributions of willingness to pay. An alternative procedure is to estimate the distribution of willingness to pay directly, through a re-parameterization of the model. We compare hierarchical Bayes and maximum simulated likelihood estimates under both approaches, using data on site choice in the Alps. We find that models parameterized in terms of WTP provide more reasonable estimates for the distribution of WTP, and also fit the data better than models parameterized in terms of attribute coefficients. This approach to parameterizing utility is hence deemed promising for applied nonmarket valuation.

text: Utility in WTP space: a tool to address confounding random scale effects in destination choice to the Alps Destination choice models with individual-specific taste variation have become the presumptive analytical approach in applied nonmarket valuation. Under the usual specification, tastes are represented by coefficients of site attributes that enter utility, and the distribution of these coefficients is estimated. The distribution of willingness-to-pay (WTP) for site attributes is then derived from the estimated distribution of coefficients. Though conceptually appealing this procedure often results in untenable distributions of willingness to pay. An alternative procedure is to estimate the distribution of willingness to pay directly, through a re-parameterization of the model. We compare hierarchical Bayes and maximum simulated likelihood estimates under both approaches, using data on site choice in the Alps. We find that models parameterized in terms of WTP provide more reasonable estimates for the distribution of WTP, and also fit the data better than models parameterized in terms of attribute coefficients. This approach to parameterizing utility is hence deemed promising for applied nonmarket valuation.

year: 2006-12

title: My responsibility in the face of mass extinction

authors: Gray-Sharp, Katarina

subjects: autoethnography

abstract: Extinction is the “irreversible condition of a species or other group of organisms having no living representatives in the wild, which follows the death of the last surviving individual of that species or group” (Hine and Martin 2015g, para. 1). Mass extinctions are extinctions of the greatest magnitude, occurring “when many diverse groups of organisms become extinct over short periods of time” (Condie 2011, 250). These “are not step-events but rather a step into a prolonged alternative global ecosystem state” (Hull 2015, R941). Five mass extinctions have previously been recorded. A sixth has begun. Humans are the cause of the latest episode.

This thesis develops an Indigenous, non-agential conception of responsibility for considering an ethical problem of wide consequence. Founded in mātauranga Māori and recalling the work of Emmanuel Levinas, it applies Kaupapa Māori autoethnography, narrative, and conceptual analyses alongside exegeses and a replication study. Investigations of responsibility across various positions are encountered: those found in place and polity, those made as visitor and the commanded, those gifted as inherited erudition and in the suffering-with. Now facing the last structural violence, what is my responsibility?

text: My responsibility in the face of mass extinction Extinction is the “irreversible condition of a species or other group of organisms having no living representatives in the wild, which follows the death of the last surviving individual of that species or group” (Hine and Martin 2015g, para. 1). Mass extinctions are extinctions of the greatest magnitude, occurring “when many diverse groups of organisms become extinct over short periods of time” (Condie 2011, 250). These “are not step-events but rather a step into a prolonged alternative global ecosystem state” (Hull 2015, R941). Five mass extinctions have previously been recorded. A sixth has begun. Humans are the cause of the latest episode.

This thesis develops an Indigenous, non-agential conception of responsibility for considering an ethical problem of wide consequence. Founded in mātauranga Māori and recalling the work of Emmanuel Levinas, it applies Kaupapa Māori autoethnography, narrative, and conceptual analyses alongside exegeses and a replication study. Investigations of responsibility across various positions are encountered: those found in place and polity, those made as visitor and the commanded, those gifted as inherited erudition and in the suffering-with. Now facing the last structural violence, what is my responsibility?

year: 2021