Transactional Control vs. Transactional Distance
The substance of educational transactions have been characterized differently in the literature, but there appears to be consensus on the fact that the determination of the appropriate measure of control for a given transaction may perhaps define the essence of effective instruction.
Michael Moore’s (1986, 1993) theory of transactional distance proposes that the existence and relationship of structure and dialogue in conjunction with autonomy is at the core of all educational transactions. The central idea is that the greater the structure of a learning environment, the lesser the dialogue that takes place. This principle of learning has since been tested in a variety of contexts and been found to persist among settings (Saba & Shearer, 1994; Stein et al., 2005).
Jon Dron’s (2006a, 2006b) theory of transactional control approaches the idea of control from a different perspective, focusing upon the choices afforded to learners. Dron defines the construct of transactional control as,
“The amount of control a learner has over choices intended to bring about learning. The need for control varies enormously from learner to learner and from context to context - the goal is autonomy, but the path to autonomy may be governed by constraint - sometimes we must delegate control to others…The interplay of choice and constraint helps to determine an individual learner’s learning trajectory, a trajectory that is usually at least partly determined by others, partly by external constraints, partly by internal constraints. Transactional control theory helps to explain and to make predictions about the nature of different forms of educational transaction by analysing their essential dynamics.”
Transactional control focuses on choices. The extent in which choices are made by particular individuals determines their transactional control at any moment. A measure of negotiated control characterized by interaction among participants is key to fostering balance in the educational environment.
Dron goes on to state, “Structure equates to teacher control, dialogue to negotiated control, and autonomy to learner control.” This theoretical framework certainly fits with the anatomy of a socially-constructed self-paced learning environment whereby learners are allowed the continued benefits of autonomy and equal access in conjunction with the ability to self-select and join learning communities within (or outside) the confines of the specific courses being taken. Emerging social software tools are making learning models that have previously been mere conjecture.
References:
Dron, J. (2006a). Social software and the emergence of control, The 6th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies. Kerkrade, The Netherlands. Retrieved March 23, 2007, from http://www.cmis.brighton.ac.uk/staff/jd29/papers/icalt2006.doc
Dron, J. (2006b). The teacher, the learners and the collective mind, AI & Society,
Moore, M. G. (1986). Self-directed learning and distance education. Journal of Distance Education, 1(1). Retrieved March 24, 2007, from http://cade.athabascau.ca/vol1.1/moore.html
Moore, M. G. (1993). Theory of transactional distance. In D. Keegan (Ed.) Theoretical Principles of Distance Education. New York: Routledge.
Saba, F., & Shearer, R. L. (1994). Verifying key theoretical concepts in a dynamic model of distance education. The American Journal of Distance Education, 8(1), 36-59.
Stein, D. S., Wanstreet, C. E., Calvin, J., Overtoom, C., & Wheaton, J. E. (2005). Bridging the transactional distance gap in online learning environments. The American Journal of Distance Education, 19(2), 105-118.
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Sorry, it seems to be a surfaced understanding of TD theory. TD theory is more than a single relationship of “the greater the structure of a learning environment, the lesser the dialogue that takes place,” although there are researchers who claim that this should be the case (Gorsky and Caspi, 2005).
Moore idea sounds as “high structure and low dialogue result in greater TD”, which is not the same with your claim.