Proceedings of The 6th World Conference on Research in Teaching and Education
Year: 2023
DOI:
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Building an instrument to measure transactional distance in online learning and teaching environment
Sorabh Bajaj, Dr. Kokil Jain
ABSTRACT:
Moore’s Transactional distance theory is an important pedagogical theory in the online learning and teaching environment. There is a need for empirical support to operationalise this theory in the context of formal higher education. The purpose of this paper is to validate the theory by examining and studying the relationship of (1) dialogue, structure and learner autonomy to transactional distance, and (2) environmental factors and learner demographic factors to transactional distance in online learning and teaching environments. Over 200 undergraduate students at two universities in India participated in this study and were surveyed. The data was analyzed through an exploratory factor analysis. The results indicate that instrument, in general, is a reliable measure of constructs related to the theory of transactional distance. Further refinement of the instrument and future research directions are also included at the end of the article.
keywords: transactional distance, online learning, instrument development