An interesting paper from the European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning that attempts to redefine Moore’s notion of transactional distance as a distance in understanding between a learner and a teacher that needs to be closed. I’m not convinced by the conclusion – the authors neatly shoe-horn the theory into their own, but at the expense of not seriously considering the control dynamics and the psychological aspects that are perhaps the theory’s most valuable contributions. However, the paper contains a fine analysis of the literature via Dewey’s constructivist philosophy and a thorough examination of the concept of transactional distance from a refreshing perspective. It does begin to sound more than a little like a rephrasing of Vygotsky, which is not a bad thing.
Address of the bookmark: http://www.eurodl.org/index.php?p=current&article=374
