LECTURE 2

Theory of Transactional Distance (Michael G. Moore)

The Community of Inquiry (D. Randy Garrison)
Analytical Model of Distance Education (France Henri)

Prepared by:
PhD Chukhno O.A.
 PLAN
1. Michael G.Moore’s professional path.
2. The essence of transactional distance.
3. Variables of transactional distance.
4. Correlation of the variables.
5. Donn Randy Garrison’s career and focus of research.
6. The essence of the Community of Inquiry.
7. Dimensions of the community of inquiry.
8. Ways of establishing teaching, social and cognitive presence.
9. General principles for creating a community of inquiry.
10. The rationale for creating the Analytical Model of distance education.
11. The Analytical Framework and its dimensions.
12. The model for analyzing the content of computer-mediated conferencing messages.
1. MICHAEL G.MOORE’S PROFESSIONAL PATH

Michael G. Moore
(born in 1938)
PhD
Distinguished Professor of Education,
Emeritus
The Pennsylvania State University
Michael G. Moore obtained a Bachelors of Science degree in economics from the
University of London in 1959.
Upon graduating he taught history and geography, as well as adult education courses.
In 1963, Moore went to Africa as an education officer to assist with one colony’s
transition to independence.
In Africa, he taught at the University of East Africa, and worked in the Adult
Education Department.
In 1969, Moore began graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison,
where he worked with Charles Wedemeyer as a research assistant.
He received his PhD from University of Wisconsin – Madison in 1973.
In 1977, after 3 years as an Assistant Professor at St. Francis Xavier University in
Nova Scotia, he returned to the UK to work in academic and managerial roles at the
Open University for eight years.
In 1985, he came back to the US and began working as Professor of Education for
Pennsylvania State University in the Department of Learning and Performance
Systems.
In 1985, he organized the 1st Annual Distance Education Conference in Madison,
Wisconsin.
In 1986, he established The American Center for Study of Distance Education.
in 1987, he began editing and publishing the first distance education journal in the
US: The American Journal of Distance Education.
In 1988, he organized the first American research symposium on distance
education in the US, which now has members in over 70 countries.
In 2002, he was recognized for his contributions to distance learning by the US
Distance Learning Association and inducted into their Hall of Fame.
He co-edited the Handbook on Distance Education published in 2003 by the
Association for Educational Communications and Technology.
2. THE ESSENCE OF TRANSACTIONAL DISTANCE

independent studies
(distance learning programmes)

the teacher ______

transactional distance
the learner

• geographical
• educational
• psychological
The particularities of space and time which characterize
distance learning create:

• particular behavioural models for the teacher and

the learner;
• psychological and communication distance
between them;
• insufficient understanding of each other.
 psychological, educational
transactional and geographic distance in
the relationships of the
distance participants of the teaching-
learning process.
relative (rather than absolute)
3. VARIABLES OF TRANSACTIONAL DISTANCE

Transactional distance is a psychological construct that depends

on three variables (“macro factors”):
• dialog developed between teacher and learner;
• structure that refers to the degree of structural flexibility of
the programme;
• autonomy - the extent to which the learner exerts control over
learning procedures.
 Variable 1 - DIALOGUE
Dialogue is developed by teachers and learners in the course of the
interactions that occur when one gives instruction and the others respond.

dialogue interaction
• purposeful can be positive,
• constructive negative, and neutral
• valued by each party
• each party is a respectful and
active listener
•each is a contributor
• connected with the quality of
communication rather than
frequency
Dialogue is determined by such factors:
•medium of communication (e.g. one-way television programmes – no dialogue,
videoconferences – intensive, more personal, more individual, more dynamic dialogue)
•number of students
•frequency of opportunity for communication
•physical environment in which the students learn
•physical environment in which teachers teach
•emotional environment of teachers
•emotional environment of learners
•teacher personality
•learner personality
•content
 Variable 2 - STRUCTURE

Structure is approached by Moore from the perspective of

course’s rigidity or flexibility in terms of:
• establishing educational goals of the course
• teaching techniques employed by the course
• assessment procedures
• the extent to which individual needs are covered.
Structure is a qualitative variable.
It is determined by:
•nature of the communications media
•philosophy and emotional characteristics of teachers
•personalities and other characteristics of learners
•constraints imposed by educational institutions.
Processes that must be structured in each distance education programme:

1. Presentation.
2. Support of the learner’s motivation.
3. Analysis and criticism.
4. Advice and counsel.
5. Practice, application, testing and evaluation.
6. Creation of knowledge by students.
(Taken from Moore, 1997)
Classification of individual learning programmes:

–D–S 1. Programs with no dialogue and no structure

–D+S 2. Programs with no dialogue but with structure
+D+S 3. Programs with dialogue and structure
+D–S 4. Programs with dialog and no structure
 Variable 3 - AUTONOMY

the extent to which learners decide

autonomy what to learn, how to learn, and how
much to learn

instrumental the ability to learn without seeking help

the capacity to pursue learning without

emotional seeking reassurance, affection or
approval
4. CORRELATION OF THE VARIABLES.
transactional distance dialog
1)
transactional distance dialog

course structure dialog

2)
course structure dialog or

transactional distance autonomy

3)

transactional distance autonomy

5. DONN RANDY GARRISON’S CAREER AND FOCUS OF RESEARCH

Donn Randy Garrison

(born in 1945)
educational researcher
D. Randy Garrison is a Canadian Professor Emeritus of Education at the University of Calgary.

Dr. Garrison holds a Doctor of Education degree from the University of British Columbia, Master and
Bachelor of Education degrees from the University of Calgary.
He has authored, co-authored, or edited 13 books and over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and
academic papers on teaching and learning in adult, higher, and distance education.
He has served as Dean of the Faculty of Extension at the University of Alberta, Director of Distance
Education at the University of Calgary, and Director of the Teaching and Learning Centre at the University
of Calgary.
In 2009, he received the Sloan-C Award for Most Outstanding Achievement in Online Learning by an
Individual.
His recent publications include, E-Learning in the 21st Century: A Community of Inquiry Framework for
Research and Practice (2017), and Thinking Collaboratively: Learning in a Community of Inquiry (2016).
Currently, Dr. Garrison is participating in a research project exploring shared metacognition preparation in
a community of inquiry.
He contributes regularly to The Community of Inquiry blog hosted by the Centre for Distance Education at
Athabasca University.
Research:

 The focus of Garrison’s work has been on distance education, online and
blended learning. He explores the relationship between teaching, learning,
and the communication process.
 Garrison believes that at the start of the 21st century, online learning has
focused on communication and collaboration.
 By understanding the relationship among teaching presence, cognitive
presence and social presence, educators will be able to better meet the needs
of the learners.
 Garrison believes that communication and collaboration between teacher
and learner is essential in distance education.
6. THE ESSENCE OF THE COMMUNITY OF INQUIRY.

The Community of Inquiry(CoI) is a theoretical framework for the

optimal design of online learning environments to support critical
thinking, critical inquiry, and discourse among students and teachers
Created: by Garrison, Anderson, and Archer at the University of
Alberta (1996–2001) in the Faculty of Extension Department for a
graduate program that was partially online.
Original aim: to provide a heuristic understanding and a
methodology for studying the potential and effectiveness of
computer conferencing.
 a group of individuals who
collaboratively engage in purposeful
educational community of
critical discourse and reflection to
inquiry
construct personal meaning and
confirm mutual understanding
Figure 1. The Community of Inquiry Framework (Taken from Garrison, D. & Akyol, Zehra (2013))
7. DIMENSIONS OF THE COMMUNITY OF INQUIRY

• Teaching presence

the design, facilitation, and

direction of cognitive and social
teaching presence processes for the realization of
meaningful and educationally
worthwhile learning outcomes
Responsibilities of teaching presence:
• identifying relevant knowledge
• designing experiences that facilitate reflection and discourse
• diagnosing and assessing learning outcomes

The functions of teaching presence are organized into three categories:

1) design and organization
2) facilitating reflection and discourse
3) direct instruction
 Design and organization
 More demanding in e-learning.
 In a collaborative e-learning process, students must have
influence on the content and teaching approaches.
 Design should not be separated from delivery.
 Facilitating reflection and discourse

 The role of CoI is enabling and encouraging the construction of

personal meaning as well as shaping and confirming mutual
understanding.
 Facilitating discourse involves pedagogical, interpersonal, and
organizational issues.
 So, teaching presence must be as concerned with cognitive
development as with a positive learning environment, and it must
see content, cognition, and context as integral parts of the whole.
 Direct instruction

Teaching presence in an educational context is not possible without

the expertise of an experienced and responsible teacher who can:
• identify the ideas and concepts worthy of study
• provide the conceptual order
• organize learning activities
• guide the discourse
• offer additional sources of information
• diagnose misconceptions and interject when required
• Social presence The ability of participants to identify
with the group or course of study,
communicate purposefully in a
trusting environment, and develop
personal and affective relationships
progressively.

Social presence
Social presence does not mean
supporting engagement for purely
social purposes, it means creating a
climate that supports and encourages
questions, skepticism, expressing and
contributing to ideas.
 Social presence

Affective
interpersonal Open communication Group cohesion
communication

• The initial conditions Recognizing, complimenting, • It is achieved when students

that establish a CoI. and responding to the perceive themselves as a part of
• Indicators of social questions and contributions of the CoI.
presence are affective others • Cohesive communication begins
expression (emoticons, with addressing others by name
capitalization or and continues with using
punctuation, self- inclusive pronouns (‘we’, ‘our’).
disclosure) and use of • It increases the capacity for
humor. collaboration.
• Cognitive presence

the extent to which learners are

able to construct and confirm
cognitive presence
meaning through sustained
reflection and discourse
Cognitive presence is operationalized by the Practical Inquiry model.
8. WAYS OF ESTABLISHING TEACHING, SOCIAL AND COGNITIVE PRESENCE

Teaching Presence
• Facilitate students’ learning activity.
• Provide students with timely and supportive feedback.
• Provide students with explicit instructions for all
course activities.
Social Presence
• Project your teaching persona through announcements, emails, videos, etc.
• Offer optional virtual office hours for students.
• Create weekly check-in videos or announcements to recap the learning content and
preview the course content for the following week.
• Develop initial course activities (e.g. icebreakers) to encourage the development of swift
trust.
• Model and encourage the use of verbal immediacy behaviors in interactions with students
(self-disclosure, share values, use salutations, self-reference for examples,
acknowledgment, approval).
• Encourage students to share (related) anecdotes, experiences, and beliefs in online
discussions.
• Design collaborative activities – problem-solving tasks, projects, small group discussion.
Cognitive Presence
• Identify big ideas you want students to take away from your course and
develop major course activities around the assessment of those
activities.
• Provide frequent opportunities for testing and feedback.
• Use self-testing, practice assignments, simulations and other interactive
activities to support skill development and convergent thinking.
• Provide multiple representations of the knowledge you want students to
learn and multiple activities for practicing desired skills.
• Encourage experimentation, divergent thinking & multiple perspectives
in online discussion through provocative, open-ended questions;
encourage diverse points of view.
9. GENERAL PRINCIPLES FOR CREATING A COMMUNITY OF
INQUIRY

D. Randy Garrison presents seven principles that reflect the pedagogical

approach for creating and sustaining a community of inquiry:
• Plan for the creation of open communication and trust
• Plan for the critical reflection and discourse
• Establish community and cohesion
• Establish purposeful inquiry dynamics
• Sustain respect and responsibility
• Sustain inquiry that moves to resolution
• Ensure assessment is congruent with intended processes and outcomes.
 10. THE RATIONALE FOR CREATING THE ANALYTICAL MODEL
OF DISTANCE EDUCATION.

• The Analytical Model of distance education was presented in the

1990s by France Henri.
• The model could be used by educators for a better understanding of
the learning process and of the riches available in the content of
computer-mediated conferencing (CMC) messages.
• France Henri believed that CMC messages were a gold mine of
information concerning the psycho-social dynamics among students,
the learning strategies adopted, and the acquisition of knowledge
and skills.
• The point is that CMC messages are polysemic, and the content
analysis helps us to understand the learning process and offers data
useful to improving the efficacy of interaction with students.
Analysis of interactivity
If learners react only to the educator’s messages, it might indicate that:
•the learners value the educator’s messages above all others;
•learning can only happen in the presence of an educator;
•the learners lack initiative, and must be constantly called on to react;
•the learners do not have the skills to understand, comment, criticize
and incorporate ideas expressed by other learners.
The cognitive dimension

In setting up her model, Henri focuses on the skills connected to

reasoning grouping them into five categories:
•elementary clarification
•in-depth clarification
•inference
•judgment
•the development of strategies
 Analytical model: Cognitive skills
Reasoning Skill Definitions Indicators
Elementary clarification Observing or studying a problem, identifying its Identifying relevant elements
elements, observing their linkages in order to come Reformulating the problem
to a basic understanding Asking a relevant question
Identifying previously stated hypotheses
In-Depth Clarification Analyzing and understanding a problem to come to Defining the terms
an understanding which sheds light on the values, Identifying assumptions
beliefs, and assumptions which underlie the Establishing referential criteria
statement of the problem Seeking out specialized information
Inference Induction and deduction, admitting or proposing an Drawing conclusions
idea on the basis of its link with propositions Making generalizations
already admitted as true Formulating a proposition which proceeds
from previous statements
Judgment Making decisions, statements, appreciations, Judging the relevance of solutions
evaluations and criticisms Making value judgments
Judging inferences
Strategies Proposing coordinated actions for the application of Deciding on the action to be taken
a solution, or for making a choice or a decision Proposing one or more solutions
Interacting with those concerned
Analytical Model: Distinguishing Surface Processing from In-Depth Processing

Surface processing In-depth processing

• Repeating the information contained in the statement • Linking facts ideas and notions in order to interpret,
of the problem without making inferences or offering an infer, propose and judge.
interpretation. • Offering new elements of information.
• Repeating what has been said without adding any new • Generating new data from information collected by
elements. the use of hypotheses and inferences.
• Stating that one shares the ideas or opinions without • Proposing solutions with short-, medium- or long-
taking these further or adding any personal comments. term justification.
• Proposing solutions without offering explanations. • Setting out the advantages and disadvantages of a
• Making judgments without offering justifications. situation or solution.
• Asking questions which invite information not relevant • Providing proof or supporting examples.
to the problem or not adding to the understanding of it. • Making judgments supported by justification.
• Offering several solutions without suggesting which is • Perceiving the problem with a larger perspective.
most appropriate. • Developing intervention strategies within a wider
• Perceiving the situation in a fragmentary or short-term framework.
manner.
The analysis of the cognitive dimension makes it possible to identify
the skills linked to critical reasoning and to evaluate the level of
information processing applied by learners.
If knowledge acquisition is the aim, we can expect to find high levels
of clarification and inference activities.
If problem resolution is the aim, we can expect the whole range of
skills.
If only a superficial processing of information is occurring, it might
be due to the task at hand, or to a lack of relevant knowledge, or to the
inability of learners to carry out in-depth processing of the information.
The metacognitive dimension

Henri makes the distinction between:

•metacognitive knowledge
(declarative knowledge concerning the person, the task, and the
strategies)
•metacognitive skills
(procedural knowledge relating to evaluation, planning,
regulation and self-awareness).
 Analytical Model: Metacognitive Knowledge
Knowledge Definitions Indicators
Person All that is known or believed about the Comparing oneself to another as a
characteristics of humans as cognitive cognitive agent.
beings. Being aware of one’s emotional state.
Task All information acquired by a person in Being aware of one’s way of
terms of a task or different types of tasks. approaching the task.
Appreciation of the quality of available Knowing whether the task is new or
information. known.
Strategies Means chosen to succeed in various Strategies making it possible to reach a
cognitive tasks. cognitive objective of knowledge
acquisition.
Metacognitive strategies aimed at self-
regulation of progress.
 Analytical Model: Metacognitive Skills
Skills Definitions Indicators
Evaluation Assessment, appraisal or verification Asking whether one’s statement is true
of one’s knowledge and skills, and Commenting on one’s manner of
of the efficacy of a chosen strategy accomplishing a task
Planning Selecting, predicting and ordering an Predicting the consequences of an action
action or strategy necessary to the Organizing aims by breaking them down
accomplishment of an action into sub-objectives
Regulation Setting up, maintenance and Redirecting one’s efforts
supervision of the overall cognitive Recalling one’s objectives
task Setting up strategies
Self-Awareness Ability to identify, decipher and “I’m pleased to have learned so much…”
interpret correctly the feelings and “I’m so discouraged at the difficulties
thoughts connected with a given involved …”
aspect of the task
• A CMC text cannot be analyzed as a constructed text, one featuring a
structure and a content on which its authors agreed upon beforehand; a
participant’s contributions must be considered both separately and in relation
to those of the others.
• The analytical model of distance education is based on a single aspect of
CMC – the learning process as revealed in the messages.
• Henri focused on the ‘process’ of learning rather than the ‘product’, on what
and how the learner understands, rather on what should have been
understood.
• Learning can be said to be significant when the learner seeks information
actively, uses it to produce knowledge, and integrates these into his or her
cognitive structures.
2. THE ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK AND ITS DIMENSIONS.
The Analytical Framework
Dimension Definition Indicators

Participative Compilation of the number of messages or statements Number of messages

transmitted by one person or group Number of statement
Social Statement or part of statement not related to formal Self-introduction
content of subject matter Verbal support
“I’m feeling great…”
Interactive Chain of connected messages “In response to Jane…”
“As we said earlier…”
Cognitive Statement exhibiting knowledge and skills related to the Asking questions
learning process Making inferences
Formulating hypotheses
Metacognitive Statement related to general knowledge and skills and “I understand…”
showing awareness, self-control, and self-regulation of “I wonder …”
learning
3. THE MODEL FOR ANALYZING THE CONTENT OF COMPUTER-MEDIATED CONFERENCING MESSAGES.

The participative dimension

 Quantitative data (the number of messages) should be analyzed in
conjunction with data from the analysis of the other dimensions.
 Quantitative data can fall into 2 categories: 1) data covering the totality of the
messages used by all participants; 2) data concerning the participation of the
learners and educators in the learning activity.
 A message as a unit of measure is a highly variable one (some messages
contain very little information, others contain several paragraphs dealing with
numerous ideas), Henri’s proposal is to divide messages into units of
meaning, and to use these as the counted units measuring active participation.
 Analytical Model: Participation

Category Definition Indicators

Overall Total number of messages and Quantitative data supplied
accesses; by server
duration of connection for
educators and learners
Active Number of statements directly Statements related to
participation in related to learning made by formal content of lesson
learning process learners and educators
The social dimension

Analytical Model: Social

Dimension Definition Indicators

Social Statement or part of statement Self-introduction
not related to formal content Verbal support
of subject matter “I’m feeling great…”

The frequency of socially oriented statements allows various interpretations:

• the level of learner focus on the task
• the level of social cohesiveness in the group
• the role of the affective support in the learning process;
• the high levels of socially-oriented messages may be disruptive or supportive.
The interactive dimension
Interactivity is a three-step process:
Step 1
Communication of information

Step 2
The first response to this information

Step 3
An answer related to the first one
 Interaction

Explicit Implicit
 Analytical Model: Interactivity

Category Definition Indicators

Explicit Any statement referring explicitly to another message,
interaction person or group
Direct response Any statement responding to a question, using a direct “In response to
reference Denis’ message …”
Direct Any statement taking up and pursuing an expressed idea, “… I share Nicole’s
commentary using direct reference idea absolutely”
Implicit Any statement referring implicitly to another message,
interaction person or group
Indirect response Any statement obviously responding to a question, but “I think the solution
without referring to it by name is…”
Indirect Any statement taking up and pursuing an expressed idea, but “The problem under
commentary without referring to the original message discussion will need
the assistance of…”
Independent Any statement related to the subject under discussion, but “After examining the
statement which is neither an answer nor a commentary and which problem I think that
does not lead to any further statements …”
The results of the analysis of metacognitive dimension of
CMC messages must be interpreted in light of the learners’ task.
Even if no metacognitive activity was noticed, one could not
conclude that the students are weak in this area.
Metacognitive activity is more perceptible when the task at
hand is to understand ideas or remember past learning, than it is
in cases of problem resolution.
References:
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https://www.onlineeducation.com/expert-interviews/randy-garrison-university-of-calgary
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