Revisiting the Theory of Transactional Distance: Implications for Open, Distance, and Digital Education in the 21st Century

The Theory of Transactional Distance (TDT) can be traced back to the early 1970s when Michael Grahame Moore was conceiving a theory for the emerging field of distance education. It was ground-breaking and disruptive in that it shed new light on non-contiguous teaching, that is, with the separation of teacher and learner in place and/or time. TDT has been globally adopted and become a hot research topic. Nevertheless, it is not rare that researchers fail to catch the essence of TDT in its entirety or to interpret its key constructs accurately. In this article, TDT is revisited by drawing on Moore's original works and highlighting arguments which are often ignored or misunderstood. Next, we critique several influential studies to illustrate typical misinterpretations of TDT and/or its key constructs. We then go on to refute the argument that it is now outdated by making a case for its relevance to distance education in the 21st century from four aspects. Given the focus of TDT on independent learning, the article concludes by calling for the use of other theories when in need so as to better inform the design and implementation of other types of learning activity.