. Moore (2013) found thatTD was the single biggest predictor of student satisfaction in online classes, a finding confirmed by morerecent research as well (Weidlich & Bastiaens, 2018). Low online retention rates are explained, in part, bythe potentially high barrier to contact and relationship-building between faculty and students in onlinecourses.

found that facultyperceived themselves as more accessibleto students than the students did. Studentsreported that because they were paying fortheir instructors’ time, they expected timelyresponses to their emails. Additionally,Foral et al. were surprised to learn that thestudents in the campus courses expected aquicker response from an email than did theonline students

Transactional distance is “...a psychological and communications gap, aspace of potential misunderstanding betweenthe inputs of instructor and those of thelearner” (Moore, 1991, p. 2) created by thephysical distance separating online instructorsfrom their learners

More importantly, transactional distance is not a static measurement, but variable with dynamics based on the interaction or gap between any one instructor and any one student—including face-to-face environments—and includes both psychological and communications space where there is potential for misunderstandings.  The space and time gap can be closed with deliberate elements of interaction by the instructor

The theory of Transactional Distance states that as the level of interaction between teacher and learner decreases, learner autonomy must increase.

There is greater potential for individual self-directed implementation, and more self-evaluation. Above all, there is great potential for peer support and for peergeneration of knowledge. Therefore it can be hypothesized that in the hands of progressive teachers,teleconferencing gives opportunity not only to reduce distance but also to increase the autonomy of learners.

The transactional distance theory helps the Instructional Designer make decisions about the degree of structure, autonomy and dialog that the eLearning course will provide. Simply stated, based on the transactional distance theory, the less the instructor directly interacts with the online learner, the more learner autonomy should be allowed, and therefore, the more structured the eLearning course should be.