Overcoming Transactional Distance as a Barrier to Effective Communication over the Internet

The use of the Internet as a medium for distance education requires students to transmit large amounts of socio-emotional information to people who are often total strangers. This can make people feel vulnerable, so they limit the amount of this type of information they transmit across the Net, which in turn creates a barrier to effective communication. This study assessed the quality of the communication that occurred as part of the teaching in a subject in a Doctorate of Education program. The quality of the communication did not accord with the expectations gleaned from the literature, due to the nature of the relationships that existed between the participants. The findings of this study can be used as the basis of interventions designed to improve the effectiveness of the Internet as a medium for undergraduate distance education.