Republic of the Philippines

CAMARINES NORTE STATE COLLEGE

F. Pimentel Avenue, Brgy. 2, Daet, Camarines Norte – 4600, Philippines

Student ID Number of members Due date:

1.18-0545 3. 18-0644 5. 18-0992
2.18-0439 4. 18-0870 6. 18-1049
Impact of Synchronous Learning to Academic Activity Literature Review
Proposed title of Performance of Bachelor of Elementary #4
Research Education Students at Camarines Norte State
College
Introduction (limit in 1500 words only).

Education is at its best when students feel connected to the learning environment and are engaged
in learning that is meaningful and relevant to their lives. Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, the continuity of
education becomes a challenge without face-to-face classes. Moreover, e-learning pave a way to make
distance education possible. E-learning is a mode of learning that takes place electronically, often via the
Internet. It requires students to use electronic devices such as computers, tablets and cell phones—usually
their own, although often students use institutional devices too. Synchronous learning is one of the types
of e-learning that happens in real time. Synchronous learning involves using text, video, or voice
communication in a way that enables educators and other members of the school-or board-based team to
instruct and connect with students in real time. It helps teachers provide immediate feedback to students
and enables students to interact with one another. Synchronous learning parallels the face-to-face
classroom experience. It includes direct instruction on the part of the teacher and promotes the best
learning experience for a student. Synchronous e-learning makes use of digital tools and content extending
from telephone calls and video-conferencing to voice over internet protocol (VoIP) and video broadcast
over the internet (Emmanuel et al., 2019). Some synchronous e-learning like the video-conferencing and
Live Virtual Classrooms (LVCs) which is a blend of two or more synchronous technologies used to produce
a solution that permits several channels of communication. For instance, video-conferencing brings
together video and audio in an effort to reduce the experience of communicating with others face-to-face
and is used both to accelerate meetings in business and industry, in addition to education purposes
(Emmanuel et al., 2019). LVCs integrate video and audio in a like fashion but are particularly intended for
web-conferencing training, and education. They thus include a range of other tools intended to support
interaction and distance learning, like collaborative whiteboards, analyzing and resource grouping
instruments, and contributor response tools (Emmanuel et al., 2019). With regard to educational benefits,
blended synchronous learning can help to establish rich teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive
presence (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000; Szeto, 2015). According to White et al. (2010), a BSLE
provides a mimic classroom environment where teachers' direct instruction and facilitation can be easily
carried out and the teaching presence is hence naturally established. Also, it enables online students to
observe classroom students and the instructor and socially interact with them via two-way video
conferencing, and therefore social presence is created. In addition, both classroom and online students
can construct knowledge by being engaged in instructional activities and sustained communication, and
more perspectives can be shared (Cunningham, 2014; Stewart, Harlow, &DeBacco, 2011). As a result,
cognitive presence can be easily promoted. However, for some students, synchronous learning may not be
possible due to internet bandwidth issues. According to Capdeferro and Romero (2012), the online
students may also feel frustrated when they encounter technical difficulties at a separate site without a
nearby technician to provide immediate support.

Amidst Covid-19 pandemic, synchronous learning has positive and negative impact to academic
performance of college students, the positive impact is synchronous learning is effective when the teachers
and students have a strong internet connection. Wherein the students can ask question to their teacher in
real-time. Students become more engaged in their learning and students feel a stronger sense of
collaboration. Thus, despite the distance between the teacher and students there is another way to interact
and gain some knowledge to them. While the negative impact or the disadvantages of synchronous

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 Republic of the Philippines
CAMARINES NORTE STATE COLLEGE
F. Pimentel Avenue, Brgy. 2, Daet, Camarines Norte – 4600, Philippines
learning is when the student and teachers have a poor internet connection. Hence, there are some
students that cannot be able to attend in synchronous learning and cannot be able to participate in the
discussion, therefore, the result is not good. The students don’t acquire enough knowledge and it has a
great impact to them, they will start worrying about their grades. Consequently, there are many students
who are worried to their academic performance and stressed for the reason that they do not have the
ability to attend synchronous learning due to the poor internet connection. According to Yun Jeog and
Curtis (2007), the relationship between the role of the online instructor and learning community
development, that some behaviors of the facilitators (i.e., referred to as the “authority”) in synchronous
discussion had a negative impact on learning community formation. There are some instructors that are
not well-trained when it comes to use technology or other apps especially those veteran teachers, hence, it
has a disadvantages for the teaching and learning process. For this reason, it will affect the academic
performance of the students for the reason that the instructor does not have enough skills by using digital
technology. Therefore, it is necessary to have a proper training for the faculty to prepare them for new
roles and pedagogy in online environments were highlighted. According to some instructors, the
synchronous peer critique activity benefited their students by offering prompt feedback, diverse views and
experiences and meaningful interactions among participants. Based on some student’s experiences
synchronous interaction is by far the most productive and there is little doubt as to what the other person
needs, wants or means. It is real time and allows for forward movement toward the goal without waiting for
a delayed asynchronous response. Furthermore, for the disadvantages of synchronous learning, time
constraints and lack of reflection time, for instance, if there are group reporting and the students was
divided into four. The available time for each session was about one hour. Unlike time-independent
discussions, the students indicated that tone hour meeting placed a constraint on sufficient discussions
about all members’ artifacts. The time pressure sometimes let to superficial comments, not thoughtful
feedback. This synchronous learning really affects every college student’s performance which now faces a
big challenge on how to overpass their education with this kind of situation. The new normal way of
learning this is one of the opportunities for everyone to think the goals of education.

The Corona Virus Disease 2019 which is also known as COVID-19, was a virus came from Wuhan,
China and infect Chinese individuals and later on spread all over the world in just a month after it was find
out as a new variant of a virus. It cause severe illnesses and may cause death to a person in worst and no
one can still say when COVID-19 end as of today. As a solution to the problem and reduce the numbers of
Filipino to be infected, the different sectors of the government implement their plan into action to respond in
the call of situation. On March 15, 2020, the Philippine President released a public statement ordering the
implementation of lockdown in Luzon areas and in the whole Philippines afterwards due to the threat of
COVID-19 in the Philippines. This brought all educational institutions to suspend academic activities and
shift from the traditional face-to-face classes into the blended or flexible learning modalities. The secretary
of the Commission on Higher Education and the Department of Education came up with a plan in order to
deliver instruction and quality education to the Filipino youth and students even without teaching them in a
face to face setup. Elementary and secondary students in rural areas learned through modular instruction
while those in urban areas were through online learning. However, the college students and tertiary
institutions adopt the flexible learning which is a combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning.
The teaching and non-teaching personnel had to stop working and advised to stay at home but they will
continue their services in schools. Starting a new school year with a pandemic, a new teaching and
learning modality was implemented to tertiary schools which is the flexible learning. Flexible learning was
executed in two ways: the synchronous (virtual) and asynchronous (modular) learning. In this study it will
only focus on the Impact of Synchronous Learning to Academic Performance of Bachelor in Elementary
Education Students at Camarines Norte State College as we are one of those students who experience
this modality in educational learning. According to the glossary of education reform, synchronous learning
is general term used to describe the forms of education, instruction, and learning that occur at the same
time, but not in the same place. Synchronous learning can assure the safety of the students and the
teacher, it allows the students to communicate with their teacher and send feedback without worrying

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 Republic of the Philippines
CAMARINES NORTE STATE COLLEGE
F. Pimentel Avenue, Brgy. 2, Daet, Camarines Norte – 4600, Philippines
about their health due to the virus because, they don’t need to have a face-to-face interaction to deliver
the instruction. However, these new learning modality also have a positive and negative effect to students
performance. First, it helped to alleviate the sense of isolation that can come from distance learning and
this can be beneficial for improving student engagement and maintaining interest level. But in this modality,
students can be hinder to learn due to low access on good internet connection and some students have no
gadgets to be used during classes. In this situation, the teachers and students need to have a deep
understanding between each other situation to survive in this trying times.
References:

G. Dada, E., H. Alkali, A., & O. Oyewola, D. (2019). An Investigation into the Effectiveness of
Asynchronous and Synchronous E-learning Mode on Students’ Academic Performance in National Open University
(NOUN), Maiduguri Centre. International Journal of Modern Education and Computer Science, 11(5), 54–64.
https://doi.org/10.5815/ijmecs.2019.05.06

Wang, Q., Quek, C. L., & Hu, X. (2017). Designing and Improving a Blended Synchronous Learning Environment:
An Educational Design Research. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(3),
99-118. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v18i3.303

Park, Y. J., & J. Bonk, C. (2OO7). Synchronous Learning Experiences: Distance and Residential Learners’
Perspective in a Blended Learning Graduate Course. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 6(3), 245-264.
www.ncolr.org/jio

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The main objectives of this study are to:
Determine the impact of sychronous learning to academics performance of students.
Determine the challenges encountered in regards to synchronous learning modality.
Establish solutions to challenges encountered in synchronous learning modality.

LITERATURE REVIEW
The following information gathered from different studies are relavant in Investigating the Impact of
Synchronous Learning to Academic Performance of Bachelor of Elementary Education Students'
Can Online Learning Boost Academic Performance? A Microeconomics Study
Research Problem
The study examines whether students' duration of use of the online economics classroom (one element of the
blended instructional approach employed), measured in months, is significantly associated with different levels of
academic performance. Subsequent sections offer a brief review of the literature, description of the online
classroom, discussion of the study’s research design, presentation of the data, analysis, limitations of the study, and
the conclusion.
Hyphothesis
Song and Keller (2001) report somewhat stronger empirical evidence to support the hypothesis that improved
learner motivation is significantly associated with increased achievement. In particular, they find that learners using
motivationally adaptive (geared strictly to the indicated needs of learners) computer aided instruction (CAI)
performed significantly better than those using motivationally saturated (indiscriminate provision of motivational
tactics) or motivationally minimized (stripped of motivational tactics) CAI.
Theory
The mixing of instructional modalities and methods has been variously described as blended learning (Graham,
2005). A blended learning process has five components, according to Carman (2005). Live activities, self-paced
learning, collaboration, evaluation, and the availability of performance support materials are only a few of the
options. According to Graham (2005), the mixture of online and face-to-face teaching better represents the
historical emergence of blended learning systems.
Research Design
This analysis is based on a study of the 2007 cohort of DUT Riverside campus students enrolled for the
microeconomics module of its introductory economics course.
Participants

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 Republic of the Philippines
CAMARINES NORTE STATE COLLEGE
F. Pimentel Avenue, Brgy. 2, Daet, Camarines Norte – 4600, Philippines
In terms of measuring academic achievement, the study uses the student's introductory microeconomics course
mark (MicDP) rather than his or her final mark. This is done to keep the sample size as high as possible while still
reducing the chance of selection bias. Normally, a student's final grade decides whether or not he or she completes
a module or course. The student's final grade is a weighted average of his or her course grade and final test grade.
However, if the student has not earned a course grade of at least 40%, an institutional academic exclusion clause
prohibits him or her from taking the final exam. In any given academic year, a large number of students are
therefore excluded from receiving both a final review and a final grade. The technique of using the course grade as
the primary indicator of a student's academic success means that the effect of online learning on achievement can
be evaluated with a larger number of applicants, rather than only those who are predisposed to successful
performance for reasons unrelated to their use of the online facility.

Instrument
The analysis was conducted using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) programme. Cases with missing
relevant variables were excluded list wise as per its default setting with the result that the number of sample cases
used in the regression exercise was reduced to N = 100. A brief descriptive analysis of the data is followed by a
discussion of the results of the multiple regression exercise.
Sampling
Its sample size is based on the total number of students enrolled in the microeconomics module, which is 250.
Following data cleaning, the study consists of 174 students or instances (69.6 percent of the population). The data
cleaning process concentrated on removing cases (outliers) in which the amount of hits on the online classroom
deviated greatly from the mean. As a result, if the number of hits per case was too low (250).
Treatment of Data
Descriptive Analysis
The sample is reasonably representative of the population. Thus, with respect to age, for example, the sample mean
age of females is 23.3 yrs (population = 23.4 years) while that of males is 23.8 yrs (population = 23.8yrs). The sample
proportions of first, second and third year-and-older students are also similar to that of the population (36.8%,
33.6% and 29.9% respectively) as are the sample gender proportions (sample males = 41.4%,population males =
42%). Individuals included in the sample are predominantly second language English speakers (66.9%) and most
(89%) took mathematics at some level in their final year of high school. That introductory microeconomics is
something of a problem subject for students is evident from the consideration that most students as represented by
the sample were repeating the course (54%). This is also true of the population (52.4%).
Regression Analysis
Using multiple regression analysis it is possible to test whether a set of independent variables explains the expected
variance in the dependent variable, in this case, academic performance in introductory microeconomics. Drawing on
the literature, likely predictors of economics performance were selected for inclusion in a significant linear
regression model (F₆, ₉₃ = 4.990, p < 0.0005 and Adjusted R square = 0.195). This model specified performance
(MicDP) as a function of gender (dummy variable “genderscale”, male = 0/female = 1), high school mathematics
marks (mathmarksct2), high school English marks (engmarksct2), duration of online activity in months
(durationhalf), total number of online quizzes attempted (tASS) and total marks accumulated from completed online
quizzes (OnlineMicperfT). The variables of student age and whether an individual was repeating the course were
excluded on the basis that they are indicated as insignificant factors whose inclusion reduces the variance in
performance that the model can potentially account for.
Major Findings
A cautious interpretation of these results is that the study offers at least modest evidence of how motivation to
engage in online learning may impact on performance.
Conclusion
In sight of claims that there is a lack of definitive studies on the efficacy of online education, this study sought to
determine the intensity of the connection between academic success and the amount of productive time spent in
the online classroom as part of a blended learning approach. The probability of selection bias was minimized as
much as possible by using a broad sample size in relation to the population and using the microeconomics course
grade as the indicator of academic success.
Gap

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 Republic of the Philippines
CAMARINES NORTE STATE COLLEGE
F. Pimentel Avenue, Brgy. 2, Daet, Camarines Norte – 4600, Philippines
The research article does not articulate the specific sets of questions in the introduction, and the methodology of
the study is somewhat ambiguous. Information in terms of sampling, instrumentation and its design were not
detailed which decreases its reliability and validity.

Synchronous Zoom Web Conference System: An Exploratory Study on Students’ E-Learning Experience
Research Problem
Aside from the successes yet research has found that the users of technology in education in Indonesia still face
some obstacles. Some major problems are about the students independency, connection problem, and lack of
familiarity with the online materials (Kusumo et all, 2018). On the other hand, these students who generally are the
millennial have been living with tremendous numbers of technology advancement in their social lives.
Specific Questions
This research attempts to find out students perception of their e-learning experience through a synchronous e-
learning by using zoom conference system. The questions asked in this research are:
1. What activities do the participants have in the synchronous e-learning learning through zoom conference
system?
2. What do students perceive the implementation of synchronous e-learning learning through zoom conference
system that they had experienced? And what do they perceive e-learning Journal of ELT Research | 71 compared to
traditional face-to-face learning?
Research Design
The purpose of exploratory sequential research design in this study was to explore students' experience and what
they perceived from the implementation of synchronous elearning through zoom conference system. In the first
qualitative phase of the study the research questions focused on observing the e-learning to investigate the types of
activities applied. In the second quantitative phase, a questionnaire about what students perceived from the
activities in the e-learning and what they perceived from e-learning compared to traditional face-to-face.
Participants
The participants in this study were 62 students from two classes at the same university in Indonesia, who were
taking the same English class with the same instructor, which focused on grammar and reading for the TOEIC Test of
English for International Communication (TOEIC). This was a required subject for all undergraduate students to take
during their time in school. The TOEIC examination was the subject's final exam. Participants ranged in age from
seventeen to twenty years old and were in their first semester of university. They were all from Indonesia.
Instrument
The instruments used to gather the data were classroom observation recordings and questionnaire. Classroom
activities were recorded and then the questionnaire was distributed to the participants. Questionnaire is a survey
instruments for the purposes of investigating data on attitudes opinions or beliefs and motivations in learning
language (Dörnyei, 2003). A set of closed-item questionnaire using the 5 options Likert Scale answers was used to
gather the data.

Treatment of Data
Figure 1. Spoken interaction in the synchronous e-learning (see fig. 1 pgs.6)
Figure 1 is a capture of classroom activity when students were on the web-cam. This activity was done when
students greeted each other and had a small talk before the lesson start. This was also done after the students
submitted their tasks by uploading the answer to the chat feature (see the right side), they could greet each other
once again for the leave-taking as the sign that the class finished.
Figure 2. Written communication in the synchronous e-learning (see fig.2 pgs.6)
Figure 2 is a capture of written communication in the e-learning. There were two chat features in the e-learning:
private chat and classroom chat. In the classroom chat, lecturers had conversation with all students about the tasks
progress or checking students' participation to the lesson. The private chat, on the other hand, was for students to
communicate with the lecturer for individual matter such as technical problem the student has. Private chat was
also used by the lecturer to monitor individual participation.
Figure 3. Shared Screen in the synchronous learning (see fig.3 pgs.7)
Figure 3 is a capture of a screen that the lecturer shared to all students during the study process. This screen
functioned as a whiteboard for lecturer to show the material and for students to answers in written responses.

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 Republic of the Philippines
CAMARINES NORTE STATE COLLEGE
F. Pimentel Avenue, Brgy. 2, Daet, Camarines Norte – 4600, Philippines
Students and lecturer used different font colors to differentiate each other. During this activity lecturer could
communicate orally with the students while explaining the materials to the students.
Major findings
The activities in communication category were the spoken and written interaction during the lesson whose
functions were to get information to share information or to discuss the lesson (see table 1). Spoken interactions
were done in 'greet each other' 'small talk before the lesson' (see Figure 1) and 'classroom lecture to all students'
activities. Other activities such as 'private conversation with lecturer' 'question and answer between students and
lecturer' 'question and answer between students and group discussion in the breakout rooms' could be done in
both spoken and written manners. Secondly, activities in materials category were the activities of accessing learning
materials from slides share/shared screen and downloaded or uploaded exercise questions in the chat feature (see
the right side of Figure 1). Lastly, the activities that were categorized as study process included the activities of
discussing the core lessons of the sessions and having the tasks for the students. In these activities, lecturer shared
slides containing the core lessons, discussed them with the students, and distributed task questions for students'
practices. In addition, before discussing about the lessons, students were asked questions about the information of
exams, task progress, or other information related to study process.
Gap
The research does not provide hypothesis and there was no theory/ theoretical framework that will back up the
study thus this indeed affect the strength of this research. Moreover, the sampling method used in this study is not
clearly indicated.
Synchronous e- learning
Research problem
This research investigated synchronous online learning classrooms as a means to allow distance educators to build
connections with and among students more efficiently and to increase the potential for interaction. Research of this
nature, while in its infancy, is very important to the distance education communities in higher education, K-12, and
industry as technology continues to improve and become feasible in these educational settings.
Theory
The current literature on distance education sheds light on two major issues confronting educators today: 1)
difficulties in providing optimal engagement, both course-related and social, and 2) a scarcity of validated
pedagogical methods for learning in synchronous environments. Educational researchers should look at all of these
topics. Distance Education research emphasizes the importance of interaction for effective teaching (Garrison,
Anderson, & Archer, 2001; Hillman, 1999; Moore & Kearsley, 1996; Vrasidas & McIsaac, 1999). Studies indicate that
interactions between students and instructors and student-to-student interactions greatly enhance education at a
distance (Harasim, 1990; Hillman, 1999; Willis, 1995; Moore, 1989). In addition, social interactions required for
students to be successful learners are frequently missing (Galusha, 1997; Hara & Khling, 1999; Kubala, 1998).
Educators often use asynchronous computer mediated communication to address these problems, but these
methods are still insufficient and others need to be investigated. Well-planned pedagogical strategies are needed as
instructors integrate synchronous tools.
Research design
This study employed a rigorous blend of research methods that examined instructors, students, and support teams
to gain a good understanding of the use of synchronous software. Data were collected using student and instructor
surveys, instructor and support personnel interviews and focus groups, direct and participant observation, analysis
of event logs and archival records.
Partipants
The university licensed working versions of both Elluminate Live!™ and HorizonLive™ software packages. All faculty
were invited to participate in the pilot test of these programs. For the study, purposeful sampling was used to select
eight instructors with unique teaching styles and experience as distance instructors. The instructors in this study
taught in the College of Nursing (1), the College of Engineering (2), Library and Information Sciences (2) and the
College of Education (3). Three were full professors, two were adjunct instructors, two were assistant professors
and the last was a full time instructor with additional administration duties. All were teaching at least a portion of
their course online and had varying levels of experience in distance education. One instructor was based on a
remote campus.
Instrument

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 Republic of the Philippines
CAMARINES NORTE STATE COLLEGE
F. Pimentel Avenue, Brgy. 2, Daet, Camarines Norte – 4600, Philippines
An instrument was developed to document direct observations as well as subjective interpretations of classroom
events. The primary categories under investigation included pedagogy, interactions, structure, learner autonomy,
and tools used. Using a checklist and a set of guidelines, recorded class sessions were rated by six independent
reviewers. The design and implementation of this instrument was iterative. Although the final version had good
inter-rater reliability, complete agreement was reached through discussion of each question with less than 80%
agreement.
Sampling
For the study, purposeful sampling was used to select eight instructors with unique teaching styles and experience
as distance instructors. The instructors in this study taught in the College of Nursing (1), the College of Engineering
(2), Library and Information Sciences (2) and the College of Education (3). Three were full professors, two were
adjunct instructors, two were assistant professors and the last was a full time instructor with additional
administration duties.
Treatment of Data
Students were surveyed twice during the semester, once when they began using the synchronous software and
once at the end of the semester. The first survey provided a baseline on experience as well as demographics. The
second survey examined the perceptions that students held after using the synchronous software throughout the
semester. Instructors took an end of the semester which examined the faculty’s perspectives as well as how they
ultimately utilized the synchronous environment in their courses. Additional data were collected in the form of
documents which included email, discussion board postings, training materials, support documentation and a
researcher’s journal. These documents were generated by faculty, students, producers, technical support personnel
and the research team. They include both positive aspects of the project as well as problems and troubleshooting.
Thematic analysis of these documents helped to triangulate and validate the other data collected.
Major Findings
The results were analysed qualitatively based on a theoretical framework that examined interactions, structure,
learner autonomy and the success of the pedagogical strategy used, as well as perceptions of those involved. The
results of one case will be discussed here as an example of the resulting data. Data collected for this case included
student surveys, session recordings, observations, a faculty interview, and a faculty survey. In addition, archival
documents such as web sites and emails were examined to fill in the gaps.
Conclusion
Using synchronous software can be a daunting step for even an experienced distance educator. However, learners
throughout the world stand to benefit from the use of such tools. Therefore it is important that methods are tested
and guidelines created to assist the distance educator in successfully implementing these tools. The data provided in
this study offer an initial framework for the development of a set of guidelines to support the planning and use of
synchronous software in higher education instruction. In general the results of the research support the use of
synchronous web based course systems to supplement existing distance courses allowing educators to build
connections with and among students more efficiently and increase the potential for interaction in the online
classroom.
Gap
In this research article specific sets of questions were missing , there were also no hypothesis indicated in this study.

HYPHOTHESIS
H¹ learning has both positive and negative impact to the students academic performance.
H² Students with adequate resources and stable internet connection are more likely to adapt easily to the new way
of learning than those who do not.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
This part of the study will use an independent-dependent variable model to show the correlation of
the various evidences and data that gathered in the study. The independent variable under conceptual
paradigm is the one that manipulate or change the result and said to be the one that have direct effect to
the dependent variable in the research.
The conceptual framework regarding impact of Synchronous Learning to Academic Performance of
Students shows that Synchronous Learning (Independent Variable) has direct effect to Academic

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 Republic of the Philippines
CAMARINES NORTE STATE COLLEGE
F. Pimentel Avenue, Brgy. 2, Daet, Camarines Norte – 4600, Philippines
Performance (Dependent Variable)

THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK
This study is supported by the theory of transactional distance, an influential concept in distance
education, proposed by Moore (1993). It refers to the degree of psychological distance between learner
and teacher. It suggests that, although separation by space and time is the most prominent characteristic
of distance education, transactional distance is the actual guiding principle in distance education,
influencing the process of teaching and learning. Transactional distance may also be perceived in face-to-
face education, as it is a relative rather than an absolute term. The extent to which transactional distance
will be perceived by the learner is a function of three variables, dialog, structure, and learner autonomy
(Moore, 1993).
As for the transactional theory, according to Moore (1997), the nature of the transaction developed
between teachers and students in distance learning needs to take into account three factors: dialogue,
structure, and learner autonomy. Dialogue refers to more than simply two-way communication, but takes
into account all forms of interaction, “within the context of clearly defined educational targets, cooperation
and understanding on the part of the teacher, and, ultimately, it culminates in solving the learners’
problems”
Moore (1997) indicates the important consideration in this respect relates not to the frequency of
dialogue, but to its quality and the extent to which it is effective in enabling the resolution of learning
problems the distance learner may be experiencing. The second factor Moore (1997) refers to is the nature
of the course structure, which is described as the level of the course’s rigidity or flexibility. This factor
includes aspects such as the extent to which course goals and objectives are pre-prescribed, the
pedagogical model used in teaching the course (e.g., teacher- vs. student-centred), the nature of course
assessment, and the ability of the course to accommodate individual student needs (Zhang, 2003). The
third factor, learner autonomy, is contingent upon the previous two, in that it refers to the sense of both
independence and interdependence perceived by learners as they engage in the course. Learner
autonomy is intimately tied in with a learner’s sense of self-direction or self-determination, and this can be
significantly affected by the dialogue, the level of rigidity or flexibility inherent in the course design and
delivery, and the “extent to which the learner exerts control over learning procedures” (Giossos et al.,)
Moore’s theory asserts that an inverse relationship exists between these three factors, in that
increases in one can lead to corresponding decreases in others (McIsaac & Gunawardena, 1996). For
example, a course with an inflexible structure can lead to a decrease in the quality of dialogue and sense
of learner autonomy, thereby increasing the students’ perception of transactional distance. However,
Moore (1997) also notes that when course structure drops below a particular threshold (although he does
not specify what this is), the sense of transactional distance can actually increase, due principally to the
potential for learner confusion or dissatisfaction.
This study anchored to this theory because it is of benefits for defining and understanding distance
education. As this research is about synchronous learning modality and its impact to academic
performance of students and it's under distance education, therefore the transactional distance theory can
provides a better picture in understanding this phenomena and relating it to classroom settings and other
instances which took place during distance learning. Moreover this study is exploring the impact of
synchronous to academic performance of students and in connection to Transactional Distance Theory it
provides an idea regarding this, it has an Idea that the results found only two variables had significant
effects on perceived learning outcomes: the greater the perceived transactional distance, the lower the
perceived outcomes and the greater the frequency of discussion, the higher the perceived achievement of
learning outcomes. Additionally it also emphasized that in distance education technology is indeed matter
which is true because this also affect learning or academic performance of students.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
References:

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