The purpose of the current study was to explore students’ perceptions of the virtual classroom in terms of the impact they considered it made on their sense of transactional distance. The author used Moore’s (1997) Theory of Transactional Distance to analyze students' perceptions. The findings reveal that the use of the virtual classroom can potentially, at least, contribute to the development of quality dialogue. However according to Moore’s theory, this dialogue depends on structural aspects and, consequently, student perception of learner autonomy.