XplanaZine

One of the primary appeals of online education is its claim to be able to offer a high-quality educational experience to underserved populations, and thus provide access where it did not exist before.

Before proceeding, I would like to make it clear that I wholeheartedly believe in the promise of online-based education and in its basic efficacy in providing a mechanism for surmounting obstacles that have formerly blocked an individual from being able to obtain access to education, training, and professional development.

However, it’s not as easy as it appears. A university, educational institution, association, or training organization cannot simply slap up a syllabus and a discussion board in Blackboard or WebCT and expect good results. In order to succeed, an approach must be developed that allows the online course provider to understand precisely where the challenges exist. Then, a systematic approach can be developed, with effective project management a critical factor in the success of the enterprise.

Geographical barriers: Individuals who live in areas of low population density, or where there are too few students to achieve critical mass and offer a course in their areas of interest. Students who must drive more than three or four hours to attend an onsite class have found that hybrid and 100% online courses are appealing. Online courses are an obvious way to overcome isolation, low population density, long and expensive travel times.

Internet access barriers: Students who do not live in an area with affordable online access are often underserved, not only because of the cost of access, but because the prevailing online delivery format may require high-speed access. Individuals who live in regions where only dial-up access is available may face the added cost of pay-per-minute phone calls for the access. A possible solution is to offer a non-flash, quick-to-download version of content. Weblogs can be used instead of dynamic webpages, which often require system-crashing and slow-to-load applets, Active-X, and java.

Economic barriers: Low-income families, single mothers, the working poor find the rising cost of education to be a real barrier. In addition to needing to pay for tuition, buy books and materials, and pay for fees, it is now necessary to purchase a good computer and have a good online access plan. One possible solution could be for educational institutions to partner with Internet cafes, Kinko’s, etc. in order to give discounted access. Other possibilities could be for corporations and national chains to make education centers and access available for certain qualifying students. McDonald’s Internet Education Center anyone?

Socio-cultural barriers: The demographic group with the lowest graduation rate from high school continues to be those who identify themselves as Hispanic. Why does this occur? Several studies have pointed to the fact that many individuals feel pressure to drop out of school to help provide support for one’s extended family. Other studies point to weak English language skills, which create additional obstacles. Providing education to this underserved group may require focusing on a) remedial English courses; b) opportunities to take classes in conjunction with work; and c) support teams of people facing the same challenges.

Work-requirement barriers: Deployed military, working adults with night jobs or frequent business-related travel are often underserved by traditional courses as well as online courses that require synchronous chat, enforce rigid deadlines, and do not allow flexibility in terms of work. Not surprisingly, these individuals often are faced with the twin challenges of geographical and internet-access barriers. Institutions must conduct careful needs assessments and also must strive to develop an idea of the kind and quality of internet access that exists, as well as the kind of computers used (morale computers, personal laptops, internet café?) in order to develop courses that accommodate access and technical realities.

Family and lifestyle barriers: Stay-at-home mothers, parents who home-school their young children, disabled individuals, individuals who spend a great deal of time between locations or on the road, are often deeply interested in ongoing, life-long learning. However, they are often not able to find the kinds of courses that interest them. Many individuals view life-long learning as a part of a heuristic, a part of a life-long quest to grow, evolve, and engage in self-discovery. Thus, a flexible curriculum, with unique course content is most appealing, and yet not easily obtained.

Library resources access barriers: Providing access to courses is just one challenge in helping underserved populations have access to good online education. Many times, the individual does not have access to a library or other information resources. Thus, it is important to provide a package – not only courses and online support services, but also subscription-level online library resources which allow free searches and downloads from a database.

Course content barriers: Courses must consist of more than a syllabus and a discussion board, with perhaps a powerpoint or two thrown in. However, obtaining course content is not easy for a department to do with any sort of ongoing or sustainable success. The same professor who enthusiastically creates a wonderful suite of lectures, guiding questions, instructional content is often the same professor who is reluctant to share, citing intellectual property issues. Thus, it is difficult for an institution to maintain consistency in terms of quality, and it is almost impossible to offer more than a few sections of a course. A possible solution would be for the institution to partner with content providers, which would relieve the instructor from the need to develop all original content. He/she could focus on the actual instruction of the course, as well as the interactive elements – weblogs, chat, IM kernels, discussion boards, one-on-one responses to work.

In summary, any educational institution wishing to provide meaningful learning experiences to underserved populations must take a close look at its own operations, and see how they apply to developing a high-quality distance education program. The categories suggested by WICHE (Western Institutions Commission on Higher Education) may serve as a guideline to all institutions wishing to address underserved populations.

—Instructional context and commitment
—Curriculum and instruction
—Faculty support
—Student support
—Evaluation and assessment

Each of these categories may be applied to the problem of eliminating or at least finding strategies for surmounting the barriers listed earlier. Mentioned, but only obliquely, is the barrier of undercapitalization. All of the remedies require funding – some more than others. For that reason, perhaps the most effective approach is one based on developing productive partnerships. Partnerships in education can be surprisingly effective, particularly if they reward the innovative or creative solution, and encourage individuals to develop cost-effective and underserved group-specific solutions.