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Despite its claims, can e-learning exclude disadvantaged and underserved populations? Can it reinforce elitism in higher education? Unfortunately, the answer is, “Yes, it can.”

The initial promise of e-learning was to improve access and to create a level playing field which would eliminate the barriers of geography, race, gender, age, ethnicity, employment-related travel, socio-economic difference, and disabilities. While this sounds good in a mission statement, many well-intentioned institutions of higher learning are, in reality, adopting commercial and open-source solutions, instructional strategies, and delivery options that undermine their stated goals.

Instead of providing access to higher education, larger barriers are being erected, and the fast car that is access to education and economic opportunity is speeding away from the underserved populations at a faster pace than ever. The newly-excluded e-learner tends to be precisely the learner the earliest online programs attempted to reach: non-traditional students, working adults, rural, lower-income, Hispanics, African-Americans, older individuals, physically impaired, sufferers of learning disorders. Universities have had no difficulties pocketing the federal and private grant money given to them to develop distributed programs to reach those learners. Amazingly, they are seemingly not even aware that the new solutions they are implementing are undermining their missions.

The newest of the online programs often contain three or more of the problems listed below:

Reading and Writing Skills Not Addressed: Online courses require students to read online texts, textbook material, online instructions, online discussions, chats, and quizzes. If a student cannot read quickly, or if they have problems with comprehension, they are fairly doomed, particularly in situations that require synthesis of materials. Likewise, if the student is not able to produce written discourse that aligns itself well with what tends to be a fairly standard college writing rubric, he or she is almost certainly assured of failure. Although most programs offer support in the form of an “Online Writing Center,” the approach tends to be ineffective.

Solution: Integrate reading and writing help in all courses. This includes bullet points of key topics to help reading for comprehension and making connections. It also includes vocabulary words, key concepts, and “on demand” help for writing. Short answer questions (sentences and one-paragraph responses) provide outstanding scaffolding for developing building blocks for a larger paper. Flow charts are helpful for longer papers, and help develop critical thinking skills. On-demand research and citation guide help should be made available, and in the style most likely to be required (APA, MLA, etc.).

Standardized Tests: As much as colleges support the development of critical thinking skills and they promote the ability to synthesize information, both independently and in collaborative learning settings, their assessment methods often do not reflect how and what things were learned. For example, a course that requires creative problem solving, presentation skills, and essay-writing abilities, may have a final test that consists of a multiple-choice quiz, which was developed by a governmental testing agency. Many state education boards require students to pass a series of standardized tests, even at the community college level. Students who could not afford a test preparation course and/or package are excluded from the start. If they do not have transportation or have work schedule conflicts and cannot easily go to a testing center, they have another rather huge obstacle to overcome.

For example, community colleges in Texas require the following performances on the following tests, just to be able to take online courses toward a degree:

• ACCUPLACER :
  http://www.collegeboard.com/highered/apr/accu/accu.html http://www.collegeboard.com/highered/apr/accu/accu.html
  • Elementary Algebra - 63
    • Reading Comprehension - 78
    • Written Essay - 6 or [Written Essay - 5 and Sentence Skills - 80]
• ASSET : http://www.act.org/asset/index.html
  • Elementary Algebra - 38
  • Reading Skills - 41
  • Written Essay - 6 or [Written Essay - 5 and Writing Skills (multiple choice) - 40]
• COMPASS : http://www.act.org/compass/index.html
  
  • Algebra - 39
  • Reading Skills - 81
  • Written Essay - 6 or [Written Essay - 5 and Writing Skills (multiple choice) - 59]
• THEA (Texas Higher Education Assessment) http://www.thea.nesinc.com/
  • Mathematics - 230
  • Reading - 230
  • Writing - 220

Solution: If the tests are expected at the end of the coursework, the online course should be designed to provide students with practice in taking the tests. Even overlooking the fact that “teaching the test” does not always encourage or facilitate deep learning, institutions that are utilizing textbook-produced web content, learning objects, and “modules,” will not have the flexibility to be able to accomplish that goal.

Second Generation Digital Divide: Learning management systems have become very robust, online support services that are often accessible through an interactive portal, and interactive, game-based software are multimedia-intensive. What this means, in practical terms, is that a student needs a high-powered personal computer no more than 2 years old, a high-speed internet connection (usually high-speed cable modem or DSL), and a firewall-flexible environment that allows plug-ins and programs (java, javascript, Flash, Quicktime, Windows Media Player, Adobe Acrobat), to process the data in viewable form. The files and data packets being processed are often several megabytes in size. This is simply not viable over a modem, even if it is a 56k connection.

Solution: Design courses that can be downloaded and played even while not connected to the internet. Do not require synchronous learning or interaction. Download texts in zip files. Optimize graphics.

Failed Collaborative Learning Due to Rigid Work Requirements: Although numerous studies and research have suggested that “real-time” or synchronous chat is not the most effective way to interact with peers in an online environment, particularly with students in different parts of the world and with different schedules, some universities insist that online chat be the central part of the grade. For the “IM” (instant message) generation, synchronous chat makes sense. However, the program should not be so rigid that students are penalized when they cannot participate at a particular time or date. Flexibility it key.

Solution: Maintain a flexible attitude. Use free and easy-to-obtain chat programs such as Yahoo chat or AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) rather than keeping the chat function behind an LMS. What people fail to appreciate is that one can save chat transcripts in AIM, so the primary reason for keeping it behind a bandwidth-hogging LMS is eliminated.

Course Content’s Lack of Relevancy: Because the cost of developing online courses can be dramatically high, as well as time-intensive, it is tempting to develop re-usable, one-size-fits-all shells, or to utilize the textbook’s WebCT cartridges. Unfortunately, the content — because it is canned — will often have little or no relevance to the lives and needs of the actual learners, particularly if they do not come from the niche group the textbook editors were trying to appeal to. By forcing students to study and relate to concepts that are utterly and completely outside their experience, a level of alienation is introduced. If it is clear that the intended audience was a group of upper middle-class predominantly whites from a high-income suburb in the U.S., students who do not fit that profile will hear the underlying message that education is not really for them.

Solution: In order to motivate students, it is important to engage the affect — to make them care. Making students care about what they are learning means building in enough flexibility to allow them to relate the course content to their lives and to explore, and continue to explore the topic. It is important to find readings that speak to, incorporate, and respect diversity. This applies not only to one’s ethnicity, but also to their education level, religion, geographical region, beliefs, and socio-economic background.

Exclusion is subtle: A list that could extend forever… Unfortunately, this list could go on for several more pages. In fact, it probably should, since strategies for reaching the newly-excluded e-learner are important and should be considered before the decision is made (usually by technology and not by the academic units) to purchase a new integrated database, learning management system, or learning object repository. Small is beautiful. Large, shiny, complicated, and technologically advanced can be beautiful, too, but not if it excludes the learners the program is designed to provide access to.