The times they are a’changing…. or… how the new normal of online delivery can further enhance student equity
Dr Cathy Stone, Conjoint Associate Professor, University of Newcastle
How times have changed! Online learning, once considered at the margins of higher education (HE) has, since 2020, moved rapidly and unexpectedly to the mainstream. Even though external undergraduate enrolments had been growing faster than on-campus undergraduate enrolments, before 2020 online learning was by no means routinely offered by every Australian university. Today, it would be a rare degree offering that did not include some online components that students can do remotely, in their own time.
From a student equity perspective, this mainstreaming and normalising of online learning presents an opportunity to improve HE access and participation for increasingly diverse cohorts. Over the past 20 years at least, online learning has been increasingly contributing to student equity, making it possible for a wider range of people to participate and succeed in HE. No longer an ‘add-on’ serving a minority of students, it now has a central and essential role in delivering education for all. It is here to stay and needs to be fit for purpose.
For many Australian universities and their staff, the first time that online education was offered in any significant way was during the pandemic restrictions that began in 2020. As a result, many educators found themselves delivering online courses for the first time ever. This massive shift undoubtedly created many challenges – for students, institutions and staff – but it has also created opportunities which we need to understand and embrace into the future.
Despite the initial and inevitable scrambling when universities and staff had to rapidly ‘pivot’ to online delivery en masse, much of the research and literature that has emerged from 2020 to the present time shows very real promise for a more equitable HE experience. The ‘great onlining of 2020’ made online learning more accessible and manageable for a wider and more diverse range of students, through the greater flexibility it can offer. The ‘normalising’ of online learning due to Covid-19, whether fully online, blended or hybrid, presents an opportunity for universities to build and improve online learning options that best meet all students’ needs.
Evidence amassed over the past two decades consistently reveals key elements required to deliver an effective and engaging online learning experience. These include:
strong teacher-presence that builds meaningful communication with and between students;
interactive, varied and engaging course design;
timely and relevant support; and
flexibility of student policies and procedures, including those related to assessment due dates, and when and how course content can be accessed.
More detail on these and other key elements can be found in these National Equity Fellowship Guidelines.
The delivery of widening participation outreach (WPO) programs (for primary and secondary school students, their teachers, parents, carers and influential others) that use online components has similarly been shown to be more inclusive, providing more students from diverse backgrounds with the opportunity to participate, including those in regional and remote areas.
With the clear equity implications of online delivery, it is vital that universities “resist the urge to revert ‘back to normal’”and instead recognise the affordances that online can offer for students from all circumstances and backgrounds. The effective and ongoing provision of high quality online, blended or hybrid models, offered side by side with the more traditional on-campus education will only enhance “the potential for higher education to be more accessible to a broader student population”.
Dr Cathy Stone is a Conjoint Associate Professor, University of Newcastle and 2016 Equity Fellow, National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE), Curtin University, Australia. At the 2023 STARS Conference, she was awarded the STARS Fellow (2023).