Undergraduate distance learning degree

Administrators of state higher education systems gathered at a conference sponsored by the State Higher Education Executive Officers association last year to hear how a new virtual university was increasing access to, and participation in, higher education--two crucial items on most states' higher education agendas. The message was not new: It was that distance learning is providing portal not just to academic degrees but also to upward social and economic mobility.

The speaker opened with a stirring example of one prospective student: a single mountain woman supporting her four youngsters. Without leaving her home and children, she could boot up her computer and, with appropriate study, earn a degree. The audience didn't question whether that backwoods woman had access to a computer. As with any listener drawn into a good story, any questioning was suspended. We liked this quintessential rags-to-riches American story until the speaker added: "This woman doesn't need to be on a college campus."

A murmur passed through the back row, filled mostly with women. The woman next to me snorted, "A college campus is exactly what she needs. Single with four children? She needs to learn a different way of life." None of us commented to the larger audience, but my thoughts and questions about that mountain woman lingered.

What would such students miss by not having a classroom experience? What might they lose out on? Have women en masse shattered the glass ceiling holding them back from gaining social and economic mobility through education, or has it just shifted downward to trap a less affluent group of women living in mountains, old mill towns, dying farms, and urban ghettos?

Increasingly, students with families and/or full-time jobs are being drawn to distance-education programs, which woo them with the promise of convenient, high-quality study at home. Last fall, I took a class on electronic learning tools offered by a well-respected, large state university in the West. That online class was engaging, well-organized, and more convenient than a Saturday class I had recently attended at my local community college. I enrolled because I wanted to learn more about the electronic tools being used in distance and onsite instruction.

However, I also had another reason for participation. The quality of research regarding online education, including whether technology expands or serves as a barrier to underrepresented groups, has been questioned by some. I wanted to augment the research I had been reading with personal experience in an online course, using my perspective as a nontraditional student (initially as a first-generation college student and now as a 50-plus married woman). I wanted to experience the course and also to review the course in light of my understanding of the needs of nontraditional students, particularly students with weak basic skills.

My experiences as a nontraditional student and as a teacher/mentor of nontraditional students, coupled with my review of the research, lead me to believe that on-site study still presents some advantages--especially for the undergraduate who has academic, technical and/or socioeconomic disadvantages to overcome.

The differences between online and On-site instruction, though, are subtle and open to interpretation. According to the well-known retention researcher Vincent Tinto, a sense of belonging through means such as themed learning communities is important to student success. Oblinger, Barone, and Hawkins (see Resources) have indicated that online learning can supply this element, that it "extends the opportunities for interaction between faculty and student, incorporating simulations and visualizations, as well as collaborative learning."

Certainly, chat rooms, E-mail, and electronic conferencing offer opportunities for ongoing interactions that form a type of community. Groups of students who take multiple classes together as cohorts also form bonds important to retention. Some would argue this bonding occurs more effectively online since contact is available 24/7.

Furthermore, Taylor and Mohr (2001), in a study of developmental students in Australia that supports previous work by Benn and Burton (1994) and Zettle and Houghton (1998), noted that students, especially male students who are math anxious, suggested through their writings a discomfort about their ability to perform in mathematics classes, and particularly when questioned in person during class.

In contrast, in asynchronous discussions in any discipline, students have an opportunity to read their classmates' comments and reflect before offering a comment of their own. Without pressure from a professor, the amount and sometimes the depth of interaction can be quite impressive. Although more research on distance education and nontraditional students needs to be conducted, online learning seems to offer convenient and plentiful opportunities for interaction.

These interactions, though, differ significantly from interactions in classrooms or later in the workplace as part of a team. As a student in an electronic class, I had little tangible sense of my classmates. Class members were encouraged to put biographical information and photos online, but some members of the class didn't trust the Internet with personal information.

I even wondered about the validity of the bios and photos that did appear. Had my handsome professor (like an academic Ann Landers or--worse yet--Dorian Gray) not aged since graduate school? My busy classmates and I occasionally exchanged information, but we didn't study together or mentor each other.

Similarly, Michelle M. Kazmer's survey of distance-learning graduate students at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign noted that students said they missed the incidental nature of social contact available on a campus. To have a sense of community, students said they had to make an effort to seek out other students by remembering to E-mail to say "hello" or to join a chat room discussion.

In contrast, following my first Spanish class at the local community college, several of my classmates, after hearing my less-than-authentic Spanish accent, expressed concern that the class would be "over my head." One offered advice about tutors available on campus. Another whipped out her class schedule, suggested an easier course, and gave advice on instructors.

Nontraditional students often need this kind of support to stay enrolled, especially in courses outside of their majors, where there is little common subject interest around which to bond. In return for the advice given me, when one of the students commented that she wanted a suit like mine to wear for her job interviews, I was able to tell the younger women about outlet stores in a nearby city where they could buy a designer outfit for under $100 and to suggest that they could manage the transportation by driving in one car and pooling their money for gas, parking, and tolls. This interaction would not have taken place online. The students reacted to my accent and my manner of dress; they needed to hear and see me for this very personal social interaction to take place.

Although peers can be great mentors, establishing a relationship with one's professors can be even more life altering. On-site students, especially nontraditional students who are the first in their families to attend college, often turn to a favorite professor to answer questions, understand their strengths and weaknesses, and advise them on how to start down a career path.

In contrast, an electronic professor can't invite a student to be his/her assistant or even engage in the kind of in-class or after-class chat that allows a professor to model values, language usage, behavior and social skills for students. In my experience as a student in an electronic class, the professor simply checked my participation, responded to my assignments, and awarded my grade. I could never have asked him for a letter of recommendation. He would not have remembered me, and his electronic records revealed little about me except that I was an "A" student who was an active and timely discussant. His letter would have been pretty short.

In addition to peers and professors, the academic community at large provides important socialization opportunities that are missing from most distance experiences. Until research proves otherwise, this particular perspective has been and will continue to be a flashpoint for many advocates of online learning. Americans John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid in The Social Life of Information and Canadian Bruce Spencer in "Removing Barriers and Enhancing Openness: Distance Education as Social Adult Education" (1994) have argued that online learning does not provide needed social interaction.