DISTANCE LEARNING
Online Learning, Distance Learning, eLearning. These often synonymous terms are gaining increasing prominence in the educational lexicon. Online learning has been lauded for the flexibility and convenience it provides students in addition to increasing educational access to those in disparate geographic locations. However, the ability to engage in online learning presupposes that the learner has access to technology and a reliable wifi connection, and ultimately, excludes those on the dark side of the digital divide. While online learning is being utilized at nearly every educational level, I am most intrigued by the explosion of online learning in higher education, and its implications including who enrolls in and successfully completes online courses.
Below you can read the abstract and access the text of a literature review that explores advantage in distance education in higher education settings.
Below you can read the abstract and access the text of a literature review that explores advantage in distance education in higher education settings.
Distance Education and Cumulative Advantage: A Literature Review
ABSTRACT: The rise of online distance learning correlates with another demographic shift in post-secondary education: the rise of the nontraditional adult student. Pelletier (2010) explains that the 18- to 22-year-old student who can make study his or her sole priority, is a dwindling portion of the college population. Adult students now comprise more than 47 percent of enrollments in colleges and universities. It seems likely a link exists between the increase in online distance enrollments and the increase in adult students undertaking post-secondary study. Colorado and Eberle (2010) report that most online enrollments are adults ages 25-50 and suggest that understanding adult learning provides an avenue for understanding distance learning. Recognizing the connection between adult and distance learning allows for a new lens of examination when researching distance courses. First, trends and theories that exist in adult learning can be examined for their relationship with distance learning, particularly the theory of andragogy and the concept of cumulative advantage. Second, demographics such as socioeconomic status, gender, and ethnicity can be examined within the context of adult education and distance learners. Lastly, research can focus on areas in which there are a higher concentration of nontraditional or adult learners, such as in community colleges.
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