The Landscape
The concept of receiving an education from an institution that one is
geographically distant from is not new. In various ways distance
learning has been in operation since1858 (Willis, 1994, Anderson, 1998,
Sumner, 2000). Certainly, distance education has evolved over the years,
from correspondence courses that mainly utilized the postal service for
delivery to online education being delivered through the worldwide web.
The worldwide web has greatly expanding the presence of distance
learning. One of the main factors that makes online education attractive
is the portability and ability to be accessed from all over the world.
Online education as a platform for learning has allowed students that
are working full-time, active military/deployed or have other
responsibilities that prevent them from attending in class sessions to
matriculate through their chosen curriculum (Willis, 1994). This type of
instruction is very different from the largely unplanned, emergency
induced remote instruction implemented this year to ensure students’
progress towards a degree. Therefore, it is important that crisis
education delivery be separated from intentionally structured and
thoroughly planned online education.
The planning of typical online instruction is what separates it from
emergency online instruction. Normally, for courses to be delivered
(online or in person) during a typical fall semester, the previous
months are spent organizing which courses will be taught, deciding which
classroom has the appropriate equipment and seating capacity, and
managing what time the course should be offered (Anderson, 1998). If a
class is to be taught online, a team of online education development
specialists (e.g., course strategy, content, outcomes and assessment)
come together to build the course.
In contrast, during the COVID-19 pandemic, most institutions of higher
education who had already been in session for 4-6 weeks changed course.
Without the benefit of advanced planning, foresight or fundraising,
colleges converted all face-to-face courses to remote instruction
through various online delivery systems. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic,
according to the Babson Survey Research Group (Allen, 2017), 33 percent
of college students were taking at least one course online. Currently,
due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 100 percent of college students are taking
100 percent of their courses online. This modified method of course
delivery was a colossal undertaking and accomplished in an unprecedented
time frame, little more than a week. Universities and institutions of
higher learning are to be applauded for following through on their
commitment to offering and delivering the courses that they began in
January despite a world-wide health crisis of incredible proportions.
Even with the hard work and effort put into moving courses into a remote
format, problems arose. While not entirely new, instructors were left to
grapple with all the issues, social determinants and educational
disparities that determine how well students learn. COVID-19 forced
instructors to teach under extreme circumstances. As a result, our
educational ecosystem has been put into further disarray, highlighting
how inequitable and exclusive higher education is. Institutions of
higher education are not accomplishing the lofty goals to which they
aspire. For centuries, the United States has been unwilling to face the
truth about the systemic institutionalized inequities that are
perpetuated generation after generation of American students.
Education has never occurred in a vacuum and its reach is only as far as
the unmitigated societal determinants that act as barriers to students
(e.g. homelessness, poverty, unemployment, food insecurity, poor
healthcare, unchecked mental illness, sexual orientation, race,
ethnicity and immigrant status). Higher education has long been touted
as the key to the middle class and a requirement to become upwardly
mobile in American society. The consistent exclusion, persistent
undermining and continuous marginalization of persons that want to
become upwardly mobile in the United States has led to the current
economic and educational crises the country faces. Equity in the US
education system has been unattained throughout its history. COVID-19
brought to light some of the pronounced inequalities manifested during
remote teaching; these inequalities intensified the existing reality of
higher education in the US. These conditions have left instructors in a
difficult position. As they endeavor to teach their courses remotely and
actively engage students with the material, they are struggling to
comprehend and equitably accommodate many of their students’ unfortunate
circumstances.