The opportunity to attend a university online is an attractive option for many students because of the flexibility in scheduling, the lack of commuting, and the ability to work from wherever. This is a particularly enticing option for individuals working full-time in any capacity such as a 9-5 office job or for taking care of children or other family members. So, as universities begin to develop more of these programs, these online programs open access to college degrees for a larger slice of society. However, who is enrolling in these programs, and are there grade differences for different groups of students in online courses? We know that, on average, students from backgrounds that are historically underrepresented in STEM tend to do worse in the classroom compared to their overrepresented counterparts. This group broadly includes BLNP (Black, Latinx, Native American, and Pacific Islander) people, women, people of lower socioeconomic status, and first-generation to college students. Do online degree programs reduce these disparities? In a recent study published in PLoS One, researchers at Arizona State University compared enrollment and grades in a fully online biology degree program compared to in-person biology programs to address these questions.
This new study shows that the fully online biology program increases the representation of women, first-generation and low-income students but not Black, Latinx, Native American, or Pacific Islander (BLNP) students. Although this study did not explore why this may be the case, it does imply that online education may help to lower the barriers to a college education for women, first-generation, and low-income students. Since the cost of the online program is essentially the same as the cost as the in-person program, it may be due to the flexibility of the program that allows students to take courses while they have full-time jobs, are primary caregivers, or live far away from a physical campus.
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Brian Cruz is an undergraduate researcher in Dr. Sara Brownell’s Biology Education Research Lab at ASU. He is interested in studying how students are affected when biology is taught in different ways, with the hopes of improving the learning experience for everyone. He is currently pursuing a bachelor’s in Biomedical Sciences and a minor in Philosophy.
Fully online biology instruction is more accessible for women, first-generation students, and low-income students
Grade disparities are present both online and in-person biology degree programs
Even though the online degree enhanced the number of women, first-generation students, and low-income students, disparities in grades are similar in online and in-person programs. Students with historically underrepresented social identities still received poorer grades than their majority counterparts, a trend that was true regardless of modality. Almost all of the demographic groups experienced the same grade gap that was present for in-person courses. These data suggest that systemic issues that affect student grades persist in both modalities. The one group where the typical in-person graded gaps did not persist were first-generation college students. In this case, the researchers found no difference between first-generation students and continuing-generation students online, although both groups still earned lower grades than their in-person counterparts.
What can be done to combat these issues and what do we do with these findings?
These persistent grade gaps have implications for using online instruction to address issues of access, diversity, and inclusion. Specifically, the online program does not seem to address racial/ethnic disparities in enrollment or grade performance. So, while it may be an avenue to increase the total number of students who receive an undergraduate biology degree, it does not seem to be a viable approach in its current form to address racial disparities. Future research endeavors into why BLNP people tend to enroll less than white students in such programs should be explored, given the various possibilities as to why. To address lower enrollment rates of BLNP people, outreach can be done for those particular groups, be it through targeted emails to bring awareness to the existence of such a program or even advertising the presence of such a degree program for those who are already enrolled in on-campus classes. In order to lessen the grade disparities that exist between over-represented and underrepresented groups in both in-person and online degree programs, we encourage instructors to consider how their classroom practices and assessments may contribute to these disparities. Studies have shown that there are fewer gender disparities when exams contribute less towards final class grades and lower stakes assessments are offered at a higher frequency. Beyond this, efforts must be made at the macro-level to target existing structures that maintain racism, patriarchy, and classism. This is not an effort to be taken lightly, as it serves to benefit all to make our institutions more equitable and inclusive. This is not a particular criticism of any course, instructor, degree program, or institution, but instead a critique of higher education as a whole. That disparities exist and are reflected in both modalities is indicative of an issue that extends beyond the scope of any one research institution. It should be a goal of science as a whole to improve its vast swath of knowledge using all available tools to do so. With a larger, more diverse group of scientists working together towards a common goal of learning about the world around us, surely, we can only accelerate our learning.Post author:
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