Which STEM majors enroll in online courses, and why should we care? The impact of ethnicity, gender, and non-traditional student characteristics

Wladis, Claire; Hachey, Alyse C.; Conway, Katherine M.

doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2015.06.010

Cited by 35 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Unfortunately, the benefits of access may not be experienced evenly across demographic groups. A 2015 study found that Hispanic and Black STEM majors were significantly less likely to take online courses even when controlling for academic preparation, socioeconomic status (SES), citizenship, and English as a second language (ESL) status (Wladis et al 2015). Also, questions have been raised about whether the additional access afforded by online technologies has actually resulted in improved outcomes for underserved populations.…”

Section: Educational Accessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Blended learning: the new normal and emerging technologies

Dziuban

Graham

Moskal

et al. 2018

Int J Educ Technol High Educ

767

446

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This study addressed several outcomes, implications, and possible future directions for blended learning (BL) in higher education in a world where information communication technologies (ICTs) increasingly communicate with each other. In considering effectiveness, the authors contend that BL coalesces around access, success, and students' perception of their learning environments. Success and withdrawal rates for face-to-face and online courses are compared to those for BL as they interact with minority status. Investigation of student perception about course excellence revealed the existence of robust if-then decision rules for determining how students evaluate their educational experiences. Those rules were independent of course modality, perceived content relevance, and expected grade. The authors conclude that although blended learning preceded modern instructional technologies, its evolution will be inextricably bound to contemporary information communication technologies that are approximating some aspects of human thought processes.

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Section: Educational Accessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Blended learning: the new normal and emerging technologies

Dziuban

Graham

Moskal

et al. 2018

Int J Educ Technol High Educ

767

446

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Other studies using the large NCES National Postsecondary Student Aid Study 2008 dataset document that the likelihood of taking an online STEM course was higher for women and students with non-traditional characteristics (e.g. single parents, full-time workers), but lower for Black and Hispanic/Latinx students even after taking other demographic variables into account [ 27 , 28 ]. Thus, the current data suggest that online degree programs offer a way for a greater number of women and low-income students to pursue science, but there is no existing evidence that it can help racial or ethnic representation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Online biology degree program broadens access for women, first-generation to college, and low-income students, but grade disparities remain

et al. 2020

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Online education has grown rapidly in recent years with many universities now offering fully online degree programs even in STEM disciplines. These programs have the potential to broaden access to STEM degrees for people with social identities currently underrepresented in STEM. Here, we ask to what extent is that potential realized in terms of student enrollment and grades for a fully online degree program. Our analysis of data from more than 10,000 course-enrollments compares student demographics and course grades in a fully online biology degree program to demographics and grades in an equivalent in-person biology degree program at the same university. We find that women, first-generation to college students and students eligible for federal Pell grants constitute a larger proportion of students in the online program compared to the in-person mode. However, the online mode of instruction is associated with lower course grades relative to the in-person mode. Moreover, African American/Black, Hispanic/Latinx, Native American, and Pacific Islander students as well as federal Pell grant eligible students earned lower grades than white students and non-Pell grant eligible students, respectively, but the grade disparities were similar among both in-person and online student groups. Finally, we find that grade disparities between men and women are larger online compared to in-person, but that for first-generation to college women, the online mode of instruction is associated with little to no grade gap compared to continuing generation women. Our findings indicate that although this online degree program broadens access for some student populations, inequities in the experience remain and need to be addressed in order for online education to achieve its inclusive mission.

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“…Past research on UR-STEM students in online courses has shown that the online environment increases accessibility to STEM programs for these students [19,70] and there is evidence that UR-STEM students engage with online learning platforms differently from their non-UR-STEM peers [3]. Unfortunately, some UR-STEM students (in this case, first-generation college students) may be lacking the SRL skills necessary for success in online courses [68], and other UR-STEM students (women) have been found to be more likely to perform poorly in or drop out of online vs. in-person STEM courses (compared to men) [71]. However, exam scores for UR-STEM and non-UR-STEM students have also been found to improve at a similar rate throughout an online course [4] which suggests that the online environment may provide important opportunities for learning for UR-STEM students despite the difficulties faced by this population.…”

Section: Engagement In Online Coursesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Social Network Analysis of Online Engagement for College Students Traditionally Underrepresented in STEM

Williams-Dobosz

Azevedo

Jeng

et al. 2021

LAK21: 11th International Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference

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Little is known about the online learning behaviors of students traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields (i.e., UR-STEM students), as well as how those behaviors impact important learning outcomes. The present study examined the relationship between online discussion forum engagement and success for UR-STEM and non-UR-STEM students, using the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model as our theoretical framework. Social network analysis and nested regression models were used to explore how three different measures of forum engagement-1) total number of posts written, 2) number of help-seeking posts written and replied to, and 3) level of connectivity-were related to improvement (i.e., relative performance gains) for 70 undergraduate students enrolled in an online introductory STEM course. We found a significant positive relationship between help-seeking and improvement and nonsignificant effects of general posting and connectivity; these results held for UR-STEM and non-UR-STEM students alike. Our findings suggest that online help-seeking has benefits for course improvement beyond what can be predicted by posting alone and that one need not be well connected in a class network to achieve positive learning outcomes. Finally, UR-STEM students demonstrated greater grade improvement than their non-UR-STEM counterparts, which suggests that the online environment has the potential to combat barriers to success that disproportionately affect underrepresented students.

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Which STEM majors enroll in online courses, and why should we care? The impact of ethnicity, gender, and non-traditional student characteristics

Cited by 35 publications

References 35 publications

Blended learning: the new normal and emerging technologies

Blended learning: the new normal and emerging technologies

Online biology degree program broadens access for women, first-generation to college, and low-income students, but grade disparities remain

A Social Network Analysis of Online Engagement for College Students Traditionally Underrepresented in STEM

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