Access refers to the ability to access a computer and compatible software necessary to undertake E-learning. Rapid advances in information and communication technology ICT – particularly the development of online technologies – have transformed the nature of economic, social and cultural relations worldwide. Post industrial societies have led to technological change and therefore different learning environments which have changed the way universities operate. Universities are now promoting lifelong learning discourses.
In recent years there has been much public debate on the educational access and equity of developing nations, this is particularly a contentious issue due to the increased amounts of technology currently involved in education.The biggest fear so far of ICT technology is digital exclusion/ divide (link to digital divide entry). Similar to most forms of exclusion, digital exclusion is organised on the same demographic lines, age, ethnicity and educational levels.
E-learning has been developed to increase the level of access of education through online courses overcoming geographic or physical impediments. E-Learning is also essential in equipping students with the technologically advanced, flexible skills now required to particpate in the increasingly flexible labour market in the information age. ICT use in education is growing, offering both new possibilities and new challenges for facilitating access and equity for all students. E-learning overcomes distance by providing remotely accessible learning opportunities and ways of interacting with fellow students and staff, and promotes students to learn in their own time.
A concern of e-learning is the widely recognised division between the information rich and the information poor, called the digital divide; this creates disadvantages that mirror traditional socio-economic inequalities. Digital divide includes issues of physical access to ICT, the technological skills to utilise it effectively, and the relevance and appropriateness of online content. In a university environment equity groups may be further disadvantaged by ICT technology, overcoming access problems is difficult due to technology continually changing.
Research conducted by the University of Technology in Sydney identified a range of physical, experiential, social, economic and institutional influences on respondents’ access to online learning. Equity groups were found to be disadvantaged in their access to ICT for use in their learning programmes. Key access issues identified include the need for reliable access to on campus facilities, particularly for students with no other access options, a lack of adaptive technology and modified equipment in mainstream campus facilities for students with particular disabilities, the cost of purchasing, maintaining and upgrading equipment for students of low socio economic status, the high costs of internet service providers and dial up fees for rural or isolated students. Poor levels of information literacy can lead to a lack of confidence to access available resources along with economic costs of maintaining personal ICT equipment with online capabilities, ultimately cost is a significant barrier to access.
Barraket, J. 2004. E-learning and and access – Getting behind the hype. In Researching Widening Access to Lifelong Learning, ed. M. Osborne, J. Gallacher and B. Crossan., 91-102. Oxfordshire: RoutledgeFalmer.
Ferlander, S. 2004. E-learning, marginalised communities and social capital: A mixed method approach. In Researching Widening Access to Lifelong Learning, ed. M. Osborne, J. Gallacher and B. Crossan., 180-192. Oxfordshire: RoutledgeFalmer.
