Defending the Community College Equity Agenda

5. Virtual Access

c h a p t e r f i v e Virtual Access r e b e c c a d . c o x Distance education has become a central component of the discourse on higher education. With descriptions such as ‘‘open education’’ and ‘‘e-learning,’’ references to the most recent forms of distance education hint at the educational promises of the new technologies: increased access to higher education, a more engaging learning experience for students, and preparation for success in the new information technology (IT)–driven economy. A core assumption underlying most predictions for the future is that on-line education will serve to improve the educational opportunities for students at every level of higher education. As one policy analyst described this ‘‘foreseeable future,’’ the task for ‘‘most secondary-school graduates’’ will involve selecting a combination of on-site and distance-education courses that is ‘‘educationally sound, accessible, and a√ordable. In this sense the Internet . . . will enrich the educational choices generally available to all categories of learners’’ (Baer, 1998, p. 18). From this perspective, on-line education symbolizes an as-yet-unrealized future, variously envisioned as making good use of cutting-edge digital technologies, broadening postsecondary students’ opportunities, and facilitating more e≈cient and effective approaches to higher education. Surveys indicate that student enrollment in on-line courses has been steadily increasing, particularly among public colleges and universities. Indeed, the 2004 survey conducted by the Sloan Consortium indicated that, at public institutions, more than 60% of the respondents—academic o≈cers—agreed that ‘‘online education is critical to their long-term strategy’’ (Allen and Seaman, 2004, p. 3). In the context of such growth, community colleges continue to play a major role in providing distance education through a range of media (Council for Higher Education Accreditation, 2000; National Center for Education Statistics, 2002c; Allen and Seaman , 2004), enrolling approximately half of the postsecondary students studying online (Allen and Seaman, 2004).∞ The research data, however, describe community colleges’ on-line involvement with only the broadest strokes.≤ Much of the literature Virtual Access 111 on on-line education—both empirical and theoretical—focuses on the concerns and contexts of four-year colleges and universities but remains relatively silent about community colleges (e.g., Trow, 2000; Palattella, 2001; Meyer, 2002; Twigg, 2002). In addition, empirical studies have documented the extent and growth of on-line involvement across di√erent sectors of higher education but have made less progress in addressing issues of pedagogy, student learning, and curricular quality within those on-line o√erings (Zemsky and Massy, 2004a). Under these circumstances, the enthusiastic rhetoric of possibility continues to outpace the empirical evidence. Although research on on-line education is relevant to the entire field of higher education, it is critically important for the community college sector, which provides access to higher education for the least advantaged students. As community colleges respond to the changing demands of the educational market, their ability to provide authentic educational and economic opportunities requires sustained attention to issues of equity. This is particularly true for digital forms of distance education, which o√er a means of extending geographical access to college without necessarily increasing students’ educational opportunities. Access to higher education entails making college courses available and allowing students to enroll. The mere existence or availability of college courses, however, represents an ersatz form of access. Authentic educational opportunity requires access to a learning environment that is not fraught with obstacles to success. For virtual access to increase the educational opportunities for less advantaged students, it must do more than o√er the chance to enroll. As Frank Newman (2000) has observed, there is an immense di√erence between fulfilling market demand, catering to ‘‘easy-to-educate students who have the resources to pay,’’ and fulfilling a need, providing high quality instruction for ‘‘students who are poor and harder to educate’’ (p. 21). Attending to the quality of on-line instruction is essential to preserving the democratizing aspects of public, postsecondary schooling. This chapter describes the conditions for and nature of community colleges’ involvement in distance education during the early 2000s—the formative period of their investment in digital and web-based course o√erings. Drawing from the extensive set of data from the Community College Research Center’s National Field Study, the chapter examines the fifteen colleges’ approaches to on-line education at that critical historical juncture. The discussion consists of five parts. The first describes the institutional contexts of the colleges’ participation...