Inequities Revealed: Pre-Pandemic Online Students and Faculty During the Global Health Crisis

Introduction

While much attention is being given to the inequities faced by students and faculty who were abruptly required to move instruction online during the global health crisis of COVID-19, less attention has been given to acknowledging that students and faculty who were involved in online programs prior to the onset of the pandemic were not immune to the exposure of inequities during this tumultuous time.

This chapter aims to defend the fact that students in online programs (and the faculty who teach for them) faced parallel inequities to in-seat students during institution-wide and academia-wide shifts to online instruction. Personal experiences of online students and online faculty will be shared in this chapter to provide context in describing these inequities. As a faculty member who primarily teaches online at a university that offers both online and in-seat instruction, the author has been approached by colleagues who repeatedly pointed out that “at least nothing had to change for your course,” or “at least your students were not impacted,” or “at least this is business as usual for you.” This dismissal of the instructional and learning experiences of online students and faculty during the pandemic is not only unwarranted, it is presumptuous and patronizing.

The upheaval of day-to-day life for students and faculty during the global health crisis is not limited to their experiences within academia and studentship; to act as though online students and faculty experienced business as usual is inaccurate and perhaps naïve. While the specifics of impact and exposed inequities of a post-adolescent, traditional, in-seat student may be different than those of an older career-switcher in an undergraduate or graduate online program, it would be neglectful not to shed light on the fact that online students and faculty experienced significant shifts in the teaching and learning experience during the pandemic. Specific areas in which new inequities were exposed include (but are not limited to) those related to parenting and childcare responsibilities, supporting colleagues and other learners, difficulty maintaining work and study routines, and direct impact of COVID-19 illness.

This chapter will share anecdotes of students and faculty, across eight North American institutions of varying size and geographical context, who were already involved in online coursework at the start of the Spring 2020 semester. However, when the term for in-seat students shifted online in March of 2020, they experienced new challenges in terms of resources and time. Examples of inequities among these students and faculty participating in online coursework will be described.