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Question 8: What are the costs and benefits of using delivery mechanisms such as online learning to improve access to post-secondary education?

Overview

The purpose of this question scan was to determine the feasibility of conducting a systematic review of the literature devoted to the costs and benefits of using distance education delivery mechanisms—chiefly online learning but also video-communication, telecommunication and interactive television distance learning—to improve access to post-secondary education. This question was divided into the following two questions:

  1. What are the financial costs and benefits of using delivery mechanisms such as online learning to improve access to post-secondary education?
  2. What are the social costs and benefits of using delivery mechanisms such as online learning to improve access to post-secondary education?

Searches applying a broad range of applicable search terms to four major databases initially yielded 464 articles potentially relevant to either or both questions. Subsequent examination of article abstracts reduced the number to 316. Of these, 77 articles seem to address Question A, and 239 seem to address Question B. Some articles included in Question A appear relevant to both questions but include at least some discussion of the financial costs and benefits of distance learning. A search of government and professional/sectoral organization websites uncovered an additional two documents potentially pertaining to both questions.

All literature included has been divided into two categories. The first category, comprising 136 articles, deals specifically with measurable outcomes pertaining to online learning. The second category, comprising 182 articles, contains more theoretically based literature, either highlighting relevant issues in distance education or offering alternatives and suggestions future programs.

Question A
The literature included for this sub-question appears to contain specific reference to financial costs and benefits of online learning. Government reports focussing specifically on the financial costs and benefits of investing in online learning are particularly relevant sources of information. These reports examine how factors such as capital and recurrent costs, production and delivery costs, budget cuts and funding affect distance learning.

The literature pertaining to Question A also consists of a large number of editorials advancing authors’ perspectives and suggestions regarding distance education, and addressing themes of quality/evaluation and accreditation, enhanced public access, organization and governance, partnerships, and state and federal financial support. Most articles here do not focus chiefly on financial costs and barriers, mentioning them only briefly to emphasize the author’s perspectives. Other scholarly material consists of qualitative studies describing effectiveness and cost considerations of distance education in a variety of locations; and, quantitative work examining both costs and benefits and the overall effectiveness of online learning. Overall however, both quantitative and qualitative work addressing the financial costs and benefits, as opposed to the social costs and benefits, is slim.

Question B
This literature looks more specifically at the social costs and benefits of online learning and includes articles pertaining to students’ and teachers’ perceptions of online learning, outcome comparisons between traditional and online learning, suggestions for refining internet-based learning programs and discussions regarding accessibility.

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