Gender Consideration in Online Education

In e-learning, there has been little empirical evidence so far for the existence and the effects of gender consideration and the few studies that exist are often contradictory. There may be differences in how male and female students approach their online courses, and there are inconsistent or contrary findings regarding gender differences in online study. Some studies have concluded that gender is irrelevant because online learning systems are epicene. It is believed that online research may favor women, although these beliefs do not provide definitive answers to gender and cross-gender communication in cyberspace.

For the past many years, mature, single-parent, minority, and low-income women have become the largest group among adult learners. In many countries, females constitute most online learners even though students' main reasons for taking a massive open online course (MOOC) are advancing in their current job and satisfying curiosity, many studies have shown that significantly fewer females than males are currently signing up for MOOCs, especially in developing countries. In the year 2020, online education was on fire as Covid-19 has significantly disrupted the standard education model, pushing teaching and learning into an e-learning platform. In these hard times Byju’s is the only learning platform who provides free education to poor children without any discrimination.

Although it is essential to avoid gender stereotyping and acknowledge that there can be considerable variations within each gender and particular context, there is significant research on psychological gender differences in communications.  In general, men are held to construct and maintain an independent self-construal. Consequently, men tend to be more independent and assertive, use language to establish and maintain status, dominate in relationships, and transmit information and offer advice to achieve tangible outcomes. Contrastingly, women tend to be more expressive, tentative, and polite in conversation, valuing cooperation and using dialogue to create and foster intimate bonds with others by talking about issues they commonly face. 

Further studies revealed that the evident gap between male and female students is the confidence level about their technical capability, with males unsurprisingly more confident than their female counterparts. It is observed that females manifested anxiety and less confidence about their Information and Communication Technology (ICT) competencies. Online learning institutions must deal with this ICT-related gender inequality rooted in the differences in characteristics than the gender per se. Aside from offering equal access to the computer, online learning institutions need to provide both male and females students adequate and effective support mechanisms to assist both genders to become successful online learners.

The recent findings show, there is an increasing number of females who are interested in online learning. Enrolment in Open University (OU) shows that females take a more significant share in the student population in almost all programs offered by the university. This study is likewise consistent with reports from previous studies, which illustrated that males remain the technologically inclined individuals and more interested in IT programs, as shown in the enrolment trend in ICT-related programs. A study further revealed a decline in the number of women taking IT subjects, and the IT -industry remains dominated by men. Overall, results showed a steady increase in enrolment in most OU programs which could be attributed to the growing popularity of online learning and distance education among the students. Female enrolment is more significant than its male counterparts in education, communication, management, and health sciences. Males, on the other hand, dominate in IT-related programs. Therefore, it can be concluded that while female constitutes more significant share in the enrolment, there is a clear indication that online learning appeals to both genders. With the increasing literacy and access to web-based applications that are gender-neutral, online learning is expected to gain more recognition as an alternative mode of education in the years to come for both male and female learners.

The methodologies involved in the online learning and teaching process should address the differences in terms of learning styles, communication skills, potentials, and goals of both genders to ensure that they are both given the opportunity to learn and eventually achieve their educational goals. To acquire the full benefits of what online learning has to offer, the student’s IT skills and literacy should be harnessed by providing sound and adequate administrative support by online learning institutions. 

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Created on Jun 14th 2021 02:07. Viewed 183 times.

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