Students at University of Iceland, School of Education. Online learning, a key to university education for students with diverse backgrounds

Abstract

In recent years, the official policy in Iceland as well as in Europe has been to widen participation of students from diverse social and economic groups in higher education. At the University of Iceland School of Education, most programs are offered both as traditional on-campus courses or as online studies with face-to-face sessions. Online learning has facilitated access for diverse groups of students, enabling people to pursue university studies along with work and family obligations.

Students who have reached the age of 25 when they start university are often considered non-traditional students; they are more likely to have children and families and to have entered the labour market, compared to traditional students. The reasons why people start university late in life are usually related to social and economic status and many are the first in their family to attend university. Starting university later in life can be linked to financial circumstances but also to the incentive and even pressure to go to university, this being stronger in families where there is a tradition of completing university studies. Students who are the first in their family to go to university have less support than those who have parents with university education. Universities need to consider how to accommodate their needs and ease their transition into university life since commitments due to family and paid work can affect academic progress and increase the likelihood of dropping out. Also, it may be more difficult for students to build on previous studies if they have taken a long break from studying before entering higher education. Clearly many things make the position of these students different from those considered traditional students. Increasing diversity in the student population by widening access to university not only entails admitting students with non-traditional backgrounds but also an institutional willingness and ability to consider their circumstances.

The aim of this study was to investigate how various factors in the background and circumstances of students at the University of Iceland School of Education predict that they will choose to pursue distance learning. In addition, it was examined how these factors appear in different ways among students in the study programs available at the department. The purpose of the study was to examine how much distance learning contributes to creating an inclusive university environment that supports equality and diversity in the group of university students. The participants were undergraduate students in six fields of study during the fall semester 2020 (N = 460). Most participants were women, or over 82%; almost 44% of participants were first year students and about 28% were in their third year of study or had been studying longer. Almost 60% had intended to enrol in traditional on-campus courses, just over a quarter in online learning and 9% in mixed learning, enrolling in both on-campus and online learning. Data was collected using online questionnaires with questions about participants’ field of study, age, marital status, number of children and whether they were working alongside their studies. In addition, they were asked about their parents’ education and whether they attended traditional on-campus or online learning.

Many non-traditional students are studying at the School of Education. 68% of participants were either married, cohabiting or single parents. 36% of participants had children, 75% planned to work while studying and 22% planned to work more than 30 hours per week. Half had neither parent with university education.

The student group differed, depending on study field. Students in preschool teacher education and social pedagogy were older, more likely to have parents without university education and worked more alongside their studies than students in other fields of study. Students in sports and health sciences and leisure studies were younger, more likely to have parents with university degrees and were less likely to work, external to their studies.

The older students and those who worked more than 30 hours per week were more likely to prefer the online mode. Students who had parents without a university education were also more likely to prefer the online mode compared to students who had parents with a university education, and students living outside the capital area preferred online studies. Results indicate that the online option enables a large group of non-traditional students to pursue university studies.

In study programs with a high proportion of non-traditional students, attention needs to be paid to student support such as organizing the study to accommodate their circumstances. This applies to students in preschool teacher education and social pedagogy. In Iceland various groups have not had the opportunity to pursue higher education and our results indicate that for those groups, online learning should be considered the key to accessing university studies. This should be kept in mind when fulfilling the University of Iceland strategy for 2026 of increasing diversity of the student body.