FMU’s Associate Professor of English, Dr. Randy R. James is one of 19 writers who contributed to the recently published book Online Education During a Time of Emergency: Conditions, Contexts and Critiques.聽 The book provides a global perspective from educators from 16 universities in Africa, Chile, China, Japan, Romania, and United States on the unprecedented shift to online education as a result of COVID-19. It aims to broaden and deepen readers鈥� understanding of studies that could better address academic issues related to teaching and learning online. When the pandemic triggered the disruption of national educational systems and a rapid transition to online education, there were no guidelines on how to proceed; specifically, the role of educational technologies and distinctions between formal and informal learning remained unclear. This book examines how educators adopted new practices, adjusted to flexible working environments and tackled new technologies to keep education systems going following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
Dr. James got involved with the book project in August 2022. After multiple reviews and revisions, his chapter proposal was accepted and included in the manuscript, here’s an abstract of his chapter.
“Challenges in Online Education: Inequality in Online/Virtual Accessibility”
The accessibility of education for all people has been a continuous battle since the beginning of academic pursuits. Not everyone has had a fair chance at attaining an education. And those who have had an early start at getting an education have had an advantage at monopolizing and utilizing the educational system to promote themselves in society and life. Over the many years, great strides have been made to make education available to many people鈥攁n opportunity for a better life is within reach for many underserved populations throughout the world. With the advent of technology and education, the opportunity to get a quality education has increased significantly. Now from the comfortability of one鈥檚 home, an education is achievable at one鈥檚 own pace and terms. However, there is a significant digital divide that separates those who have access to more and greater information versus those who do not have the ability to access unlimited information through technology.
Consequently, most colleges and universities during the pandemic shutdown had to switch to virtual/online learning almost overnight. Although many, if not most, of the colleges/universities already had the capacity to transfer their courses to virtual learning, there were yet some colleges/universities who did not have that capacity to switch effectively to total online learning. Whether because of lack of instructor preparation or limited network systems/infrastructure, these universities鈥攎any of which probably serve underrepresented populations鈥攚ere challenged in making online education available to students. Too many of these minority serving institutions need additional assistance in order to meet the bare minimum requirements in educating their students. Special attention should have been given to these colleges/universities long before the pandemic in order to help these colleges/universities provide the best possible access to education.
The pandemic shutdown has exposed the inequalities and imbalances in education and has created an educational emergency鈥攑articularly among minority-serving institutions. This research is focused on how these minority-serving institutions need support to upgrade their network system and infrastructure so that their students can continue to compete at every level in the educational and career process, focus on learning and acquiring necessary skills to build their academic and career online experiences, and advance in their aspirations without being deprived of current technology trends.
Dr. James joined FMU in August 1999, right after receiving his Ph.D. in English Literature.
