Women as Learners: Issues for Visual and Virtual Classrooms

Authors

  • Elizabeth Burge Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Abstract

This article uses three categories—Access and Retention, Learning Designs and Course Content—to produce a major summary of questions and issues facing women in distance and adult education. Distance education is defined with reasons for its popularity. The years 1974 - 1988 are examined in terms of writings about women in distance education; one major source for this summary is a published 1988 international collection edited by K. Faith; other sources are recent articles in distance and adult education journals and conference proceedings. Access and Retention, the first category of questions facing women distance educators is defined as the extent to which women are attracted to and are able to successfully enter courses and stay until course completion. Under-representation of women in courses and factors inhibiting women's enrolment are discussed. The second category, Learning Design, involves criteria for feminist classrooms in distance modes, grading, learner support, and genderization of technologies. The third category of questions is Course Content. The author maintains that "issues around untested assumptions, imagery, invisibility and epistemology are still as relevant for distance classrooms [virtual classrooms] as for the walled classroom [visual classrooms]."

Résumé

Cet article utilise trois catégories—l'accessibilité et la persévérance dans les études, l'élaboration d'activités d'apprentissage et les contenus de cours—pour fair un premier résumé d'importance sur les questions et les problèmes qui concernent les femmes en éducation à distance et en éducation des adultes. L'éducation à distance y est d'abord définie en tenant compte des raisons qui expliquent sa popularité. Les écrits sur les femmes et l'éducation à distance ont été recenses pour la période de 1974 à 1988. Une collection internationale (Faith, K. (Ed.); 1988) a constitué une référence majeure; d'autres écrits récents sur le sujet proviennent de revues et d'actes de congrès scientifiques. La première catégorie de questions (accessibilité et persévérance dans les études) examine jusqu'a quel point les femmes sont attirées par l'éducation à distance et epuvent y prendre des cours et les compléter avec succès. La sous-représentation des femmes et les facteurs qui nuisent à leur inscription font l'objet d'une discussion. La deuxième catégorie de questions (élaboration d'activités d'apprentissage) porte sur les critères à considérer dans l'organisation de classes féministes dans une modalité d'éducation à distance, sur la notation, sur le support à l'étudiante et sur lex sexisme et les technologies. La troisième catégorie de questions a trait aux contenus de cours. L'auteure affirme qui "les même problèmes de postulats non vérifiés, d'images stéréotypées, de non visibilité et d'épistémologie sont également présents dans les "classes" d'éducation à distance (classes extra muros) que dans les classes conventionnelles (classes intra muros)".

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Published

1990-11-01

How to Cite

Burge, E. (1990). Women as Learners: Issues for Visual and Virtual Classrooms. Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education, 4(2), 1–24. Retrieved from https://cjsae.library.dal.ca/cjsae/article/view/2327

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 2 (1990)

Section

Articles

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