David Glick’s report on the demographics of online students and teachers was published this week. For those involved with online learning, the results are not surprising, but for others they might be illuminating. Interesting results:
- Females constitute about 55% of the online student population.
- White students and Native American students are over represented in the student population.
- Black students, Hispanic students, and Asian students are under represented.
- Special students (ELL, IEP, poverty) are under represented.
These results are consistent with the programs I have worked with. Guidance counselors report that females are ready for new opportunities outside traditional classrooms. They are likely to graduate from high school early to see other opportunities.
Further I’ve seen the under representation of other groups, especially Hispanic and Asian. This is a strange fact, especially with the high performance levels of many Asian students. Perhaps it is the openness and unstructured features of online learning that do not attract some student groups. Perhaps its just non-interest. In any case, this makes for some good learning research as well as marketing possibilities.