Promoting Diversity through Online Education: Analysis of LIS Program Enrollment Rates Elizabeth Lieutenant
The University of Michigan, School of Information Ann Arbor, MI ✉
[email protected] ✉ 🌐 www.elizabethlieutenant.com 🌐
ABSTRACT Changes in higher education, technology, and the library and information science (LIS) field influence the recruitment and retention of students of color. This poster presents a longitudinal data analysis of trends in LIS program enrollment rates. Preliminary analysis indicate that students of color are more likely to enroll in LIS programs with an 100% online degree option. Additional programmatic factors are identified as potential contributors to the successful recruitment and retention of students of color.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1. How has minority student enrollment and representation in ALA-accredited degree programs changed between 2004 and 2014? 2. How has minority student enrollment and representation in ALA-accredited degree programs differed in academic units with and without a 100% online ALA-accredited degree program?
LITERATURE REVIEW
LIS education researchers have studied online education and minority students, yet there is scant research that explores the relationships between the two. No study has explored how the proliferation of online degree programs in LIS education has impacted the racial and ethnic diversity of LIS students.
Recruitment and Retention2,3
• Minority students enrolled in online programs were more satisfied with recruitment than minority students enrolled in face-to-face or blended/hybrid programs. • Distance learning options were considered effective recruitment strategies by a majority of American Indians (61.1%), followed by African Americans (31.5%), Hispanic (25.0%), and Asian American/Pacific Islanders (20.0%). • Distance learning options were considered effective retention strategies by a majority of American Indians (55.6%), followed by African Americans (35.6%), Hispanic (33.6%), and Asian American/Pacific Islanders (12.5%).
Overall satisfaction4 • Students enrolled in online programs had more positive perceptions of their education than students in blended/hybrid programs.
TOTAL ENROLLMENT
MEAN ENROLLMENT
All programs
• Total minority student enrollment increased 28.9% (576) • Total white student enrollment decreased 15.4% (-2383) • Total student enrollment decreased 10.4% (-1807)
All programs
• Mean minority student enrollment increased 30.6% (12.7) • Mean white student enrollment decreased 14.5% (-46.6) • Mean total student enrollment decreased 9.3% (-33.8)
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ONLINE PROGRAM AVAILABILITY
The number of academic units in this study that offered 100% online ALA-accredited degree programs more than doubled, from 10 (20.83%) in 2004 to 22 (45.83%) in 2014.
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Minority Students
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• Total minority student enrollment increased 235.5% (1069) • Mean minority student enrollment increased 59.7% (27.1) • Mean white student enrollment increased 5.5% (18.5) • Total white student enrollment increased 121.5% (4106) • Mean total student enrollment increased 11.9% (45.6) • Total student enrollment increased by 135.0% (5175)
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2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Minority Students
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• Total minority student enrollment decreased 32.1% (-493) • Total white student enrollment decreased 53.7% (-6489) • Total student enrollment decreased 51.2% (-6982)
White Students
• Mean minority student enrollment decreased 4.4% (-1.8) • Mean white student enrollment decreased 34.8% (-110.7) • Mean total student enrollment decreased 31.3% (-112.4)
DEFINITION This study’s definition and use of the term minority aligns with its primary data source1, which does not report granular race and ethnicity data. Individuals may self-identify with one or more of the following racial and ethnic groups: 1. Hispanic/Latino of any race, 2. American Indian or Alaska Native, 3. Asian, 4. Black or African American, 5. Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, 6. White, and, 7. Two or more races. All individuals who do not self-identify as white are considered minority. This approach limits the usefulness of the original data source and, by extension, this study’s findings.
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DISCUSSION
0 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Acknowledgements: This study was completed as part of the master’s course, “Diverse Populations, Inclusion, and Information” at the University of Maryland, College of Information Studies. The author thanks her University of Maryland colleagues for their support.
Academic units with an online program enrolled more minority students, numerically and proportionally, than academic units without an online program. Less than half of academic units offered an online degree, yet they enrolled three-fifths of all minority students. Since total enrollment peaked in 2009, minority student enrollment rates did not decrease as much as white student enrollment rates. Gains in minority student representation were more indicative of decreases in total white student enrollment rates than increases in total minority student enrollment rates. Future research could incorporate additional programmatic factors for analysis, such as financial resources and support, employment opportunities, faculty, student, and staff diversity, and curricular content.
REFERENCES 1 American Library Association. (2015). Trend data on program performance [Data file]. Available from http://www.ala.org /accreditedprograms/reportsandpublications/prismreports. 2 Kim, K., & Sin, S. J. (2006). Recruiting and retaining students of color in LIS programs: Perspectives of library and information professionals. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 47(2), 81-95. 3 Kim, K., & Sin, S. J. (2008). Ethnic diversity in LIS: Strategies suggested by librarians of color. The Library Quarterly, 78(2), 153177. 4 Oguz, F., Chu, C., and Chow, A. (2015). Studying online: Student motivations and experiences in ALA-accredited LIS programs. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 56(3), 213-231.
