Socioeconomic Status– and Gender-Based Differences in Students’ Perceptions of E-Learning Systems

Many universities are pushing for an increase in on-line course offerings to offset the rising cost of providing high quality educational opportunities and to better serve their student populations. However, enrollments in online courses are not always sufficient to offset their own costs. One possible way of improving enrollments is through marketing campaigns targeted to specific demographic groups. In this study, we extend prior research on online learning by investigating how students’ perceptions of e-learning systems, prior to their enrollment in an online course, vary across socio-economic status and gender. Findings suggest that working-class students perceive e-learning systems more positively than their middle-class peers, but that little difference exists between genders. Armed with this knowledge, universities may improve online course enrollments by marketing online courses specifically to working-class students or through campaigns aimed at improving middle-class students’ perceptions of e-learning systems.