The importance of Equitable Access in Higher Education

What is Equitable Access?

Equitable access is the notion that every student, attending any higher education institution in America has fair and equal access to a quality education regardless of their socioeconomical status, geographical location, or any other factor that may infringe their access to a high-quality education. Ultimately, equal access to quality learning projects is about empowering your students and ensuring they have the resources they need to thrive whilst earning their degree.

Most commonly, students arrive to class with a computer lacking the requirements for their class’s software titles such as Macs, Chromebooks, or tablets. It’s also common for students to not have a laptop or computer at all when they come to campus. Rightfully so, they assume they will have easy access to computer labs to complete their classwork.

Continuously, the added burden from Spring 2020 also heightened awareness of unequal access when campuses around the world closed their doors forcing students to work from home. There were two primary concerns schools faced when they switched to remote learning: delivering classwork to students remotely and ensuring students can complete their classwork using the technology they had access to at home.

Colleges and universities around the world were all facing the same challenges, and all had the same overarching goal: to have class. The University of the South, commonly known as Sewanee, quickly pivoted their priority to the equitable access to all approved campus software for faculty, staff, and students. The College of Charleston, located in South Carolina quickly realized they needed to adopt innovative technologies at an unprecedented pace to provide equitable access to quality education projects. Other Higher Ed institutions such as Elon University, the University of Vermont, Pittsburg State University, Queen’s University in Canada, Wheaton College, Cornell University, and many more all realized they needed to make a rapid change, and colleges and universities around the world all faced the same dilemma. So… how did they do it?

How schools have utilized AppsAnywhere

For far too many schools, the unexpected switch to remote learning posed a huge dilemma for equitable access to education technology. For some, however, it wasn’t a challenge at all. Queen’s University in Canada, for example, future-proofed their campus in 2019 by making software available to all students on any device through AppsAnywhere. They recognized early on that accessing heavy-weight software titles was a hurdle for engineering students. The required apps and software titles for the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences were only accessible through specialty labs. AppsAnywhere freed the apps (and the students!) from the computer labs, allowing access from their own devices through a single sign-on portal.

When the Elon University leadership team thought about their path towards equitable access they tasked Pat Donohue, Assistant CIO and Director of Campus Technology Support with creating a more innovative and accessible student experience. Pat did what few schools often do: he went directly to their student body and asked the Student Government Association exactly what they wanted. Elon University’s investigation revealed that students were frustrated with the limitations of access to software which negatively affected their outcomes. When access to required software is not equally available to everyone, students who are restricted suffer. Not long after Elon University implemented AppsAnywhere, students were accessing all their coursework with ease and were overall getting a better experience. When we asked Pat about this unique approach toward equitable access to technology at Elon University, he told us,

“you need to be where your customers are, and our customers are our students. It is essential to keep an eye on the modern students so we can keep up with the latest trends in technology. When our students are happy, it results in their academic success”.

BYOD and equitable access: creating a university without walls

When you consider the benefits of BYOD, it's no wonder why it's a strategic objective of forward-thinking CIOs across the globe. The ability to deliver all the services your students need in a flexible and on-demand way is sure to increase the user experience and productivity while supporting mobile or remote working. BYOD is the gateway to technological equity in the world of higher education.

Bring Your Own Device initiatives provide 4 core values to students and university staff:

Provide students with flexibility. BYOD gives students the flexibility to work wherever and whenever they want to, by making academic applications available on their own devices, on-demand. Whether they're at home, on-campus or in the coffee shop, BYOD initiatives provide equal access for everyone.

Increase retention & enrollment. Students who have easy access to their work perform better academically. When they no longer have the added stress of accessing their software apps and can work from their own, familiar device, they will have a better experience at school overall. Happy students return to campus the following semester. And prospective students are more attracted to an academic program that provides accessibility.

Free up space & save money. Outdated, overcrowded, and underused on-campus computer labs drain schools of their financial resources. Making software applications available from any device reduces the need for the prehistoric labs, saving time and money.

Reduce support ticket traffic. Access technology is only as impactful as the ease of use for the student. Enabling BYOD with AppsAnywhere provides not only an accessible experience, but an easy one too. After clicking the ‘Launch’ button, students will be able to use their apps in seconds on the device they know like the back of their hand. Simplicity of use for the students equals less time IT spends on answering support tickets.