A critical analysis of e-learning and distance education from a social justice perspective

This paper seeks to argue that when E-learning is introduced within open and distance learning (ODL) contexts without adequate research and planning, the consequences could be dire, particularly on students’ access to higher education, participation, retention, flexibility and quality offerings, which can eventually culminate into epistemological injustices. While many researchers on educational technologies have focused on technical issues and opportunities, too few have turned their attention to qualitative aspects, such as those bordering on social justice and equality. This study, therefore, analyses some experiences from selected case scenarios around the world to locate common threads relative to curriculum injustices. This qualitative research utilizes document analyses as its primary data collection method. In this regard, the research approach remains within the critical hermeneutic and interpretive research paradigms. Theoretically, this study adopts Rawls’s Justice as Fairness, Connells Curriculum Justice and Fred Davis’s technology acceptance model (TAM) for their ability to illuminate issues that determine inequalities and adoption of innovations within depraved education contexts. The results from these analyses will help inform policymakers and educators on how best to design Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR)-aided education that upholds epistemological justice within socially stratified contexts such as Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia and South Africa. The findings will also make available a body of critical literature that can be utilized by different scholars interested in ODL within resource-constrained contexts.