Pandemic response policies’ democratizing effects on online learning
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed peoples’ lives in unexpected ways, especially how they allocate their time between work and other activities. Demand for online learning has surged during a period of mass layoffs and transition to remote work and schooling. Can this uptake in online learning help c...
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| Format: | Article |
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National Academy of Sciences
2021
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/130231 |
| _version_ | 1826211316442857472 |
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| author | Kizilcec, Rene F. Makridis, Christos Andreas Sadowski, Katharine C. |
| author2 | Sloan School of Management |
| author_facet | Sloan School of Management Kizilcec, Rene F. Makridis, Christos Andreas Sadowski, Katharine C. |
| author_sort | Kizilcec, Rene F. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The COVID-19 pandemic has changed peoples’ lives in unexpected ways, especially how they allocate their time between work and other activities. Demand for online learning has surged during a period of mass layoffs and transition to remote work and schooling. Can this uptake in online learning help close longstanding skills gaps in the US workforce in a sustainable and equitable manner? We answer this question by analyzing individual engagement data of DataCamp users between October 2019 and September 2020 (n = 277,425). Exploiting the staggered adoption of actions to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 across states, we identify the causal effect at the neighborhood level. The adoption of nonessential business closures led to a 38% increase in new users and a 6% increase in engagement among existing users. We find that these increases are proportional across higher- and lower-income neighborhoods and neighborhoods with a high or low share of Black residents. This demonstrates the potential for online platforms to democratize access to knowledge and skills that are in high demand, which supports job security and facilitates social mobility. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:04:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/130231 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:04:17Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | National Academy of Sciences |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1302312022-10-02T00:23:58Z Pandemic response policies’ democratizing effects on online learning Kizilcec, Rene F. Makridis, Christos Andreas Sadowski, Katharine C. Sloan School of Management The COVID-19 pandemic has changed peoples’ lives in unexpected ways, especially how they allocate their time between work and other activities. Demand for online learning has surged during a period of mass layoffs and transition to remote work and schooling. Can this uptake in online learning help close longstanding skills gaps in the US workforce in a sustainable and equitable manner? We answer this question by analyzing individual engagement data of DataCamp users between October 2019 and September 2020 (n = 277,425). Exploiting the staggered adoption of actions to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 across states, we identify the causal effect at the neighborhood level. The adoption of nonessential business closures led to a 38% increase in new users and a 6% increase in engagement among existing users. We find that these increases are proportional across higher- and lower-income neighborhoods and neighborhoods with a high or low share of Black residents. This demonstrates the potential for online platforms to democratize access to knowledge and skills that are in high demand, which supports job security and facilitates social mobility. 2021-03-22T21:53:37Z 2021-03-22T21:53:37Z 2021-03 2020-12 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0027-8424 1091-6490 https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/130231 Kizilcec, Rene F. et al. "Pandemic response policies’ democratizing effects on online learning." 118, 11 (March 2021): e2026725118. © 2021 the Author(s) http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2026725118 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf National Academy of Sciences PNAS |
| spellingShingle | Kizilcec, Rene F. Makridis, Christos Andreas Sadowski, Katharine C. Pandemic response policies’ democratizing effects on online learning |
| title | Pandemic response policies’ democratizing effects on online learning |
| title_full | Pandemic response policies’ democratizing effects on online learning |
| title_fullStr | Pandemic response policies’ democratizing effects on online learning |
| title_full_unstemmed | Pandemic response policies’ democratizing effects on online learning |
| title_short | Pandemic response policies’ democratizing effects on online learning |
| title_sort | pandemic response policies democratizing effects on online learning |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/130231 |
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