My Story

As a first-generation higher education student and a lifelong learner, I have spent most of my life living, working, and studying in rural and remote Canada. When our family moved north almost three decades ago, distance education became even more important to me as the separation from southern institutions was magnified. I continued to study throughout the years and earned three degrees and numerous certificates and diplomas at a distance during that time. I valued the supportive connections available to me and appreciated the opportunity to remain at home while earning my degrees. I realized the importance of institutional and relational supports as I navigated through learning at a distance, and I valued the support provided by my many tutors and instructors. From these experiences, I felt a deep desire to give back to my northern community and make our learning conditions here better through service to others who choose to learn through distance education.

Throughout my career, I have worked to connect students in remote communities to higher education. I have had the privilege of hauling a networked computer system up and down the Dempster highway in the High Arctic to offer cohort-based courses, connecting women across the North. I have also instructed quadriplegic students at a distance, supporting them through teleconferencing lectures and using voice-adaptive technologies, Padlets for visual supports, and Moodle course sites to improve access to courses. Communities also support their students, providing access to workable broadband connections so that students can attend virtual classes.

During one virtual lecture, a student needed to move to three separate buildings in her community because the connection to the virtual class was unstable; her screen would freeze, so she was unable to follow along or hear the lecture. To ensure that she was able to complete this final course in her program, I waited online 1,000 miles away until she reappeared on the screen in front of me. These are the conditions in which we work, requiring patience (both hers and mine) so that learning can happen. Adaptations can be frustrating and time consuming but are necessary as we walk together to improve learning conditions across the North. These examples illustrate the creativity, innovation, and persistence of northern women as they adapt while achieving their educational goals. These efforts have been successful because of the supportive and respectful relationships built among learners, community leaders, and instructors, each walking alongside the other to meet educational needs.

Contextualizing Remote Postsecondary Learning

There are many consistencies between traditional distance education students and those studying in remote regions. Many remote learners are separated geographically from bricks-and-mortar institutions (Moore, 2013). In addition, many remote learners are the first in their families to pursue postsecondary education and belong to under-represented groups such as Indigenous students (Government of the NWT, 2013). However, there are unique and distinguishable differences between remote distance education students and general populations who study at a distance. Remote distance education students in the Northwest Territories (NWT) are dispersed across 1.4 million square kilometres, making distance education one of a limited number of options available for postsecondary education. Inequitable access to secondary education (PK–12) in remote communities means that many women from smaller communities have limited access to prerequisite courses necessary to begin studies in their preferred programs. For example, because of teacher shortages and high educator turnover in smaller communities, many students experience delays or breaks in secondary education.

In 2022, there were over 100 jobs posted for teachers in remote NWT communities, leaving some communities with no teachers during parts of the academic year. A lack of applicants, delays in the hiring process, and the scarcity of available housing for teachers are some of the reasons that positions remain unfilled, leaving students without instructors or supports. These factors have a detrimental effect on remote learning. A loss of one day per week in the academic year means that 20% of the material might not be accessible to students, resulting in incomplete grade levels. When student placement tests are administered, many students discover the impacts that these breaks have on their education, resulting in necessary upgrading before they are allowed to access programs. Necessary bridging years require students to move to larger centres to access both developmental studies courses and parent programs.

Other barriers for remote postsecondary students include limited internet access and inconsistent broadband capacity across remote communities. Accessibility and stable broadband services are contingent on each community’s location (Soanes-White, 2022). Given the lack of universal standards for internet speeds, there is disparity in students’ access to various distance education options. Learners who live near larger centres have faster internet and consistent access to secondary schooling. In contrast, students in more remote communities (e.g., fly-in or limited road access) can be affected by their location, access to prior learning, or limited technological capacity. Therefore, the level of support required by learners will vary according to their unique circumstances (Government of the NWT, 2019). Increasing numbers of programs are creating distance education options for students, but many of these programs must rely on first- and second-generation distance education technologies (Anderson & Dron, 2011) to ensure equitable access by all students. Understanding each community’s unique conditions is necessary and must be evaluated to ensure that the best distance education options are used to support each location. Each community represents another woman, another future, another connection extending across the North, creating an interconnectedness among women in their pursuit of education.

There is a culture of interconnectedness that strengthens women’s distance education across the Northwest Territories. This culture can be expressed as a set of interconnected relationships corresponding to the needs and expectations of individuals and communities, coexisting in time, space, and land-based connections. Deep and meaningful social bonds originate from familial relationships, connection to the environment/land, and ties to others outside close families, expanding relational identity and interdependence with one another (Halfacree, 1993; Koziol et al., 2015; Waldorf, 2006). Personal identity related to familial ties and cultural identity creates a connectedness through lived experiences of physical, emotional, spiritual, and familial connections. These relationships extend our relations outward to include others with shared needs.

Being a leader in this educational environment means walking alongside others as we co-construct our experiences by valuing roles, responsibilities, and knowledge systems together. These shared responsibilities can include how a student connects to distance courses (e.g., by phone, mobile device, computer, Teams, Zoom, or videoconferencing). Shared decisions can include discussions on the format of course syllabi or on how students prefer to be assessed (e.g., open-ended assignments, presentations in students’ native languages, oral or take-home exams, or peer-reviewed assessments). By allowing flexibility in the assessment of courses, students are empowered to demonstrate their learning from a strengths-based approach.

The Leadership of Walking Alongside

I did not set out to be a leader in distance education; in the beginning, I was pursuing my own educational goals. Through my experiences, I witnessed other students’ efforts to access distance education programs, and I realized that I had the knowledge and capacity to help others. As people reached out to me, in my role as an academic, I shared what I knew to try to make their journeys a little easier. My academic positions also allowed me to act in and adapt to certain learning spaces. Requesting a portable computer lab that I could carry in the back of a three-quarter-ton truck was one step. Gathering women in their small communities, using a cohort-based, guided, independent study model, was another step. Connecting students through videoconferencing when we lost funding for our Inuvik campus was an important accomplishment in preserving access for High Arctic students, made possible through a partnership arrangement with the Business Development Investment Corporation, using its videoconferencing equipment in a pilot project. Two years later we were able to invest in our own conferencing equipment and connected the third campus in Fort Smith to the Yellowknife-Inuvik pilot project. Meeting child-care needs and respecting community events were also important in accommodating students. Hiring a female Indigenous lawyer to instruct a condensed two-week course was a game-changer and created energy and deep connection that I had not anticipated between students and instructor. These are examples of the leadership of walking alongside that include being present, empathetic, and connected to students.

One of the most essential parts of developing remote distance education programs is creating caring and responsive relationships. Connecting with others across the North built respectful relationships and improved our knowledge of what students needed. Asking people what they need and not making assumptions about what might work best for them require active listening and working together to improve learning conditions. Through listening, collaborating, and supporting one another, we can create a systemic approach to distance education that spans the territory. Leadership from alongside requires recognizing when educational gaps exist, listening for what is required, and adapting current practices to meet students’ needs. Leadership from alongside requires relationship building, standing up when requests are made, and creating sustainable solutions with the resources that exist. It is about ensuring that everyone’s needs are considered, connecting people with common needs, and sharing what we have. These relationships span distance and evolve over time; they ebb and flow depending on learners’ needs and available resources.

The North is a big place with a small population, and because of this connection we need to live our lives in relation to each other. Creating these connections builds bridges and joins students to materials, students to students, and students to instructors, creating spaces for learners to connect the dots in their lives to the materials provided (Laurillard, 2012). Respect and reciprocity build strength through our shared relationships and reinforce that each of us has a vested interest in our shared paths and a responsibility to interact respectfully. This is how we live together in a good way. Developing trusting and supportive relationships is essential in remote distance education; respect also expands relational space for new connections and relationships.

Leading from alongside is a necessary approach to remote distance education because remote populations reside in a culture of relational interdependence, coexisting together while originating from diverse cultures. Remote distance education is first and foremost about making spaces for these connections and learning through leading from alongside one another. Leading from alongside is based on active engagement between students and instructors, to develop and inform a shared approach to distance learning, guided by a duty to assist and empower students. By collaborating with students and promoting their self-advocacy, educational environments become more relevant and richer spaces for learning.

Challenges for Women in Distance Education

There are layers of complexity, including environmental limitations and accessibility issues, that women in remote locations need to navigate to access higher learning. This is further complicated by the numerous challenges already revealed, including distance between communities, secondary education limitations, and broadband issues (Government of the NWT, 2013; Soanes-White, 2022). In addition, steep learning curves exist as women navigate new technologies, applications, and approaches in their distance learning environments. Sometimes it is necessary to adapt learning environments to environmental limitations. Many times multiple workarounds are necessary for each community within one course offering. For example, in one course, some students might need to connect via teleconferencing, whereas others might have access to Teams or Zoom for virtual lectures, given the variety of broadband connections available in each community. Some broadband limitations also mean that some students require print materials because the upload and download speeds will not accommodate online access to resources or supplies (Soanes-White, 2022). By using adaptive approaches to distance education, it is possible to connect each student across the Northwest Territories and improve their access to distance education courses.

Leading from alongside in remote distance education requires knowing our learners and understanding their educational expectations and limitations. This includes embedding a learning culture that aligns with the institutional culture while responding to and respecting diverse learner needs. Walking alongside students requires building bridges between cultures, creating trusting long-term relationships, and making spaces for growth and development. By providing a duty of care, by caring with and for our students, they sense our authentic desire to improve conditions and support them on their educational journeys (Noddings, 2016).

Commonality within Women’s Stories

Through my relationships, I have witnessed a common thread that ties women’s postsecondary education stories together; when these women begin their journeys, there is little that stops them. Their interest in pursuing education and their determination to meet their goals surpass many environmental limitations and accessibility issues. When asked why they persist to completion of their studies, many of these women state that their journeys are based on improving their lives and futures. They are focused on self-improvement and curious about their areas of study while remaining at home and sustaining their cultural and social ways of life. If women have children, then most express a desire to be positive role models through education. When asked how they make it through all of the existing barriers, they acknowledge their determination, persistence, and tenacity. Each is aware of environmental limitations and prepared to navigate known and unknown challenges as they arise; the women focus on the ends in sight with courage and connection. Because women in remote communities are tenacious and determined, it is important to meet them where they are at, to listen to and respect their experiences, and to work with them to improve environmental conditions that will not only sustain but also promote supportive environments.

What I have come to understand over the years by listening to women’s stories is that getting an education is as much about the connections within a woman’s life as it is about a woman’s educational goals. These connections are to their children, families, and communities. Some women are driven by their desire to be mentors and role models for their children. For others, their aspirations are for self-improvement and the capacity to provide for themselves and their families. For others, education is an opportunity to continue to grow and nurture themselves through deepening professional relationships and improving their communities. Finally, for others, it is about a second career after raising their children and wanting to continue to contribute and nurture others. By walking alongside others, I have been able to see the common threads that bind our stories together. Women’s distance education might begin as a sole journey, a path forged by each woman to satiate her own personal goals, but for many of us what begins as an individual journey becomes, throughout the years, our soul’s journey, and that knowledge deepens connections to our common goals.

Practical Recommendations

Accessing postsecondary learning through distance education means that we do not need to leave behind our identities or our homes; we can imagine and reimagine differences from our own spaces through our connections to others who might think, feel, and behave in new and different ways. This is something that we are good at in the North; we have a capacity to listen, to learn, and to make space for each other. This approach to learning respects differences among us and honours our unique identities.

Summary

Leadership from alongside begins with the classroom of one: one student, one need, one future. By walking alongside students, I have been able to learn and understand the strengths and limitations of each learning environment. By respecting that students are the experts of their own learning conditions, we work together to respond to their needs and improve distance education conditions and experiences. Working with students invariably improves our understanding of educational conditions, expands options through creative collaboration, and empowers students to assist in the development of their own learning environments. Women grow and flourish through their experiences in distance education; challenges become more manageable when shared with others, and opportunities expand as women walk alongside one another. We live, we grow, and we expand our interrelationships by embodying our shared reality as northern women, supporting one another, and living in a good way.

References

• Anderson, T., & Dron, J. (2011). Three generations of distance education pedagogy. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 12(3), 80–97. https:// doi .org /10 .19173 /irrodl .v12i3 .890
• Government of the NWT. (2013). Directions for change: Education renewal and innovation. Government of the NWT.
• Government of the NWT. (2019). Highest level of schooling. NWT Bureau of Statistics.
• Halfacree, K. H. (1993). Locality and social representation: Space, discourse and alternative definitions of rural. Journal of Rural Studies, 9(4). 23–37.
• Koziol, N. A., Arthur, A. M., Hawley, L. R., Bovaird, J. A., Bash, K. L., McCormick, C., & Welch, G. W. (2015). Identifying, analyzing, and communicating rural: A quantitative perspective. Journal of Research in Rural Education, 30(4), 1–14.
• Laurillard, D. (2012). Teaching as a design science building pedagogical patterns for learning and technology. Routledge.
• Moore, M. G. (2013). The theory of transactional distance. In Moore, M. G. (Ed.). Handbook of distance education, (3^rd ed.), 66–85. Routledge.
• Noddings, N. (2016). Philosophy of education. Routledge.
• Soanes-White, T. L. (2022). Defining and exploring broadband connections and education solutions in Canada’s Northwest Territories. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 48(4), 1–18.https:// cjlt .ca /index .php /cjlt /article /view /28262 /20621
• Waldorf, B. (2006, July 3–26). A continuous multi-dimensional measure of rurality: Moving beyond threshold measures. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Agricultural Economics Association, Long Beach, California. https:// ageconsearch .umn .edu /record /21383 ?v =pdf