Pandemic response policies’ democratizing effects on online learning

Rene F. Kizilcec (), Christos Makridis and Katharine C. Sadowski
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Rene F. Kizilcec: Department of Information Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853
Katharine C. Sadowski: Department of Policy Analysis and Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2021, vol. 118, issue 11, e2026725118

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: online learning; equity; future of work; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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