The equal right to inequality: equality and utility in on‐ and off‐campus subject delivery

Abstract

The principle of equality states that it is bad for some people to be worse off than others. In the context of distance education, this principle is violated on those occasions where on‐campus students have access, not only to all the resources available to distance education students, but also to face‐to‐face tutorials. This is because the distance education students are worse off in terms of the availability of resources. In this article I will determine whether distance students should, in this respect, be worse off than on‐campus students. In particular I will focus on whether or not, in certain circumstances, the principle of utility, which states that it is better for people to be better off, takes precedence over the principle of equality.

Keywords:

• dual mode
• equality
• equity
• utility

Notes

1. Although, for reasons of simplicity, only traditional resources are discussed in this article, the arguments developed could just as easily be applied to alternative resources. For example, rather than a textbook, both on‐campus and DE students might have access to the same wiki or chat room; rather than a study guide, DE students might be the only group that has access to podcasts or voice narrated PowerPoint slides; or rather than face‐to‐face tutorials, internal students might be the only group which could take part in laboratory work, workshops, or practicum work.

2. This proviso is not intended to be exhaustive. There may be others equally applicable. However, for the purposes of this article we need only consider the one given.