Issues of Social Justice and Accessibility in Massive Open Online Education

Introduction. Modernity, characterized by the expansion of digital educational environments, defines key challenges for the implementation of the principles of social justice. The “fading” of the inclusive potential of massive open online courses (MOOCs), the understanding of their availability solely as a technical possibility of registration – all this makes us return to understanding true equality in global online education. A new study of MOOC problems is determined by the need to overcome systemic barriers to sustainable and equitable educational development.

Methodology and sources. The study of structural limitations of social justice and accessibility in MOOCs, the identification of factors of digital, economic, cultural and linguistic inequality are based on a synthesis of sociological analysis and socio-philosophical reflection of the concepts of “justice as fairness”. A systemic approach allows us to consider MOOCs as a holistic but contradictory ecosystem that reproduces social disparities. The sociocultural approach makes it possible to analyze the conditions of real, rather than formal, participation of various groups in the educational process.

Results and discussion. The concept of “pedagogical justice” helps to counteract the illusion of universal accessibility of MOOCs. Its main idea is to ensure equality of educational results by overcoming the digital divide, economic barriers, language hegemony and cultural irrelevance of content. The philosophy of “equality of opportunity” has similar principles of ensuring the “quality of educational functioning”, denying “technological determinism”, and asserting the priority of inclusiveness over scalability. Effective participation in MOOCs depends on a set of “access opportunities”: the ability to overcome technological limitations, financial barriers, language barriers, and cultural alienation. The wider the range of these opportunities for each student, the higher the level of social justice in online education. The philosophy of “pedagogical justice” is associated with the concept of sustainable development of the digital educational environment. Models of “inclusive MOOCs” implementing the practices of adaptation, support and multicultural design try to put into practice the principles of justice, creating a balance between mass and equality, technology and human-centeredness.

Conclusion. Combining a critical analysis of barriers with the principles of pedagogical justice can give a new impetus to the development of MOOCs and change the content of their mission, strengthening its humanistic and inclusive focus. The integration of these principles into the technological, economic and pedagogical foundations of MOOCs is a condition for their transformation into an instrument of genuine educational equality.

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