When Phyllis Olmstead started a graduate degree program in education, her professor revealed an ominous statistic: Three out of four women who had gone through the program before her had gotten divorced.
Unlike some of the other women in her program, Olmstead managed to earn her master's degree by doing online coursework early in the morning or late at night while balancing a full-time teaching position and a marriage, and shuttling her grandkids to school.
While more women such as Olmstead are going online to take courses, for many of them it means juggling a full-time job and family or homemaking responsibilities with a heavy course load, which is for some equivalent to a "third shift," according to a recent report by the American Association of University Women (AAUW).
"In this respect, technology hasn't freed more of women's time, (it has) only created a third shift in the home," said Cheris Kramarae, the author of the report and an AAUW Educational Foundation scholar-in-residence.
The notion of a third shift isn't new. But the online distance education boom has changed the dynamics.
"Even before distance learning, there was a third shift for women in education," Olmstead said. "Online education gives it another dimension. It makes it more personal. It allows women more flexibility to make a third shift any time of day or night they need it."
Researchers surveyed 500 men and women through online and in-person interviews. The majority of those surveyed were over 25 years of age and female.
The third shift isn't unique to women, but it's "more predominant," Olmstead said.
"Women are simply on the cutting edge of a problem that will increasingly confront all workers, regardless of sex or of their responsibilities in the home," agreed Pamela Haag, director of research for the AAUW's Education Foundation.
Women face a great deal of conflict trying to schedule learning time around their family responsibilities, a tension that men experience to a lesser degree since they are less likely to be the main caregivers, Haag said.
Online learning eliminates many obstacles to education for both men and women; by cutting childcare and commuting costs, allowing more flexibility to fit in courses, and letting students spend more time at home.
Many older women who were surveyed said they feel more comfortable in the virtual classroom than in traditional on-campus classes, where programs are often geared toward younger students.
But online education also introduces new challenges, such as hidden costs to wire computers and a lack of face-to-face interaction with faculty and other students.
"Learning style is the main concern," Olmstead said. "If women need to see, feel and touch (when learning), then online education isn't that versatile for them."
While some distance-learning advocates have praised the Internet as an equalizer for gender differences in the classroom, many of the women surveyed by AAUW said that clues to gender differences -- such as writing style and tone -- persist online.
"Computer-mediated communication is not a neutral medium. Women and men interact in different ways in Internet classes," Kramarae said. "The patterns from the traditional classroom (including men engaging in more argumentative conversations and women in more open-ended conversations) carry over to the distance learning environment."
Many online teachers aren't aware of these online gender biases, she said.
Women who are balancing a third shift may also struggle to meet deadlines with synchronous instruction, where they must meet online at the same time with other students for a regularly scheduled course.
These online learners may prefer asynchronous discussions, where they can participate at their convenience at early or late hours, free from PTA meetings and other time conflicts.
"To meet the third shift, with women particularly, (educators) need to look at student centeredness with (an online) course," Olmstead said.
As the nation of "lifelong learners" expands, educators may need to find new ways to make education accessible to both men and women of a nontraditional age.
Some educators say that women -— and other distance learning students —- need to have more of a voice in the design process.
"A basic problem ... in all countries is that women are under-represented as software designers, network engineers, college administrators and teachers," Kramarae said. "So their needs and experiences are not immediately part of the designing, implementing and promoting of higher education, distance or classroom."
"Online education could much better serve the needs of students if women become involved in all aspects of the planning and evaluating of online learning."
The report recommends: educating policy makers about the difficulties that working mothers face in taking distance education courses; expanding financial aid programs to support part-time students who take small course loads; and disseminating information to reach untapped populations of women who might not otherwise seek out distance learning.
