Locating Online Learners: A Relational Systems Thinking Approach to Equity and Sustainability in Online Higher Education

Fully online learners are a growing part of the tertiary education system, but have little data to represent them, raising questions of equity, inclusion and sustainability. This paper examines why online learners remain largely invisible in higher education narratives, data practices and policy decisions. Using a relational systems paradigm, the study synthesizes public datasets, policy narratives and research literature by applying the Iceberg Model to surface events, patterns, system structures and mental models within the Online Higher Education System. The analysis suggests that assumptions that online learning is less real, rigorous and experiential than on-campus learning, reinforced by incomplete and aggregated data, perpetuate invisibility and campus-first system structures. The paper offers relational questions that may help identify leverage points for sustainability, equity and belonging that can be adapted from the Australian higher education context. Recognizing online learners within a complex system supports higher education’s responsibility for sustainable, just and inclusive futures.