Over the past 10 years, U.S. undergraduate participation in study abroad has increased dramatically.  The majority of these study abroad experiences have durations of less than eight weeks.  Due to the rapid growth in both of these areas, there has been increased interest in assessing student outcomes associated with short-term study abroad (STSA) programs.  This paper investigates the impact of an STSA experience on undergraduate students' levels of global awareness over the entire STSA sequence: pre-preparatory course, post-preparatory course, and post-STSA program.  We adopt and extend the measures constructed in Chieffo and Griffiths (2004),by implementing a longitudinal study across 23 separate STSA courses. Findings indicate that students’ global awareness does not change significantly after the preparatory course, but that students' levels of global awareness experience statistically significant increases along several dimensions  after completing the STSA program.  We also find that students who have completed a previous study abroad experience still benefit from an additional STSA course.

No abstract

Over the past decade there has been a large increase in the number of colleges and universities that offer fully online courses and blended courses (courses with a face-to-face component and with an online component). The number of students enrolling in these courses has also increased. These courses are less costly for universities to offer and provide students with more flexibility than traditional classes. However, the effect of these courses on student learning remains unclear. This study examines the effect of blended learning on a specific student learning outcome in introductory economics courses. The effect of blending on learning is determined by comparing scores on quizzes and exams between students in a blended course (the treatment) and students in a traditional face-to-face course (the control). This study accounts for the potential bias due to non-random selection into treatment by using propensity score matching. The results indicate no significant effects of blending on student learning. JEL Classification: A22; I20; I21

No abstract

No abstract