Assessing the Impact of Blended Learning on Student Performance

Abstract

This paper assesses quantitatively the impact on student performance of a blended learning experiment within a large undergraduate first‐year course in statistics for business and economics students. We employ a difference‐in‐differences method, which controls for differences in student characteristics and course delivery method, to evaluate the impact of blended learning on student performance. Our results suggest that the impact of blended learning on student performance depends on whether the effect of blended learning is cumulative or not. Blended learning has no impact on student performance if learning is non‐cumulative and only affects the performance on the quizzes associated with the material covered by blended learning. However, if learning is cumulative and impacts the performance for the whole course, then our results strongly suggest a strong, negative effect. Taken as a whole, these results provide a possible explanation for why most of the existing studies focusing on short online courses have obtained neutral or even positive results while nearly all the studies focusing on semester‐length course tend to observe negative impacts from online learning.

Online Learning in Postsecondary Education

“…Furthermore, high-performing students performed equally well regardless of delivery method, whereas students with average and lower levels of expected performance performed worse in the hybrid sections. Kwak et al (2015) 12 utilize a quasi-experimental research design, replacing two weeks of lectures in the middle of a semester-long, face-to-face introductory statistics course with a blended format that cut class time in half and made additional online materials 11 Ithaka S+R also undertook a large-scale study in 2013 that analyzed student outcomes associated with hybrid formats in multiple universities across the University System of Maryland. This study conducted seven side-by-side comparisons of student outcomes in hybrid sections with outcomes in traditionally taught courses, controlling for a myriad of student background characteristics.…”

“…None of the studies included in this literature review examine the effect of delivery formats on course costs, and yet several suggest that the potential cost reductions-or increases-associated with online and hybrid courses may be what ultimately drive the extent to which their results are actionable (Joyce et al (2014), Kwak et al (2015), Olitsky and Cosgrove (2014)). To support action on the ground, the research must address not only the effects of online and hybrid instruction on learning outcomes, but also their efficiency.…”

“…To the extent, however, that hybrid courses in other settings might emphasize interactivity over lecturing in their in-class portions, the generalizability of the results in this study may be less powerful. Kwak et al (2015) In this study, Kwak et al conduct an experiment with a first-year introductory statistics course for business and economics students at the University of Queensland (Australia). This course had traditionally been taught in a face-to-face format, involving thirteen weeks of lectures (with each lecture lasting two hours long and repeated twice a week).…”

An Empirical Investigation into Blended Learning Effects on Tertiary Students and Students Perceptions on the Approach in Botswana

“…Various authors agree that BL mode is an integration of the online mode with the traditional mode of face-to-face to offer class activities in a pedagogically valuable planned manner which provides flexibility [6], [16], [17]. In addition, other authors [1], [2], [8], [9], [18] support the findings related to the positives of the BL mode.…”

“…Kwak [17] states that there has been an increase of universities offering BL mode with an increase of many students embracing it. In the United Kingdom, Open University is one of the universities known for its employment of the BL mode [20].…”