Grades, Student Satisfaction and Retention in Online and Face-to-Face Introductory Psychology Units: A Test of Equivalency Theory

Abstract

There has been a recent rapid growth in the number of psychology courses offered online through institutions of higher education. The American Psychological Association has highlighted the importance of ensuring the effectiveness of online psychology courses (Halonen et al., 2013). Despite this, there have been inconsistent findings regarding student grades, satisfaction, and retention in online psychology units. Equivalency Theory (Simonson, 1999; Simonson et al., 1999) posits that online and classroom-based learners will attain equivalent learning outcomes when equivalent learning experiences are provided. We present a study of an online introductory psychology unit designed to provide equivalent learning experiences to the pre-existing face-to-face version of the unit. Using quasi-experimental methods, academic performance, student feedback, and retention data from 866 Australian undergraduate psychology students were examined to assess whether the online unit developed to provide equivalent learning experiences produced comparable outcomes to the ‘traditional’ unit delivered face-to-face. Student grades did not significantly differ between modes of delivery, except for a group-work based assessment where online students performed more poorly. Student satisfaction was generally high in both modes of the unit, with group-work the key source of dissatisfaction in the online unit. The results provide partial support for Equivalency Theory. The group-work based assessment did not provide an equivalent learning experience for students in the online unit highlighting the need for further research to determine effective methods of engaging students in online group activities. Consistent with previous research, retention rates were significantly lower in the online unit, indicating the need to develop effective strategies to increase online retention rates. While this study demonstrates successes in presenting students with an equivalent learning experience, we recommend that future research investigate means of successfully facilitating collaborative group-work assessment, and to explore contributing factors to actual student retention in online units beyond that of non-equivalent learning experiences.

Factors Contributing to Student Retention in Online Learning and Recommended Strategies for Improvement: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Assignment type could also be a factor affecting students' decision to continue the course. It was discovered that online students were not in favor of group assignments due to a lack of personal interaction with the instructor (Fredrickson, 2015;Garratt-Reed et al, 2016). Not surprisingly, time spent by the instructor during course facilitation also contributed to student retention to an extent, as noted by Wuellner (2013).…”

“…Low social presence (Aversa & MacCall, 2013) leading to a poor sense of belonging and passive engagement (Alman et al, 2012;Nistor & Neubauer, 2010;Shah & Cheng, 2018) Insufficient promotion of student interaction (Harris, Larrier, & Castano-Bishop, 2011; Nistor & Neubauer, 2010) Facilitation of learning Inadequate instructor presence for fostering knowledge acquisition and mediating meaningful engagement (Alman et al, 2012) including instructor's time investment during course facilitation (Wuellner, 2013) Lack of instructor guidance for promoting topic understanding (Ice, Gibson, Boston, & Becher, 2011) Low quality of interaction between instructor and students (Gaytan, 2015;Heyman, 2010) and inadequate feedback to learning (Shah & Cheng, 2018) Ineffective communication from instructor (O'Neill & Sai, 2014) Assignment types along with lack of personal interaction with instructor (Fredrickson, 2015;Garratt-Reed et al, 2016)…”

“…Lack of course organization, illogical course structures (Hammond & Shoemaker, 2014;Ice et al, 2011), and difficult-to-locate materials (Hammond & Shoemaker, 2014) Uninteresting and irrelevant course elements (Garratt-Reed et al, 2016;Harris et al, 2011;Pittenger & Doering, 2010) Vague expectations (Hammond & Shoemaker, 2014;Harris et al, 2011).…”

“…Based on the above-mentioned rationales, there is a need to improve online learner satisfaction and retention (Garratt-Reed, Roberts, & Heritage, 2016;Lee & Choi, 2011;Moore & Greenland, 2017;Murphy & Stewart, 2017;Wuellner, 2013). The systematic literature review investigates underlying factors that influence the gap between the popularity of online learning and its completion rates.…”

The Effects of Formative and Summative Assessment on Student's Connectedness, Satisfaction, Learning and Academic Performance within an Online Healthcare Course

“…A lack of accurate accounting of attrition rates and other confounding variables such as general student characteristics needs to be further investigated if valuable information is expected to be obtained and utilized (Howell, Laws & Lindsay, 2004). Real time assessment of retention therefore necessitates the need to understand and measure variables that have been shown to affect student persistence/retention overtime (Garratt-Reed, Roberts & Heritage, 2016).…”