Is Online Education Working?

78 Pages Posted: 2 Aug 2021 Last revised: 20 Jul 2023

See all articles by Duha Tore Altindag

Duha Tore Altindag

Auburn University

Elif Filiz

University of Southern Mississippi - Department of Political Science and International Development

Erdal Tekin

American University

Date Written: July 2021

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of instruction modality on student learning outcomes, with a particular emphasis on the disparities observed before and after the pandemic. The analysis uses administrative data from a public university that spans seven pre-pandemic and five post-pandemic semesters in a research design that controls for endogenous sorting into instruction modality at the student, instructor, and course levels using fixed effects. The findings show that face-to-face (FtF) instruction leads to better student performance in the courses, i.e., higher grades, a greater likelihood of receiving a passing grade and achieving a grade of A, and a lower tendency to withdraw from the course. Consistent with this finding, students who have had greater exposure to FtF instruction have a lower likelihood of course repetition, a higher probability of graduating on time, and achieving a higher graduation GPA. The findings further reveal that these differences have been decreasing over time, and the post-pandemic differences are much smaller. The results are largely consistent across students and instructors with different characteristics and subject areas, except for students in the Honors program and graduate students, where the FtF advantage is either smaller or statistically insignificant.

Suggested Citation

Altindag, Duha Tore and Filiz, Elif and Tekin, Erdal, Is Online Education Working? (July 2021). NBER Working Paper No. w29113, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3897550

Duha Tore Altindag (Contact Author)

Auburn University ( email )

415 West Magnolia Avenue
Auburn, AL 36849
United States

Elif Filiz

University of Southern Mississippi - Department of Political Science and International Development ( email )

118 College Drive
Box 5108
Hattiesburg, MS 39406
United States

Erdal Tekin

American University ( email )

4400 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20016
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
94
Abstract Views
367
Rank
499,344
PlumX Metrics