Online Learning Efficacy Research Database

The face of higher education is changing. One major trend is the fact that students are taking an increasing proportion of their courses online. That is, a growing number of students at not-for-profit private and public colleges and universities are taking some of their course work online and completing other parts in face-to-face courses. What impact does this mix of online and in-person course modalities have on student success? We answer this question by looking at political science majors at a large public university in the USA, taking into account demographics, achievement, and the mix of course modalities the students take (n=1173). Through descriptive statistics, regression analysis, and predicted probabilities, we analyze how the mix of course modalities students enroll in impacts student success and retention. Results indicate that the success of all students declines as they take a greater proportion of their course load online. As universities seek to address this trend in higher education, they need to be particularly sensitive to ways to increase the success of online learners. Considering the needs of online learners is particularly relevant in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has prompted the shift to online education across the USA and elsewhere, a trend that is likely to continue in the future. 
[less]

Aim/Purpose. The objective of this study is to explore the effectiveness of using virtual experiments on students’ level of achievement and on their practical skills as well as their views on applying the virtual experiments in a general physics lab.
Background. There is a continuous debate in the literature on the effect of using virtual experiments/ lab on students’ physics learning and whether those virtual experiments can substitute and/or enhance students’ performance in the real lab. Also, there is a need to design effective learning environments which are more suitable to students’ characteristics in the digital age and can help them to acquire science inquiry and practical skills.
Methodology. Mixed research methodology is adopted including quasi-experimental design, achievement test, participatory observation, and semi-structured interviews. Two groups of students were selected: an experimental group (45 students) and control group (45 students). Contribution. The study results contribute to the ongoing discussion on the role of virtual lab in learning and teaching general physics lab and provide a model of combining virtual and real lab as well as an alternative solution under the times of COVID 19. 
[less]

This study describes students’ development of components of intercultural competence after completing a cultural diversity course and compares degrees of intercultural competence between a face-to-face course and an equivalent online section of the same course. Analysis of final written reflections from students demonstrate that students gained a deeper awareness of their lack of knowledge related to culture. The analysis also reveals that students in the online version of the course demonstrated higher degrees of intercultural openness and cultural self-awareness than did those in the face-to-face context. Findings from this study contribute significantly to the research on intercultural competence and the teaching of cultural diversity courses. 
[less]

This study examines the impact of online core courses on students’ academic and financial outcomes of postsecondary students. To do so, we analyzed data from a large sample of students in the University System of Georgia (USG), governing agency of Georgia’s 26 public universities and colleges. Since 2001, USG has offered “eCore” courses: lower-division core curriculum courses that are offered fully online to students enrolled in either face-to-face or fully online programs, and satisfy requirements at any USG institution. Our dataset contains students seeking associate degrees (N = 103,684) and bachelor’s degrees (N = 238,648) analyzed independently. Our research investigates the impact that eCore has on student retention, graduation, and loan accumulation. Our findings show that students who took eCore courses enrolled in more semesters regardless of the degree beingsought. Associate-seeking students who enrolled in eCore courses were more likely to graduate and took on fewer loans on average. 
[less]

Pain is a common experience for hospitalized children; however, nursing students are often not adequately trained in pediatric pain management. Innovative teaching strategies, such as e-learning, have been employed for instructing students, however success of these platforms has not been quantitatively measured. This study compared students' knowledge and skill performance following a researcher-designed pain management program administered with three teaching strategies: traditional face-to-face, e-learning, or blended learning. Undergraduate nursing students in Taiwan (N = 296) randomly assigned to one of the teaching strategies participated. Knowledge of pain management, and pain management skills were quantified. A subjective assessment of attitudes towards learning found no significant difference between groups. Knowledge of pediatric pain management did not differ significantly between groups (p = 0.36). A 15-item objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) measured the competency of pain management skills; scores were not significantly different, regardless of teaching strategy (p = 0.70). Traditional face-to-face teaching was as effective as both innovative strategies. Evaluating students’ skills following a pain management program with an OSCE provided a quantitative assessment of competency. Innovative strategies for teaching pediatric pain management could be a cost-effective way to provide flexible learning opportunities for nursing students who are distant from educational institutions. 
[less]

This study compared students’ expectations, perceptions, and grades in two undergraduate technology management courses at a university in the United States. One course was a technical course taught by a single instructor in an online course section and in a face-to-face section, and the second was a nontechnical course taught by a different instructor in an online and in a face-to-face section. Different concerns were evident between online and face-to-face students and between those in a technical or nontechnical section of a course. For the technical course sections, grades were higher in the online section. 
[less]

This observational study adds to a small number of college-specific studies comparing student performance in online and face-to-face versions of the same course. It also complements more large-scale college-based studies that compare the delivery formats across courses, disciplines, and institutions. Using descriptive statistics and the chi-square and ANOVA methods, the author examined comparative educational outcomes by measuring student performance and key factors of student performance in the same mandatory professional communications course taught simultaneously in an online and face-to-face format over a 5-semester time frame. The findings are consistent with other comparative studies that have established that in comparison to face-to-face students, online students are generally more academically prepared; more mature; and more commonly full-time employed, fluent in the English language, and female. Similar to other studies, the factors of gender, age, education, and writing proficiency are significant indicators of student achievement; the factors of employment hours, native language, and direct/indirect entry are not, which shows some discrepancy with other studies. In terms of overall student performance, online and face-to-face-component students earned similar grades and had similar completion and retention rates. This finding does not concur with a number of studies that show that online students are significantly less likely to successfully complete courses than their face-to-face counterparts. Course type (mandatory, elective, remedial, regular), advancement in a course of study (lower year, upper year), and delivery mode choice (fully online vs. mix of online and face-to-face) are probed as explanatory variables for differences in findings. 
[less]

With the proliferation of internet technology, the E-learning has become an essential method and new epitome that is widely used and implemented by educational institutions across the globe. The main objective of the current survey was to study the impact of E-learning on the students' academic performance. It was a facility-based and quasi-experimental research design that carried out in Najran University- college of nursing during the period from January to August, 2019. By adopting a purposive sampling technique, 80 under-graduate nursing students (40 experimental group + 40 as controls) that aged 21-24 years old had been recruited to participate in the current survey. Final exam results and a self-administered questionnaire were used for collecting data. The findings revealed that the mean scores obtained by students in the final exam by the E-learning group (Experimental) is statistically significantly higher than those for the traditional group (controls) (t=3.45, df=37, P value= 0.002). Additionally, the results showed that the mean of the students' overall satisfaction with the traditional face-to-face lectures in the control group was 6.26, while the mean of the students' overall satisfaction with E-learning in the experimental group was 8.74. The difference between students' attitudes was significant (P = 0.015) in favor of the experimental group. The key findings of the present study show a significant difference in learning outcomes beside positive attitudes between online and traditional learners which can be a viable alternative learning method for higher education. It also contributes to the current literature in the area of online instruction and E-learning 
[less]

This study compares four learning environments: face-to-face learning (F2F), fully e-learning (EL), blended learning (BL), and flipped classroom (FC) with respect to students' learning performance. Moreover, this present research studies changes in perceived flexibility, intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy beliefs of students, and the interaction effects in these student variables on learning performance. Two learning environment design elements: (1) lectures (2) group discussions building on guiding questions, were manipulated to create the four learning environments. Third-year undergraduate students (n = 106), enrolled in the “Animal and Human Physiology” course at CanTho University (Vietnam), were randomly assigned to one of the four learning environments. The results suggest a significant positive differential effect on learning performance when studying in a FC and BL setting. No significant interaction effects could be observed regarding changes in perceived flexibility, intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy. However, significant differences between learning conditions were observed in perceived flexibility. Analysis of focus group data corroborate the finding that students experience more flexibility in time and place when studying in FC, BL and EL environments. In addition, students in a FC environment reflect significantly larger positive changes in their self-efficacy. But, the qualitative data show how positive perceptions about flexibility, motivation and self-efficacy are often cancelled out by negative perceptions. 
[less]

Many earlier studies assessed virtual vs. traditional learning outcomes. The majority of them had two limitations. (1) learners self-selection of virtual classes, and (2) the lack of exams proctoring. It has been stated that these factors give more opportunities of unrealistic elevation of learning outcomes of virtual classes over the traditional ones. This study is of comparative corpus-based nature applied on 1324 male students of Medicine enrolled in Joint First Year Program (JFYP) at Umm Al-Qura University (UQU) in the first semesters of the academic years (2017-2018) and (2018-2019). Participants of this study were given English classification test before commencing their JFYP. In the first semester of the academic year (2017-2018), 624 students were taught English in traditional classes by the English Language Center (ELC) at UQU. The other 700 students studied English through virtual classes by TeachCast with Oxford via Eleutian platform. Then, all participants sat for final exams by the end of their first semesters. Comparing the participants’ grade in these two tests is meant to (1) test the claims of the earlier studies, (2) reveal the impact of English instruction by the ELC at UQU and (3) disclose whether the English learning outcomes of controlled virtual classes surpass the traditional classes’ or not. Findings of this study indicated that the learning outcomes of virtual classes significantly surpassed the traditional classes although the affecting factors stated by earlier studies were eliminated. Then, the study recommendations were suggested. 
[less]