Can Web Courses Replace the Classroom in Principles of Microeconomics?

Abstract

The proliferation of economics courses offered partly or completely on-line (Katz and Becker, 1999) raises important questions about the effects of the new technologies on student learning. Do students enrolled in on-line courses learn more or less than students taught face-to-face? Can we identify any student characteristics, such as gender, race, ACT scores, or grade averages, that are associated with better outcomes in one technology or another? How would the on-line (or face-to-face) students fare if they had taken the course using the alternative technology? This paper addresses these questions using student data from our principles of microeconomics courses at Michigan State University. I. The CoursesThis study analyzes examination performance of students in three different modes or technologies of instruction in principles of microeconomics. We call the modes of instruction live, hybrid (for reasons that will become clear), and virtual.Each of these modes of instruction employs different instructional materials, but they all have some features in common, such as the same textbook, Mankiw (2001), use of multiple-choice examinations, and e-mail and course web sites for communication.The live course, taught in two sections by Liedholm in Fall 2000, met face-to-face for three class hours per week. Although the classes were large, the instructor directly engaged them in the learning process by using animated PowerPoint slides, videos, and group demonstrations, and by calling on individual students.

Do Online Students Perform Better than Face-to-face Students? Reflections and a Short Review of some Empirical Findings

“…The results presented in a study by Brown and Liedholm (2002) based on 710 macroeconomics students in the USA suggest that campus students tend to perform better compared to online students. Brown and Liedholm used test scores as the dependent variable and also control for gender, the students' preknowledge in mathematics, 1 and their high-school grades.…”

“…Even though, in some cases, students are only interested in whether they have failed or passed (or passed with distinction, a grade often reported), which is also the information given in the final certificate, this is a rather crude measure of student performance, as the researcher can not distinguish between students who have high marks and students who only just pass. A more sophisticated analysis is of course possible if the researcher can get access to the precise test score, which will give them more information (see, among others Brown and Liedholm, 2002). However, one important issue when using test scores is that the researcher usually does not have any information regarding the extent to which the test actually reflects the contents of the course.…”

“…Instead, gender is likely to capture differences in how we are brought up and other social factors. Such effects are probably also reflected by the different measures of race used in the literature (see Brown andLiedholm, 2002, andCoates et al, 2004).…”

A predictive study of student satisfaction in online education programs

“…Nearly one third of higher education students enrolled in at least one online course (Allen & Seaman, 2008;Allen & Seaman, 2010). According to previous studies, online learning does not differ considerably from traditional face-to-face classroom learning in terms of learning outcomes (Allen & Seaman, 2010;Allen, Bourhis, Burrell & Mabry, 2002;Biner, Bink, Huffman & Dean, 1997;Brown & Liedholm, 2002;Johnson, 2000). Student satisfaction in online learning remains undiminished when compared to face-to-face instruction (Allen & Seaman, 2010).…”

How Learning Styles Impact E-Learning: A Case Comparative Study of Undergraduate Students Who Excelled, Passed, or Failed an Online Course in Scientific/Technical Writing

“…This version now reviews more recent studies, including some showing online environments to be less effective learning spaces (e.g. Brown & Liedholm, 2002), while the majority of online instruction leads to better student performance than traditional instruction.…”