Academic Performance in Online versus Blended Classes in Principles of Economics and Statistics Courses

Abstract

This study compares the academic performance of students in online principles of microeconomics and business statistics classes with their peers taking the same courses in a blended classroom setting. The data used in this study comes from courses taught by the same instructors utilizing the same course content and student performance assessments. Both the online and blended courses utilized the same learning management system (LMS) and the same publisher provided coursework management system (CMS). After controlling for demographic and pre-college ability factors, the results indicate students in online courses perform better when compared to their blended class counterparts in the business statistics courses.