A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Face to Face, Online and Hybrid Formats in a Principles of Macroeconomics Course

Abstract

With the increase in online class offerings, one has to ask 'Are online classes as good as traditional class'? That is, are the learning outcomes similar in online courses as compared to traditional courses? The current study compares the learning outcomes of three sections of a single course at a public university. The basic difference between the three sections is the mode of instruction. One of the sections is a traditional classroom course, one is a hybrid section, and one is an online section. All three sections took the same pre- and post-tests under identical testing conditions to ascertain differences in performance of the students in the three sections. The conclusion of the study was that online learning is not systematically inferior to traditional classroom learning.