Blended Learning in STEM and Non-STEM Courses: How do Student Performance and Perceptions Compare?

Ron Owston,Dennis N York,Taru Malhotra,Jirarat Sitthiworachart

doi:10.24059/olj.v24i3.2151

Abstract

Examined in this study is the question of whether students in STEM courses perform better and have more positive perceptions than students in non-STEM courses, when both are offered in the blended format. As part of a blended learning initiative, 6 STEM and 8 non-STEM university courses were redesigned using the blended format. Students (n = 318) were surveyed on perceptions of their blended experience and courses grades were compared. Results indicated that STEM students performed significantly higher than non-STEM students; however, STEM students did not perceive their courses as positively as non-STEM students. The conclusion was that focusing blended learning course redesign in STEM fields in higher education may be advantageous, although more research is needed to confirm the findings and to investigate why student perceptions were relatively low for STEM students.

Highlights

Examined in this study is the question of whether students in STEM courses perform better and have more positive perceptions than students in non-STEM courses, when both are offered in the blended format
As blended learning increasingly becomes the “new normal” in higher education (Dziuban, Graham, Moskal, Norberg, & Sicilia, 2018), the intriguing question arises of whether students in STEM courses perform significantly better than those in non-STEM courses, when both are offered in the blended format
We found that STEM students out-performed non-STEM students on final course grade after adjusting for prior academic attainment using grade point average (GPA) as a covariate

Summary

Introduction

Examined in this study is the question of whether students in STEM courses perform better and have more positive perceptions than students in non-STEM courses, when both are offered in the blended format. As blended learning increasingly becomes the “new normal” in higher education (Dziuban, Graham, Moskal, Norberg, & Sicilia, 2018), the intriguing question arises of whether students in STEM courses perform significantly better than those in non-STEM courses, when both are offered in the blended format. Means, Toyama, Murphy, and Baki (2013) found, in their extensively cited work, that many of the studies chosen for inclusion in their meta-analytic comparison of blended and face-to-face modalities reported that more time was often spent in blended courses than in the traditional face-to-face versions The latter tends to happen when instructors add an online component to their traditional course, sometimes resulting in what has been called “a course and a half” syndrome Despite the general lack of agreement on the meaning of STEM, research into approaches that foster improvements in STEM teaching and learning are clearly desirable (Brown, 2012)

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Discussion

Conclusion