Abstract
Enrollment in online college courses in the United States has grown by about 5% from 2012 to 2016. This paper examines course design and student performance data to research whether instructors can delivery on-ground and online sections of a business technology course with the same effectiveness. Authors address this paper’s research question by analyzing five pairs of on-ground and online sections of business technology courses. Each of the five pairs of business technology course, has data analytics projects as part of the course content, is taught by the same instructor with the same details of course contents in the same quarter. Overall results of this paper suggest that, with proper training and support of technology, an instructor can deliver both the on-ground and online sections of a business technology course with the same effectiveness as measured by students’ grade points. Further analysis shows that this result applies to female and male students, respectively. Female (male) students learn equally well in on-ground and online. This paper contributes to the literature by discussing some contributing factors on the effectiveness of delivering online business technology courses. Authors suggest that other than technology such as LockDown Browser or Respondus Monitor, continuous placement of the same instructor with Quality Matters training to teach both the on-ground and online sections of a course is crucial to success. Results of this paper consequently provide practical implications to instructors, academic advisers, and administrators of universities.
Highlights
U.S News reports “Enrollment in online courses rose at a faster pace between fall 2015 and 2016 compared with the previous three years, yet students are increasingly choosing local online degree programs, according to the "Grade Increase" report released today by the Babson Survey Research Group.” (U.S News, January 11, 2018)
This paper uses five pairs of on-ground and online business technology courses to test for hypotheses one to three
This paper reports to readers the following results: Hypothesis 1: Results suggest that there is no significant difference in students’ grade points between on-ground section and online section in all five-sample pairs of business technology courses
Summary
U.S News reports “Enrollment in online courses rose at a faster pace between fall 2015 and 2016 compared with the previous three years, yet students are increasingly choosing local online degree programs, according to the "Grade Increase" report released today by the Babson Survey Research Group.” (U.S News, January 11, 2018). Seaman et al (2018) find that between 2012 to 2016 overall enrolment in the US higher education system has slowly declined by almost 4% but online enrolment has grown by about 5% over the same period. Seaman et al (2018) find that between 2012 to 2016 overall enrolment in the US higher education system has slowly declined by almost 4% but online enrolment has grown by about 5% over the same period. It is a norm for students to take online courses. Prior literature suggests many reasons why do students take online courses, for example, Hannay and Newvine (2006) find that students prefer online courses because online delivery mode allows students to balance their other commitments more . Ashby et al (2011) find that older students and female students in general are more likely to enroll in online course sections, while minorities are more likely to enroll in on-ground course sections
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