Effectiveness of distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Education should be able to keep up with the changes taking place in the surrounding reality, both in terms of its content and mode of work. In addition to technological progress, these changes have been recently stimulated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the related restrictions which enforced distance learning. These circumstances pose a question about the effectiveness of online learning. The aim of this paper is to compare the effectiveness of distance and classroom learning. The analyses are based on the results of the final exams in mathematics obtained by first-year fulltime students majoring in finance and accounting at the University of Lodz in the years 2018/2019 (classroom learning) and 2020/2021 (distance learning). These students’ scores achieved in the basic-level matura exam in mathematics served as a point of reference. The teaching mode remained the same throughout the entire cycle of classes in the aforementioned years. The assessment of the effectiveness of learning was based on the Lorenz curve and the Gini coefficient, which is commonly used by economists to determine income inequality. However, it can also be applied to any kind of data of an unequal distribution. The conducted research showed no significant differences in terms of the effects of distance learning and classroom learning, which proves that the university maintained a high quality of education despite the introduced change in the mode of teaching. The descriptive statistics relating to the verification of the mathematical knowledge in the selected student groups – in particular the left-sided asymmetry – indicate a slight predominance of positive results achieved in the final exams during distance learning compared to the results obtained during classroom education, which also applies to the matura exams. However, these differences are not significant as they differ by approximately 0.1 p.p.