The Link between Internet Connectivity and Missed Assessments in the Online Class Modality

Abstract

Many published papers provide insights on factors affecting learning performance; however, they do not address how internet connectivity affects students’ capacity to meet assessment and learning expectations. To address this gap in the literature, we draw from a survey of 257 students at the undergraduate level to investigate two questions: (a) To what extent does internet connectivity affect missed assessments? and (b) How do students vary through the distribution of missed assessments? We used a count data model, specifically, negative binomial (NB) regression, to determine incidence rate ratios and odds of missed assessments. The NB results showed that students who indicated poor internet connectivity during the semester had about a five times higher incidence rate of missed assessments than students who did not indicate poor internet connectivity. Surprisingly, despite two-thirds of students reporting poor internet connectivity, the chance of accumulating seven missed assessments during the semester was very minimal. The results may provide insights to faculty and education policymakers at the institutional level on ways to design online learning to meet learning expectations.