Abstract
Use of digital technologies in institutions of higher learning is pervasive. These technologies provide students choices over what and how they learn. On the other hand, educators as well as policy makers are ambivalent about impact of these technologies on the student learning outcomes in particular and society in general. Surprisingly, there is scant research about the impact of these technologies and on appropriate blending of online and traditional face-to-face instruction. Using a large student-level dataset from a medium-sized university, we measure the impact of fully online, partially online and hybrid courses on learning outcomes. To resolve the issue of self–selection bias in estimating the of impact of different modes of instruction on learning outcomes, we utilize student and course characteristics as covariates and check the robustness of our results through multinomial propensity score matching. Surprisingly, we find that while the hybrid mode (online content between 20% and 50%) of instruction has a significant positive impact on student learning, fully online and partially online courses have a significant negative impact.
Recommended Citation
Sengupta, Avijit and Shivendu, Shivendu, "Technology Mediated Education: A Boon or Bane for Learning Outcomes of Students" (2019). AMCIS 2019 Proceedings. 15.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2019/is_education/is_education/15
Technology Mediated Education: A Boon or Bane for Learning Outcomes of Students
Use of digital technologies in institutions of higher learning is pervasive. These technologies provide students choices over what and how they learn. On the other hand, educators as well as policy makers are ambivalent about impact of these technologies on the student learning outcomes in particular and society in general. Surprisingly, there is scant research about the impact of these technologies and on appropriate blending of online and traditional face-to-face instruction. Using a large student-level dataset from a medium-sized university, we measure the impact of fully online, partially online and hybrid courses on learning outcomes. To resolve the issue of self–selection bias in estimating the of impact of different modes of instruction on learning outcomes, we utilize student and course characteristics as covariates and check the robustness of our results through multinomial propensity score matching. Surprisingly, we find that while the hybrid mode (online content between 20% and 50%) of instruction has a significant positive impact on student learning, fully online and partially online courses have a significant negative impact.