Effectiveness of online vs. on-site learning in principles of economics classes: A quasi-experimental study

Economics courses are historically and traditionally taught in the classroom setting. In recent years, the online economics course offering has been a growing trend due to the help of new technology, the demand for easier access and student flexibility to new learning opportunities, and a need for the college to make the best use of resources and seek new channels of revenue. However, online learning can be disadvantageous due to the fact that students often lack self-discipline, there is no personal interaction, the classwork is often heavier and it is difficult to monitor students’ progress. Additionally, training in economics is often considered more challenging and complex. Instructors often feel that it is not an easy job to deliver economic concepts even in a face-to-face traditional learning environment. Therefore, some may believe that online economics courses can drag the quality of teaching down and result in ineffective learning. In this study, we examine the equity of online and on-site learning using data collected from a quasi-experiment that ran for five academic years. Students who took onsite Principles of Economics courses were considered the “Control” group. Students who took online courses were considered the “Treatment” group. The t-test from the direct comparison on academic performance for both groups can be misleading due to self-selection bias. Hence, we applied the propensity score matching method based on all the available features from the data to reduce this bias. The ultimate goals of this paper are to examine the effectiveness of the online learning environment, to address the potential shortcomings of such an environment, and to suggest how to improve the online learning environment.