Study finds similar benefits learning online and going to campus

Dar es Salaam. University students taking science or engineering subjects through online and blended (online and in-person) courses can get similar learning benefits as their peers who attend in-person classes on campus, says a study which proves that online courses provide an opportunity to expand access to high-quality education without increasing costs.

Researchers say findings of the study could help boost the instructional resilience of colleges when in-person delivery is not an option such as in current times when most universities are closed to mitigate the Covid-19 outbreak.

The study, which involved 325 second-year engineering students from resource-constrained universities, was published this week, April 8 in Science Advances. According to findings, with online courses, universities could teach 15-18 per cent more students at the same cost.

During the study, students took two courses hosted by the national Open Education platform but before the course commenced, they were randomly divided into three groups. In group one: students sat with the instructor on campus whereas in group two: students watched online lectures and attended in-person discussion sections (blended). Group three: students took the entire course online and only got in touch with the instructor in a forum.

In comparing the groups’ performance in final exam score, assignment grades and course satisfaction, the researchers found that the average level of knowledge acquired in the course was the same in all three groups.

However, the average grade for in-course assessments of online students was slightly higher, while satisfaction with the studies, on the contrary, was a little lower compared with students who studied in person.

The researchers associated the lower satisfaction of online students with lack of experience and relevant learning skills in an online environment, such as time management skills. They urged that students should be supported in this area.

Blended instruction lowered the cost of per-student instruction by 15-19 per cent depending on the course; online instruction lowered the cost of per-student instruction by 79- 81 per cent, depending on the course.

It was conducted jointly by experts from the US-based University of California at Berkeley, HSE University Moscow in Russia, Stanford University, and Cornell University.

The study’s Principal Investigator, Igor Chirikov who is a Senior Researcher at UC Berkeley's Center for Studies in Higher Education, tells The Citizen that although the study was carried out in Russian universities, the findings could apply worldwide and in Tanzania.

When the Covid-19 pandemic is over, he said, universities across the world can leverage the findings to prepare for future outbreaks. In the Tanzanian context, he noted, “universities can set up an online remote instruction, where possible and offer students learning opportunities.”

He added, "Such platforms could bring cost-savings to financially distressed colleges and offer flexible learning opportunities to students without diminishing learning outcomes.”

The study co-author, Rene Kizilcec, a professor of information science at Cornell University said, "This is the strongest evidence to date that an average college student can learn just as much from a course online as on campus or with blended learning.”

"The fact that students find online learning less satisfying doesn't mean it is less effective. That's why we shouldn't rely too much on student surveys like teaching evaluations to judge the quality of instruction, especially in a time of crisis when the transition to online learning is unplanned,’’ says Prof Kizilcec.

 However, according to them, the ongoing challenges of adopting this model include the initial cost of investing in online platforms and training instructors. Also, the model requires a high degree of synchronization of academic programs and courses across multiple colleges.

A co-author of the study and researcher at the Center for Sociology of Higher Education, at HSE University, Tatyana Semenova, says, “Now in Russia, as in other countries, we can see a real-time experiment unfolding with the use of remote instruction.”

“Our study only focused on engineering courses, but the current mass transition to online learning will allow us to assess the extent to which online courses are effective for other types of studies, in particular the social sciences and humanities. This will be the real stress test,' adds Semenova.