IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/afrdev/v33y2021is1ps114-s125.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Online and face‐to‐face learning: Evidence from students’ performance during the Covid‐19 pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Carolyn Chisadza
  • Matthew Clance
  • Thulani Mthembu
  • Nicky Nicholls
  • Eleni Yitbarek

Abstract

This study investigates the factors that predict students' performance after transitioning from face‐to‐face to online learning as a result of the Covid‐19 pandemic. It uses students' responses from survey questions and the difference in the average assessment grades between pre‐lockdown and post‐lockdown at a South African university. We find that students' performance was positively associated with good wifi access, relative to using mobile internet data. We also observe lower academic performance for students who found transitioning to online difficult and who expressed a preference for self‐study (i.e. reading through class slides and notes) over assisted study (i.e. joining live lectures or watching recorded lectures). The findings suggest that improving digital infrastructure and reducing the cost of internet access may be necessary for mitigating the impact of the Covid‐19 pandemic on education outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Carolyn Chisadza & Matthew Clance & Thulani Mthembu & Nicky Nicholls & Eleni Yitbarek, 2021. "Online and face‐to‐face learning: Evidence from students’ performance during the Covid‐19 pandemic," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 33(S1), pages 114-125, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:afrdev:v:33:y:2021:i:s1:p:s114-s125
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-8268.12520
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8268.12520
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1467-8268.12520?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Vanessa S. Tchamyou & Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2019. "The Role of ICT in Modulating the Effect of Education and Lifelong Learning on Income Inequality and Economic Growth in Africa," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 31(3), pages 261-274, September.
    2. Johan Lundberg & David Castillo Merino & Mounir Dahmani, 2008. "Do Online Students Perform Better than Face-to-face Students? Reflections and a Short Review of some Empirical Findings," Post-Print hal-03721702, HAL.
    3. Peter Glick & Josée Randriamamonjy & David Sahn, 2009. "Determinants of HIV Knowledge and Condom Use among Women in Madagascar: An Analysis Using Matched Household and Community Data," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 21(1), pages 147-179.
    4. Coates, Dennis & Humphreys, Brad R. & Kane, John & Vachris, Michelle A., 2004. ""No significant distance" between face-to-face and online instruction: evidence from principles of economics," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 533-546, October.
    5. Di Xu & Shanna S. Jaggars, 2014. "Performance Gaps between Online and Face-to-Face Courses: Differences across Types of Students and Academic Subject Areas," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 85(5), pages 633-659, September.
    6. John C. Anyanwu, 2016. "Accounting for Gender Equality in Secondary School Enrollment in Africa," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 28(2), pages 170-191, June.
    7. Byron W. Brown & Carl E. Liedholm, 2002. "Can Web Courses Replace the Classroom in Principles of Microeconomics?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(2), pages 444-448, May.
    8. John C. Anyanwu, 2013. "Characteristics and Macroeconomic Determinants of Youth Employment in Africa," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 25(2), pages 107-129, June.
    9. Marisa Coetzee, 2014. "School quality and the performance of disadvantaged learners in South Africa," Working Papers 22/2014, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    10. David Figlio & Mark Rush & Lu Yin, 2013. "Is It Live or Is It Internet? Experimental Estimates of the Effects of Online Instruction on Student Learning," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(4), pages 763-784.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. María del Carmen Valls Martínez & Pedro Antonio Martín-Cervantes & Ana María Sánchez Pérez & María del Carmen Martínez Victoria, 2021. "Learning Mathematics of Financial Operations during the COVID-19 Era: An Assessment with Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(17), pages 1-21, September.
    2. Mikael Søndergaard & Fuyuko Takita & Ingrid Van Rompay-Bartels, 2023. "International Students’ Perceptions towards Their Learning Experience in an International Network Seminar in Japan: During and Post the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-16, May.
    3. Hanadi Mohamed AbdelSalam & Maura A. E. Pilotti & Omar J. El-Moussa, 2021. "Sustainable Math Education of Female Students during a Pandemic: Online versus Face-to-Face Instruction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-12, November.
    4. Maura A. E. Pilotti & Khadija El Alaoui & Hanadi M. Abdelsalam & Rahat Khan, 2023. "Sustainable Development in Action: A Retrospective Case Study on Students’ Learning Before, During, and After the Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-17, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marigee Bacolod & Stephen Mehay & Elda Pema, 2018. "Who succeeds in distance learning? Evidence from quantile panel data estimation," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 84(4), pages 1129-1145, April.
    2. Hardt, David & Nagler, Markus & Rincke, Johannes, 2022. "Can peer mentoring improve online teaching effectiveness? An RCT during the COVID-19 pandemic," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    3. Engelhardt, Bryan & Johnson, Marianne & Meder, Martin E., 2021. "Learning in the time of Covid-19: Some preliminary findings," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    4. William Bosshardt & Eric P. Chiang, 2016. "Targeting Teaching Lecture Capture Learning: Do Students Perform Better Compared to Face‐to‐Face Classes?," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 82(3), pages 1021-1038, January.
    5. Jennjou Chen & Tsui-Fang Lin, 2016. "microeconomics courses: Evidence from a regression discontinuity design experiment," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 36(4), pages 2094-2116.
    6. Sarah B. Cosgrove & Neal H. Olitsky, 2015. "Knowledge retention, student learning, and blended course work: Evidence from principles of economics courses," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 82(2), pages 556-579, October.
    7. Léleng Kebalo & Hamitande Dout & Mawuli K. Couchoro & Stéphane Zouri, 2022. "Intégration – commerciale, budgétaire, financière – régionale et inégalités de revenu dans la Communauté Economique des Etats de l'Afrique de l'Ouest (CEDEAO)," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 34(S1), pages 102-116, July.
    8. M Paula Cacault & Christian Hildebrand & Jérémy Laurent-Lucchetti & Michele Pellizzari, 2021. "Distance Learning in Higher Education: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment [A Randomized Assessment of Online Learning]," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 19(4), pages 2322-2372.
    9. Josep Amer-Mestre & Alaitz Ayarza-Astigarraga & Marta C. Lopes, 2024. "E-learning engagement gap during school closures: differences by academic performance," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(3), pages 337-359, January.
    10. Oskar Harmon & William Alpert & Joseph Histen, 2014. "Online Discussion and Learning Outcomes," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 20(1), pages 33-44, February.
    11. Eric P. Bettinger & Lindsay Fox & Susanna Loeb & Eric S. Taylor, 2017. "Virtual Classrooms: How Online College Courses Affect Student Success," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(9), pages 2855-2875, September.
    12. Duncan Watson & Louise Parker, 2016. "The hullaballoo over e-learning? Technology and pluralism in economics," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 1159813-115, December.
    13. Marigee Bacolod & Latika Chaudhary, 2018. "Distance To Promotion: Evidence From Military Graduate Education," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 36(4), pages 667-677, October.
    14. Cassandra DiRienzo & Gregory Lilly, 2014. "Online Versus Face-To-Face: Does Delivery Method Matter For Undergraduate Business School Learning?," Business Education and Accreditation, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 6(1), pages 1-11.
    15. Vasiliki Brinia & Panagiotis Kavaliarakis, 2016. "Educational results from blended learning: Using an educational platform in teaching Economics," International Journal of Learning and Development, Macrothink Institute, vol. 6(1), pages 136-148, March.
    16. Hardt, David & Nagler, Markus & Rincke, Johannes, 2023. "Tutoring in (online) higher education: Experimental evidence," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    17. Mann, John T. & Henneberry, Shida Rastegari, 2012. "Undergraduate Students’ Preferences and Willingness to Pay for College Course Attributes," 2012 Annual Meeting, August 12-14, 2012, Seattle, Washington 124946, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    18. John M. Krieg & Steven E. Henson, 2016. "The Educational Impact of Online Learning: How Do University Students Perform in Subsequent Courses?," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 11(4), pages 426-448, Fall.
    19. Hugues Champeaux & Lucia Mangiavacchi & Francesca Marchetta & Luca Piccoli, 2022. "Child development and distance learning in the age of COVID-19," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 659-685, September.
    20. Carl Sherwood & Do Won Kwak, 2017. "New insights into an old problem – enhancing student learning outcomes in an introductory statistics course," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(56), pages 5698-5708, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:afrdev:v:33:y:2021:i:s1:p:s114-s125. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/afdbgci.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.