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Zooming to Class?: Experimental Evidence on College Students' Online Learning during COVID-19

Author

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  • Kofoed, Michael S.

    (University of Tennessee)

  • Gebhart, Lucas

    (U.S. Military Academy)

  • Gilmore, Dallas

    (U.S. Military Academy)

  • Moschitto, Ryan

    (U.S. Military Academy)

Abstract

COVID-19 shifted schools and colleges to online instruction with little causal evidence of outcomes. In the fall of 2020, we randomized 551 West Point students in a required Introductory Economics course across twelve instructors to either an online or in-person class. Final grades for online students dropped by 0.215 standard deviations; a result apparent in both assignments and exams and largest for academically at-risk students. A post-course survey finds that online students struggled to concentrate in class and felt less connected to their instructors and peers. We find that the shift to online education had negative results for learning.

Suggested Citation

  • Kofoed, Michael S. & Gebhart, Lucas & Gilmore, Dallas & Moschitto, Ryan, 2021. "Zooming to Class?: Experimental Evidence on College Students' Online Learning during COVID-19," IZA Discussion Papers 14356, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14356
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    Cited by:

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    2. Elisa Failache & Nicolás Fiori & Noemi Katzkowicz & Alina Machado & Luciana Méndez, 2022. "Impact of COVID-19 on higher education: Evidence from Uruguay," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 22-02, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    3. Badruddoza, Syed & Amin, Modhurima Dey, 2023. "Impacts of Teaching Modality on U.S. COVID-19 Spread in Fall 2020 Semester," Applied Economics Teaching Resources (AETR), Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 5(1), January.
    4. 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).
    5. Anja Žnidaršič & Alenka Brezavšček & Gregor Rus & Janja Jerebic, 2022. "Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Mathematics Achievement? A Case Study of University Students in Social Sciences," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(13), pages 1-23, July.
    6. Mustafa Uğraş & Erdal Zengin & Stamatis Papadakis & Michail Kalogiannakis, 2023. "Early Childhood Learning Losses during COVID-19: Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-29, April.
    7. De Paola, Maria & Gioia, Francesca & Scoppa, Vincenzo, 2022. "Online Teaching, Procrastination and Students’ Achievement: Evidence from COVID-19 Induced Remote Learning," IZA Discussion Papers 15031, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Gortazar, Lucas & Hupkau, Claudia & Roldán-Monés, Antonio, 2024. "Online tutoring works: Experimental evidence from a program with vulnerable children," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    9. Rodríguez-Planas, Núria, 2022. "Hitting where it hurts most: COVID-19 and low-income urban college students," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    10. Cassandra M.D. Hart & Di Xu & Emily Alonso & Michael Hill, 2025. "COVID-19 in California Community Colleges: College Responses, College Resources, and Student Outcomes," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 66(1), pages 1-28, February.
    11. DI PIETRO Giorgio, 2023. "The impact of Covid-19 physical school closure on student performance in OECD countries: a meta-analysis," JRC Research Reports JRC134506, Joint Research Centre.
    12. Ragni, Alessandra & Ippolito, Daniel & Masci, Chiara, 2024. "Assessing the impact of hybrid teaching on students’ academic performance via multilevel propensity score-based techniques," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    13. Hill, Andrew J. & LoPalo, Melissa, 2024. "The effects of online vs in-class testing in moderate-stakes college environments," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    14. Bandar N. Alarifi & Steve Song, 2024. "Online vs in-person learning in higher education: effects on student achievement and recommendations for leadership," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-8, December.
    15. Benjamin Hansen & Joseph J. Sabia & Jessamyn Schaller, 2022. "Schools, Job Flexibility, and Married Women's Labor Supply," NBER Working Papers 29660, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Picault, Julien, 2021. "Structure, Flexibility, and Consistency: A Dynamic Learning Approach for an Online Asynchronous Course," Applied Economics Teaching Resources (AETR), Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 3(4), October.
    17. Kenneth G. Elzinga & Daniel Q. Harper, 2023. "In‐person versus online instruction: Evidence from principles of economics," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 90(1), pages 3-30, July.
    18. Duha Altindag & Samuel Cole & R. Alan Seals Jr, 2022. "The Price of COVID-19 Risk in a Public University," Papers 2204.00894, arXiv.org.
    19. Todd McFall & John Whitehead, 2024. "Measuring the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Elite Swimming Performance," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 25(5), pages 634-656, June.
    20. Benjamin Hansen & Joseph J. Sabia & Jessamyn Schaller, 2022. "In-Person Schooling and Youth Suicide: Evidence from School Calendars and Pandemic School Closures," NBER Working Papers 30795, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    randomized control trial; COVID-19; online learning;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare

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