In a recent study presented at the 2015 American Educational Research Association, researchers found that students in online classes have lower success rates than students in conventional face-to-face classes.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of California, Davis, observed 217,000 students from the beginning of the 2008 academic year through the end of the 2012 academic year in the California community college system.
Researchers found that online classes are ultimately much less successful than those requiring physical presence.
In the study, 85 percent of students completed their face-to-face course, while a lower 79 percent of students completed their online course.
63 percent of students passed their face-to-face course, whereas 56 percent of students passed their online course.
Overall, the study revealed that if a student were to take a conventional face-to-face course, and take the same course online, the student would be 11 percent less likely to finish and pass the online version.
The Distance Education Program at the University of Oregon first offered courses online in the fall of 1996, and has seen steady growth in enrollment since.
During the 2012-2013 academic year (including, fall, winter and spring terms), approximately 4,000 students took a course online.
Despite passing and finishing statistics proving to be lower for students in online classes, some professors and students cite the many benefits of online education.
“In my experience, the findings are not representative of the classes I teach. Personally, I have been surprised to see how equivalent the outcomes were for face-to-face and online classes,” Angela Montague, an anthropology professor at the UO said. “In some cases students even do better, which I think has to do with the online discussion board in my classes where students have to post five times a term.”
Some students argue online classes can be more strenuous due to time management issues.
“I wouldn’t say that online classes are more difficult,” said Matt Thomas, a student at the UO. “But it’s much harder to manage your time in online courses because you have to be completely independent and manage deadlines.”
“I can see how it would be hard to complete online classes if you’re taking a full course schedule. It makes it much easier to neglect the online classes,” said Sierra Dameron, another UO student. “For my online political science class, I would have done better if I took it face-to-face. The topic wasn’t hard, but the class didn’t have any deadlines, so it was harder for me to find the time to do the work.”
“I took a math class online when I was in college, and it was really difficult. I can see where a less motivated student would have dropped that class or fallen through the cracks,” Montague said.
