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  4. September 2024
  5. Zooming to Class? Experimental Evidence on College Students' Online Learning during COVID-19

American Economic Review: Insights

ISSN 2640-205X (Print) | ISSN 2640-2068 (Online)

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

  • Michael S. Kofoed
  • Lucas Gebhart
  • Dallas Gilmore
  • Ryan Moschitto
American Economic Review: Insights
vol. 6, no. 3, September 2024
(pp. 324–40)
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Abstract

One persistent question in higher education is the efficacy of online education. In the fall of 2020, we randomized 551 West Point students in a required introductory economics course across 12 instructors to either an online or in-person class as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 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 postcourse survey finds that online students struggled to concentrate in class and felt less connected to their instructors and peers. Our results show detrimental effects for online learning.

Citation

Kofoed, Michael S., Lucas Gebhart, Dallas Gilmore, and Ryan Moschitto. 2024. "Zooming to Class? Experimental Evidence on College Students' Online Learning during COVID-19." American Economic Review: Insights, 6 (3): 324–40. DOI: 10.1257/aeri.20230077

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • A22 Economic Education and Teaching of Economics: Undergraduate
  • I12 Health Behavior
  • I23 Higher Education; Research Institutions
  • I26 Returns to Education