Classroom instruction results in better exam performance than online instruction in a hybrid course

Abstract

The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether performance on a subsequent exam was affected when two lessons were as similar as possible except that one was presented in class and the other was presented online. In a hybrid course, half of the lessons were presented in the classroom as narrated Power Point presentations and half of the lessons were presented online as narrated Power Point presentations. Online student–teacher interaction took place in a chatroom. Furthermore, for each question on the midterm or final examination, the students had answered a pre-lesson and post-lesson question, integrated with the appropriate lesson, which queried the same fact statement as the exam question. Students performed better on post-lesson questions asked in class than post-lesson questions asked online. They also performed better on exam questions on classroom lessons than exam questions on online lessons. The results support the conclusion that social interaction aids learning.

Keywords:

• Learning
• social interaction
• teaching and psychology