Impact of an orientation on online students’ course outcomes

Abstract

Online course taking is widespread in K–12 education and even more so as schools have turned to virtual learning during the global health crisis. Educators across the country are actively seeking evidence-based guidance, only to discover that there is limited rigorous research related to online learning. The need to understand how to prepare students to learn in an online environment has become more urgent. Orientations are cited as a best practice; however, there is no causal evidence to support that recommendation. In a randomized controlled trial, we found no significant differences in online course outcomes between high school students who were assigned an orientation and those in the business-as-usual group, though the timing of enrollment acts as a moderator.

Keywords:

• Online
• virtual
• orientation
• randomized controlled trial

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305L170008 awarded to Education Development Center (PI: Jacqueline Zweig). The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education. This research result used data collected and maintained by the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) and/or Michigan’s Center for Educational Performance and Information (CEPI). Results, information, and opinions solely represent the analysis, information, and opinions of the author(s) and are not endorsed by, or reflect the views or positions of, grantors, MDE, and CEPI or any employee thereof.

The authors thank Dr. Joe Freidhoff, Michelle Ribant, and the staff at Michigan Virtual for their partnership and commitment to this study.

Data availability

As only secondary data were used for this study, participants did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, so supporting data are not available.

Notes on contributors

Jacqueline Zweig, PhD, is a Senior Research Scientist at Education Development Center. She conducts quantitative research in partnership with education agencies to provide new insights into online learning. She has contributed to several collaborative research efforts focused on understanding online teachers’ training and challenges, how and why schools use online courses, supports for online students, and student engagement in online courses. She is also the Deputy Director for the Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast & Islands. Zweig received her BA in Economics from Colby College and her PhD in Economics from the University of Southern California.

Makoto Hanita, PhD, is Research Scientist at Education Development Center. He is a highly experienced researcher and methodologist, specializing in health and education research. He provides methodological leadership for randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental studies, observational investigations, and retrospective analyses of data. Hanita holds a BS in Business Administration from Keio University in Tokyo, Japan, and a PhD in Social Psychology from Indiana University.

Erin Stafford, MA, is a Project Director at EDC overseeing local and national research, evaluation, technical assistance efforts. Stafford has extensive experience directing projects with federal, state, and municipal agencies, as well as foundations, museums, schools, and community organizations, to address their questions regarding policy and practice. She has several publications related to supplemental online learning and presents regularly at conferences focused on online and blended learning. Stafford received her BA in psychology from Washington University in St. Louis and her MA in Social and Cultural Foundations in Education from DePaul University.

Noman Khanani was a research assistant with Education Development Center and is currently a doctoral student in educational measurement and evaluation at Boston College.

Notes

1 Based on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (2015), an estimated 12% of 12th-grade students took an online mathematics course for credit and 19% took an online English course for credit. With approximately 3.5 million 12th-grade public school students (U.S. Department of Education, 2015), these findings suggest that an estimated 420,000 public school 12th-grade students took an online mathematics course and 665,000 students took an online English course.