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Virtual Classrooms: How Online College Courses Affect Student Success
Open accessAbstract
Online college courses are a rapidly expanding feature of higher education, yet little research identifies their effects relative to traditional in-person classes. Using an instrumental variables approach, we find that taking a course online, instead of in-person, reduces student success and progress in college. Grades are lower both for the course taken online and in future courses. Students are less likely to remain enrolled at the university. These estimates are local average treatment effects for students with access to both online and in-person options; for other students, online classes may be the only option for accessing college-level courses. (JEL I23, I26)
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“Academic preparation (usually measured by G.P.A., SAT score and/or class rank), has been found to be a mediating variable affecting online grades and dropout rates (Bettinger et al., 2017; Figlio et al., 2013; Gregory, 2016; Harrell & Bower, 2011; Ice et al., 2012; Johnson & Mejia, 2014; Lee & Choi, 2011; Lint, 2013; Ryabov, 2012; Wladis et al., 2016; Xu & Jaggars, 2011a*), although it is unclear”
From Post-secondary online learning in the U.S.: an integrative review of the literature on undergraduate student characteristics (2022) · cites this paper as Bettinger et al., 2017
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“Many of these studies-including several high-quality randomized control trials-have looked at four-year institutions, generally finding null to negative effects of online course-taking (Altindag et al., Forthcoming;Bettinger et al., 2017;Figlio et al., 2013;Kofoed et al., 2024;Krieg & Henson, 2016; see Xu & Xu, 2020, for a review).”
From Online Student Performance Under Synchronous and Asynchronous Instruction in California Community Colleges (2026) · cites this paper as Bettinger et al., 2017
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“Bettinger et al (2017) report that online learning produced lower grades on average and was more likely to negatively impact future enrollment than in-person courses.”
From Post-secondary online learning in the U.S.: an integrative review of the literature on undergraduate student characteristics (2022) · cites this paper as Bettinger et al (2017)
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Metadata
- Authors
- Bettinger, E. P., Fox, L., Loeb, S., & Taylor, E. S.
- Affiliations
- Stanford University (US)
- Mathematica Policy Research (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- Venue
- American Economic Review
- Publisher
- American Economic Association
- Published
- 2017-09-01
- Volume
- 107
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 2855-2875
- ISSN
- 0002-8282 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2751588716
- Cited by
- 441
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 34 · 2025: 34 · 2024: 53 · 2023: 65 · 2022: 88 · 2021: 77 · 2020: 43 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 3
- FWCI
- 84.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- American Economic Review (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Institute of Education Sciences (#R305B090016)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Online and Blended Learning
- Social Sciences › Education › Higher Education Research Studies
- Social Sciences › Education › School Choice and Performance
- Keywords
- online courses, virtual learning environments, student success, college grades, student retention, higher education
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