Resumen de Knowledge retention, student learning, and blended course work: Evidence from principles of economics courses

Sarah B. Cosgrove, Neal H. Olitsky

• Over the past decade, there has been a large increase in the number of colleges and universities that offer fully online courses and blended courses (courses with a face-to-face component and with an online component). The number of students enrolling in these courses has also increased. These courses are less costly for universities to offer and provide students with more flexibility than traditional classes. This study examines the relationship between online learning and knowledge retention in introductory economics courses. Student assessment data are matched to transcript and demographic information to control for individual student attributes. Using a differences-in-differences matching estimator, we determine the effect online coursework has on knowledge retention by comparing performance on the assessment. Results suggest that while there is no significant difference in student learning, students in more traditional, technology-free courses retain the material better than students.