The coronavirus pandemic sent schools and universities online in a bid to maintain a semblance of normality in terms of their teaching output.  Many have argued that it’s a situation that will have finally forced widespread change in the sector.

New research from the University of California at Berkeley highlights just how beneficial online learning can be.  The study finds that online STEM tuition can not only provide the same learning outcomes as in-person classes, but can do so for a fraction of the cost.

The researchers conducted a randomized control trial across three Russian universities to try and compare both the performance and satisfaction levels of students on a couple of engineering courses.  The students were randomly assigned to groups whereby tuition was provided in person, via a mixture of online and in-person, and purely online.

The final exam scores were then compared alongside marks for course assignments and student satisfaction ratings.  The results suggest that students across all three groups scored similar marks in the final exams, with the purely online cohort performing best in the course assignments.  They also scored slightly lower satisfaction scores than the in-person cohort, however.

Both the online and the blended cohorts were delivered at significantly lower cost per-student, with the blended cohort delivered for up to 19% less than the in-person class, and the online only delivering the course for up to 81% less.

Efficient tuition

“Online education platforms have a big potential to expand access to quality STEM education worldwide,” the researchers say. “Such platforms could bring cost-savings to financially distressed colleges and offer flexible learning opportunities to students without diminishing learning outcomes. They could also strengthen the instructional resilience of colleges when in-person delivery is not an option, such as right now, when most universities are closed to mitigate the COVID-19 outbreak.”

Of course, that students also found online learning less satisfying does also need to be taken into account, but the researchers urge educators not to throw out e-learning on this basis.  They believe that the transition to online learning has been unplanned in many instances during the coronavirus outbreak, so student satisfaction scores are inevitably going to be a bit lower.

“In this study, we only used basic online course materials to match the in-person content, but prior research shows that interactive and social online activities with immediate feedback could have produced even larger learning gains,” they explain.

The investment in online learning platforms is not insignificant, nor is the training of instructors to successfully deliver classes online, but it’s an investment the researchers believe is worthwhile.  They also believe their findings have to be caveated somewhat, however, due to the idiosyncratic way in which university education is provided around the world.

“The proposed model is relevant in the countries or regions where college courses and programs are aligned across several institutions,” the researchers conclude. “In the United States, some states (e.g., Florida) maintain statewide common course numbering systems and allow students to take online courses from other state universities and transfer credits. There are also private online platforms, like Coursera, that allow colleges to integrate online courses from the world’s top universities into their curricula. These examples are very similar to the model that we tested in our study.”