The Educational Impact of Online Learning: How Do University Students Perform in Subsequent Courses?
Using a large student level dataset from a medium sized regional comprehensive university, we measure the impact of taking an online prerequisite course on follow up course grades. To control for self selection into online courses, we utilize student, instructor, course, and time fixed effects augmented with an instrumental variable approach. We find that students' grades in follow up courses can be expected to be nearly one twelfth of a grade point lower if the prerequisite course was taken online. These results are robust to self selection into online courses and into subsequent course enrollment.
Education Finance and Policy