The effects of online and blended experience on outcomes in a blended learning environment
Outcomes in a blended course in business and economic statistics are assessed within the context of students’ previous experience with online and blended courses. Experience with class formats that rely heavily upon online materials may translate into improved outcomes in subsequent blended courses. We explore whether any significant gains accrue to students due to previous experience. When outcomes were analyzed using the full sample of students, no effects on outcomes from having previous experience versus having none were found. However, when the transfer status of students and ranges of grade point averages were considered, it was found that online and blended experience provided a positive marginal effect on outcomes for high-achieving transfer students. The effect was one-third to two-thirds of a letter grade depending on the amount of experience.
