Can Using Individual Online Interactive Activities Enhance Exam Results?

It has been suggested that the use of active learning instructional strategies, both in traditional face-to-face classrooms as well as online courses, enhances learning and results in better learning outcomes. Recently, an asynchronous online Principles of Marketing course offered by a large, public Midwestern university was revised to include the use of a publisher’s individual online interactive activities including multiple choice, “drag and drop” matching exercises, and video and traditional case discussions, as active learning strategies to reinforce course concepts. This study examines whether the inclusion of these activities significantly improved learning outcomes as measured by performance scores on two required exams.