Learning Outcomes of a Hybrid Online Virtual Classroom and In-Person Traditional Classroom during the COVID-19 Pandemic

TLDR

The study is situated within social science and higher education disciplines. The study investigates how a hybrid virtual/traditional classroom affects undergraduate learning outcomes and identifies challenges in online teaching during the early COVID‑19 pandemic in Chinese public universities. Researchers conducted a pilot survey of student perspectives and applied a binary logistic regression to exam data from two economics courses to assess short‑term effects of the two learning environments. Results show that virtual classrooms negatively affect learning outcomes, in‑person classrooms yield better results, and a hybrid approach outperforms virtual‑only instruction.

Abstract

This paper explores the effects of using a hybrid virtual/traditional classroom, a blended teaching and learning approach, on undergraduate learning outcomes during the initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study aimed to investigate the prominent problems that appeared in the process of online teaching and learning and to measure the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on undergraduates’ learning outcomes in public universities in China. The field of specialization of the subjects of this study is under the rubric of social science and higher education. We designed and conducted a pilot survey to identify students’ perspectives on the key issues and experiences of the use of distance-learning through an online virtual classroom in the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, we applied a binary logistic regression model to real data from two different economics course exams to measure the short-term impacts of using the two different learning environments on the undergraduates’ performance outcomes. The results indicate a statistically significant negative impact of using virtual classrooms on undergraduate learning outcomes. By contrast, in-person traditional classrooms had more desirable learning outcomes. Moreover, the hybrid approach proved to be more effective than the use of online virtual classrooms alone.