Study Finds California Community College Students Performing Better In Classrooms Than Online Courses

DAVIS (CBS SF) – A newly-released study of more than 200,000 California community college students raises questions about the effectiveness of taking college courses online.

Education researchers at UC Davis studied the progress of students in courses that are both offered online and in-person over a four-year period. They found students' grades and rates of completion are lower in online courses than the in-person courses.

"We found the same pattern of results across all course types," Cassandra Hart, assistant professor at the UC Davis School of Education said in a university statement.

Researchers said the performance gap between online and classroom learning is larger in courses outside the regular school year and when there are low shares of students enrolled online. The group also found women had a slightly larger performance gap compared to men.

The researchers did not suggest dropping online courses entirely. Instead, they suggested limiting the number of online courses during summer, finding better ways to detect disengaged students and teaching online students study and time-management strategies.