Course format and learning: The moderating role of overall academic performance

This article investigates undergraduate-level student learning in an International Business course taught both online and face-to-face, with an emphasis on identifying students who are likely to learn better online. Theory on student learning differences between course formats suggests that overall academic performance interacts with course format to affect learning. Analysis of 269 students in a comprehensive university BBA program, using an objective measure of learning, shows that students in face-to-face classes learn better than those in online ones. In addition, there was a moderating effect with overall academic performance. Online students with higher overall academic performance learned about as well as face-to-face students. However, students with lower overall academic performance learned significantly better in the face-to-face format relative to online. These findings suggest that students with lower academic performance have a learning risk when taking online courses. Some implications for institutions are discussed, including revising online course enrollment and management policies.