The Online STEM Classroom--Who Succeeds? An Exploration of the Impact of Ethnicity, G

[Mamasaphire]

This is education related, but not directly, so I am posting in off-topic.

I am studying for a research paper and came upon this abstract that I found interesting. What this says to me is that if a person can get a degree online, especially in a self-motivated way, that person is doing better than average. So keep up the good work everybody!!

"Objective: This study analyzes how ethnicity, gender, and non-traditional student characteristics relate to differential online versus face-to-face outcomes in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses at community colleges.

Method: This study used a sample of 3,600 students in online and face-to-face courses matched by course, instructor, and semester from a large urban community college in the Northeast. Outcomes were measured using rates of successful course completion (with a "C-" or higher). Multilevel logistic regression and propensity score matching were utilized to control for unobserved heterogeneity between courses and for differences in student characteristics.

Results: With respect to successful course completion, older students did significantly better online, and women did significantly worse (although no worse than men) online, than would be expected based on their outcomes in comparable face-to-face courses. There was no significant interaction between the online medium and ethnicity, suggesting that though Black and Hispanic students may do worse on average in STEM courses than their White and Asian peers both online and face-to-face, this gap was not increased by the online environment."

[cookderosa]

my own personal experience, is that I'm a much better student when I have a lot of autonomy. My teen sons, however, do better with structure. I can see how age would make a difference.

[Mamasaphire]

my own personal experience, is that I'm a much better student when I have a lot of autonomy. My teen sons, however, do better with structure. I can see how age would make a difference.

Yes, it's the same in our household. I'm sure some of it also has to do with learning styles, but age (and thus life experience) definitely plays a role.

[hightecrebel]

I'm a mixture. In courses I'm interested in, I do much better when I can run with it more or less on my own. The less-interesting courses/subjects, I do better with more structure.