THE EFFECTS OF ONLINE MATERIALS ON STUDENT PERFORMANCE: TYPES OF RESOURCES, MODE OF DELIVERY, AND SESSION LENGTH.

Owing to an exponential increase in the number of courses offered online, it is crucial to understand this mode of delivery on a deeper level. In this study, associations among course performance, the use of online resources (i.e., online homework assistance, practice questions and practice tests), mode of delivery (online versus in-person), and session length (Fall/Winter for 8 months versus Spring/Summer for10 weeks) were examined. Archival data were used from an educational website for an introductory statistics course at a medium-sized Canadian university. Anonymized data were retrieved from 738 students enrolled in the course between 2018 and 2021. Course performance was measured by final course grades and use of resources was assessed in terms of the number of site visits and downloads. It was found that use of online resources was significantly and positively correlated with course performance. However, session length and mode of delivery did not yield significant differences in terms of final course grades. Future studies could examine potential moderators in the relationships between the use of resources with the session length, the delivery method, and course performance to see the effectiveness of the resources in various course delivery models (in-person, hybrid, synchronous online, asynchronous online, etc.). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]