Assessing Achievement Outcomes and Student Engagement Perception in an Upper Division Business Management Course

Abstract

This study examined differences in achievement outcomes among undergraduate business students enrolled in an online and face-to-face upper division business management course. Proponents of online education support the argument that there are no differences in outcomes between students who take online courses, and much of the literature supports this position. The purpose of the current study was to ascertain whether that belief is supported at the university where the study was conducted using a specific course from the Business School. The course that served as the focus of this study is Finance 3000 (FIN 3000). It is a quantitative course, and one that is a prerequisite to other upper division courses in the core degree requirements. Failure to complete this course in the allotted three attempts results in students having to change their major out of the college. The two units of analysis for this particular study consisted of students who completed the Finance 3000 (FIN 3000) course via online delivery and the traditional face-to-face classroom setting on the university’s Main campus between fall 2012 and fall 2015. These students were all declared Business majors (specific major will vary) at the university’s Business School. A demographic profile of the students registered for these sections was constructed using data that are available through Self-Service Banner. The information gathered included: ethnicity (using categories defined by the university), major, academic classification (such as sophomore, junior or senior), and final grade earned in the course. The purpose behind this information is to determine whether there is any relationship between grades earned in this course and the grades earned in FIN 3000, as well as to make sure that the online and face-to-face students are comparable. Finally, a voluntary survey was administered to those students who completed the online version of FIN 3000 in fall 2015, in order to assess perceived levels of engagement. Results of this study revealed that, overall, students who enrolled in the online section of FIN 3000 performed worse than those in the face-to-face section. Further analysis indicated that while there were no significant differences in factors such as major and gender, seniors registered more frequently in the online section and had lower achievement results. The results of this study contradict the literature that suggests there are no differences in achievement outcomes.