Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Blended learning is an increasingly popular instructional approach in postsecondary education, combining face-to-face and online instruction to maximize student engagement. This paper uses fixed effects analyses to estimate differences in student performance following an abrupt, institution-wide shift in instructional format at a private, non-profit university, that impacted more than 5,000 enrolled undergraduate and graduate students. This format shift transitioned all on-campus courses from traditional, face-to-face accelerated classes taught over a 9-week term to blended courses with curricula and assessments standardized across the university taught over an even more accelerated 8-week term. On average the switch in format led to a modest decline in student course-level success. On average, students were 1.4 percentage points less likely to complete, 2.4 percentage points less likely to pass, and 2.2 percentage points less likely to earn an A or B in courses following the overall format shift. The average probability of completion, passing, or passing with an A or B was lower for undergraduate students than graduate students. The decrease in successful outcomes also appears greater for students in online classes, but it is unclear whether online classes were affected by the curriculum standardization and term compression elements of the format shift in the same way as on-campus classes. These results highlight the need for institutions and instructors to take care in developing, designing and implementing curricular changes associated with blended learning in a large-scale format shift. Rapidly deployed format changes in instruction may negatively impact student outcomes.