Gender and student performance in the era of online learning are topics of strong interest to both institutions of higher learning and academic researchers. This study examines the role of gender and student performance in both online and face-to-face classes. The data were collected from 95,944 students in a two year institution and 50,593 students from a four year institution, with a five year difference between institutional data collections. Both modalities, online and face-to face were analyzed for gender differences. GPA indicators show a persistent and consistent under-performance by online students of all genders vs face-to-face classrooms based students of all genders. Additionally, females outperformed males in face-to-face classes while males and females were performed identically online. This significant finding of persistent lower student achievement in online classes across institutions is a strong area of concern that contradicts smaller scale studies touting no significant difference in online and face to face learning.
2018 Amparo, A.P., Smith, G., Friedman, A. “Gender and persistent grade performance differences between online and face to face undergraduate classes.” EdMedia+ Innovate Learning. Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), Amsterdam, Netherlands.
