Student development in teacher–student interaction: Evidence from a randomized experiment in online education

Abstract

This study conducts the first investigation of how the teacher–student interaction in online education impacts the academic achievements and personality traits of primary school students using a field experiment. Our findings indicate that adding regular interactive online recitation sessions to pure online courses leads to significant improvements in students’ exam scores, as well as increased levels of extraversion, openness, and conscientiousness. The positive effects on students’ academic achievements and personality traits can be attributed to students’ enhanced learning motivation and engagement and increased levels of parental inputs, respectively.