The Case for the Traditional Classroom

Criticisms of higher education and tight budgets have increased pressure on instructors to consider new pedagogical methods, including classroom experiments and online or hybrid/online courses. This study analyzes the impact of different pedagogical methods in six sections of macroeconomic principles taught during the 2011–2012 academic year. A traditional lecture/discussion control section is compared with experimental sections that used an extensive class simulation and two hybrid online sections that met only once per week during the regular semester. Students in simulation sections scored on average nearly five percent worse on the post-test, although those who participated the most did score higher. Students in the hybrid online sections scored nearly ten percent lower than students in the control section. These results indicate that instructors and administrators should be wary of unproven methods, especially online instruction.