Fear of the Unknown: Student Reluctance to Engage in Blended Learning in Undergraduate Economics

Blended learning has become one of the most popular approaches to innovate teaching practices in higher education. Yet, few randomized evaluations of the effectiveness of this approach exists. In this study we conduct a randomized evaluation of a blended learning initiative implemented in a large undergraduate macroeconomics course. In particular, the blended learning initiative consist of: 1) an adaptive learning platform, which provides instant feedback on exercises and 2) a new format for the exercises, which facilitates active learning through increased group work. The effects of blended learning are measured by differences in academic achievement. On average, we find no significant differences in the final grades. Yet, when exploring the mechanisms behind this result we find that when adjusting for differences in attendance the treatment increase test scores by 0.15 standard deviations. Our results point to the potential for blended learning to increase academic achievement. Yet, also highlight challenges of getting students onboard and thus point to the importance of academic socialization of students into becoming independent learners as an important part of the success of blended learning.