Blended learning
Does half the classroom time hurt flexible learners?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
A flexible blended business programme with about half the on-site time showed essentially equivalent exam performance to part-time peers.
How this study connects
Role on claims
Each row is a claim on a concept or method page where this paper supports, challenges, or qualifies the statement. Roles are hand-checked — not a model guess.
A flexible blended programme with substantially reduced on-site time can show essentially equivalent exam performance to a part-time comparison programme.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
Equivalence on exams in one flexible programme does not imply identical soft-skill or long-term outcomes, and single-provider success ratings cannot prescribe one global blended model.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
A Swiss FLEX Bachelor’s format cut face-to-face time by about 51% versus a part-time programme. Researchers compared 2,822 FLEX exams with 11,638 part-time exams in 133 courses (2015–2019; FLEX n students = 278, part-time = 1,068). The overall effect size was close to zero and not significantly different from zero; exam differences were significant in only 24 of 133 courses, sometimes favouring FLEX and sometimes part-time. Equivalence on exams is not proof of identical soft-skill or career outcomes.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
Near-zero and large are both in this set because the contrasts differ. FLEX’s programme-level exam effect is ~0 despite 51% less classroom time (only 24/133 courses significant). Peer feedback’s Partial η² = 0.35 is a single-group pre/post on essays. Science-simulation undergraduates (n = 1,034; 536 male, 498 female) reported high engagement and satisfaction with no control-group d at all. You cannot rank those as competing estimates of 'whether blended learning works'.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
Statistical significance and educational size part company. COVID UDL ratings were significantly poorer on two principles among volunteers. FLEX found significant course-level exam differences in a minority of 133 courses while the pooled effect sat at zero. 'Significant' is not a shared importance ranking.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
Open questions
Tensions this paper is part of
From concept pages' “where studies disagree.” Disagreement means the same question; scope means different assays, populations, or outcomes.
Equivalence on exams in one flexible programme does not imply identical soft-skill or long-term outcomes, and single-provider success ratings cannot prescribe one global blended model.
Near-zero and large are both in this set because the contrasts differ. FLEX’s programme-level exam effect is ~0 despite 51% less classroom time (only 24/133 courses significant). Peer feedback’s Partial η² = 0.35 is a single-group pre/post on essays. Science-simulation undergraduates (n = 1,034; 536 male, 498 female) reported high engagement and satisfaction with no control-group d at all. You cannot rank those as competing estimates of 'whether blended learning works'.
Statistical significance and educational size part company. COVID UDL ratings were significantly poorer on two principles among volunteers. FLEX found significant course-level exam differences in a minority of 133 courses while the pooled effect sat at zero. 'Significant' is not a shared importance ranking.
Discoveries this paper informs or conflicts with
- A blended degree halved classroom time and exam results barely moved
This paper informs this development.
Study at a glance
- Design
- Other — Comparison of FLEX blended vs part-time exam results across many courses
- N
- N=14460 · 2,822 FLEX and 11,638 part-time exams across 133 courses (2015–2019)
- Population
- Business Bachelor's students in FLEX blended vs part-time programmes
- Outcome
- Exam performance equivalence despite ~51% less face-to-face time
Structured fields used in claim comparison tables when every cited study has a complete layer.
Inspect source passages
Does half the classroom time hurt flexible learners?
These passages occur verbatim in the stored paper text. They support the points listed below; they do not verify every statement in the explanation.
FLEX face-to-face classes reduced by approximately 51%
face-to-face classes for FLEX were reduced by approximately half (51%) compared with the part-time programme and replaced with a virtual self-study phase.
Significant difference in only 24 of 133 courses
indicated a significant difference in only 24 of the 133 courses; FLEX students showed significantly higher exam scores in 10 courses and PT students in 14 courses.
Key findings
The overall effect size for FLEX versus part-time was close to zero despite the large reduction in classroom time. Significant exam differences appeared in only a minority of courses, sometimes favoring FLEX and sometimes part-time.
Methodology
Researchers evaluated a FLEX blended Bachelor's format that cut face-to-face time by roughly half versus a part-time programme. They compared thousands of exam results across more than a hundred courses between 2015 and 2019 and examined course evaluations and design factors.
Limitations
Equivalence on exams is not proof of identical soft-skill or long-term career outcomes. The study is situated in one Swiss business programme and self-selection into FLEX may differ from random assignment.
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