Education Delivery Modes: A Post-COVID Study of Traditional and Online Classes in Managerial Accounting

Abstract

In recent years, universities have been forced to adapt to online teaching methods due to the COVID pandemic. As these COVID restrictions were lifted, students taking an accounting-based course were offered the opportunity to continue to attend remotely or to return to a traditional face-to-face setting. In this study, we examined students’ feelings of engagement based on both manners of course delivery as well as their expectations of grade for the course. Our results suggest that face-to-face classes provide a better opportunity for following lectures, avoiding distractions, working on group projects, and communicating with instructors and their peers when given the choice between online and face-to-face classes. Students attending class in person also reported a higher expected final grade. However, students attending classes remotely reported appreciating the flexibility of the online format and correspondingly attended a higher percentage of lectures. Overall, these results suggest that students that have now experienced both face-to-face and online course formats may identify and register for course delivery methods with characteristics that more specifically appeal to their desired format regardless of its potential impact on their class performance. To the extent that universities can adopt as many of these characteristics in traditional/fully remote or hybrid type delivery methods, the potential exists for higher student satisfaction levels while taking into consideration student needs.