Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Education Policy Analysis Archives

Publication Date

1-1-2021

Abstract

Education has traditionally been classroom-oriented with a gradual growth of online courses in recent times. However, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically accelerated the shift to online classes. Associated with this learning format is the question: what do people think about the educational value of an online course compared to a course taken in-person in a classroom? We address this question and present a Bayesian quantile analysis of public opinion using a nationally representative survey data from the United States. We find that previous participation in online courses and full-time employment status favor the educational value of online courses. We also find that the older demographic and females have a greater propensity for online education. In contrast, highly educated individuals have a lower willingness towards online education vis-a-vis traditional classes. Regional variations in the propensity to value online classes also exist. Besides, covariate effects show heterogeneity across quantiles which cannot be captured using probit or logit models.

ISSN

1068-2341

Publisher

Arizona State University

Volume

29

Disciplines

Education

Keywords

Binary outcomes, COVID-19, online education, Gibbs sampling, public, opinion, Pew Research Center

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Indexed in Scopus

no

Open Access

yes

Open Access Type

Gold: This publication is openly available in an open access journal/series

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