One Instructor Teaching Multiple Graduate-Level Online Sections: Are There Differences?

Abstract

Having the same instructor teach multiple graduate-level sections of a Marketing Management course using the same online teaching pedagogy assumes some level of consistency in the instruction. As a result, one would expect that student performance would generally be the same for both sections. However, anecdotal evidence from colleagues and personal experience seem to suggest otherwise. To empirically investigate if differences actually exist, this research compares the performance of online MBA students enrolled in two concurrent sections of a Marketing Management course. When comparing two sections of the said course, findings showed that Section #1 students had significantly higher grades than Section #2 students. The author found that the level of classroom participation and midterm grades were significantly different between the two sections. Based on these results, the author presents probable causes for such differences.