IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ireced/v47y2024ics1477388024000197.html

Turn the camera on to get better grade: Evidence from a field experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Anderson, Jan L.
  • Krasnozhon, Leonid A.

Abstract

The economics literature provides mixed results on the effect of online classroom technology on student outcomes. An emerging body of behavioral studies suggests that videoconferencing is a cognitively exhausting activity and that the camera that is a salient feature of virtual meetings is a leading cause of this fatigue, with a more pronounced effect on women. Thus, economists and behavioral scientists debate whether online education and its technology provide an effective method of instruction. We use a field experimental design to examine how camera use in online synchronous economics classes affects learning outcomes. We find that changing the method of student engagement from turning the camera off to turning it on increases quiz grades by 0.18 standard deviations while we control for students’ gender and aptitude.

Suggested Citation

  • Anderson, Jan L. & Krasnozhon, Leonid A., 2024. "Turn the camera on to get better grade: Evidence from a field experiment," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ireced:v:47:y:2024:i:c:s1477388024000197
    DOI: 10.1016/j.iree.2024.100301
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1477388024000197
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.iree.2024.100301?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shadish, William R. & Clark, M. H. & Steiner, Peter M., 2008. "Can Nonrandomized Experiments Yield Accurate Answers? A Randomized Experiment Comparing Random and Nonrandom Assignments," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 103(484), pages 1334-1344.
    2. Tyler Cowen & Alex Tabarrok, 2014. "The Industrial Organization of Online Education," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 519-522, May.
    3. Johnson, Marianne & Meder, Martin E., 2024. "Twenty-three years of teaching economics with technology," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    4. Engelhardt, Bryan & Johnson, Marianne & Meder, Martin E., 2021. "Learning in the time of Covid-19: Some preliminary findings," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    5. William Bosshardt & Eric P. Chiang, 2016. "Targeting Teaching Lecture Capture Learning: Do Students Perform Better Compared to Face-to-Face Classes?," Southern Economic Journal, Southern Economic Association, vol. 82(3), pages 1021-1038, January.
    6. Artz, Benjamin & Johnson, Marianne & Robson, Denise & Siemers, Sarinda, 2022. "Live or lecture capture: Evidence from a classroom random control trial," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    7. Claudia Goldin, 2022. "Understanding the Economic Impact of COVID-19 on Women," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 53(1 (Spring), pages 65-139.
    8. A. Colin Cameron & Douglas L. Miller, 2015. "A Practitioner’s Guide to Cluster-Robust Inference," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 50(2), pages 317-372.
    9. Alberto Abadie & Susan Athey & Guido W Imbens & Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2023. "When Should You Adjust Standard Errors for Clustering?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 138(1), pages 1-35.
    10. Marianne Johnson & Martin E. Meder, 2021. "A meta-analysis of technology: Interventions in collegiate economics classes," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(1), pages 1-16, January.
    11. Gary S. Becker & Kevin M. Murphy, 1994. "The Division of Labor, Coordination Costs, and Knowledge," NBER Chapters, in: Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, Third Edition, pages 299-322, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brandyn F. Churchill & Laura E. Henkhaus & Emily C. Lawler, 2025. "Effect of vaccine recommendations on consumer and firm behavior," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(1), pages 125-150, January.
    2. Heissel, Jennifer, 2016. "The relative benefits of live versus online delivery: Evidence from virtual algebra I in North Carolina," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 99-115.
    3. Wenjie Wang & Yichong Zhang, 2021. "Wild Bootstrap for Instrumental Variables Regressions with Weak and Few Clusters," Papers 2108.13707, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2024.
    4. Hirschauer, Norbert & Grüner, Sven & Mußhoff, Oliver & Becker, Claudia & Jantsch, Antje, 2020. "Can p-values be meaningfully interpreted without random sampling?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 14, pages 71-91.
    5. Federico Bugni & Ivan A. Canay & Azeem M. Shaikh & Max Tabord-Meehan, 2025. "Inference for Cluster Randomized Experiments with Nonignorable Cluster Sizes," Journal of Political Economy Microeconomics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(2), pages 255-288.
    6. Rodion Skovoroda & Shaun Goldfinch & Karl DeRouen & Trevor Buck, 2019. "The Attraction of FDI to Conflicted States: The Counter-Intuitive Case of US Oil and Gas," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 59(2), pages 229-251, April.
    7. Samuel Nocito & Marcello Sartarelli & Francesco Sobbrio, 2021. "A Beam of Light: Media, Tourism & Economic Development," CESifo Working Paper Series 9055, CESifo.
    8. Burlig, Fiona & Preonas, Louis & Woerman, Matt, 2020. "Panel data and experimental design," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    9. Osuna Gómez Daniel, 2021. "The Impact of the Capture of Leaders of Criminal Organizations on the Labor Market: Evidence from Mexico," Working Papers 2021-19, Banco de México.
    10. Shibashish Mukherjee & Sorin M.S. Krammer, 2024. "When the going gets tough : Board gender diversity in the wake of a major crisis," Post-Print hal-04522722, HAL.
    11. Fabienne Kiener & Christian Eggenberger & Uschi Backes-Gellner, 2024. "The role of occupational skill sets in the digital transformation: how IT progress shapes returns to specialization and social skills," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 94(1), pages 75-111, January.
    12. Jushan Bai & Sung Hoon Choi & Yuan Liao, 2021. "Feasible generalized least squares for panel data with cross-sectional and serial correlations," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 309-326, January.
    13. Christian Kümpel, 2019. "Do financial incentives influence the hospitalization rate of nursing home residents? Evidence from Germany," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(11), pages 1235-1247, November.
    14. Simone Bertoli & Morgane Laouenan & Jérôme Valette, 2022. "Border Apprehensions and Federal Sentencing of Hispanic Citizens in the United States," Sciences Po Economics Publications (main) hal-03818735, HAL.
    15. Chen, Ruiyuan (Ryan) & Guedhami, Omrane & Yang, Yang & Zaynutdinova, Gulnara R., 2020. "Corporate governance and cash holdings: Evidence from worldwide board reforms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    16. Bai, Jushan & Choi, Sung Hoon & Liao, Yuan, 2024. "Standard errors for panel data models with unknown clusters," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 240(2).
    17. Nocito, Samuel & Venturini, Alessandra, 2025. "Inter-institutional cooperation and migrants' financial education: An Italian case study," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    18. James G. MacKinnon, 2019. "How cluster-robust inference is changing applied econometrics," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 52(3), pages 851-881, August.
    19. Morgan, Stephen N. & Mason, Nicole M. & Maredia, Mywish K., 2020. "Lead-farmer extension and smallholder valuation of new agricultural technologies in Tanzania," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    20. Matthias Breuer & Ed Dehaan, 2024. "Using and Interpreting Fixed Effects Models," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 62(4), pages 1183-1226, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • A20 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - General
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ireced:v:47:y:2024:i:c:s1477388024000197. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-review-of-economics-education .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.