Effect of Online Learning on Transfer Student Success

Abstract Introduction: Online learning increased rapidly during the 2020 school year due to COVID-19. While online learning was perhaps the only realistic response to the health crisis, students differ in terms of their success with online learning. One particular group which may be vulnerable to problems with online learning is transfer students. Transfer students may be coming from smaller, in-person classes and are now put into fully online environments. This paper studies the performance of transfer students in online classes versus in-person classes. Methods: This study compares the success of transfer students for an in-person semester to an online semester. A simple statistical test was performed to compare results for transfer students to control students. Results: Transfer students appear to be performing worse than control students in the fully online learning environment. Discussion: There may be a variety of reasons for the poorer performance of transfer students. They may be switching from smaller, in-person learning environments to more impersonal online environments. Limitations: Pre-existing differences in individual students could not be controlled for. Conclusion: These results suggest that transfer students may not be adapting to fully online learning as well as control students. Further research is needed to clarify this.