The Effect of Class Mode on the Relationship Between Academic Self-Efficacy and Class Performance

Abstract

Online classes have become increasingly popular in recent years with 29.7 percent of college students taking online classes currently. As a result, educational research has focused on differences between online and traditional (in-person) classes and performance in said classes. This study focused on academic self-efficacy, how it relates to class performance, and how that differs depending on three class modes (online, in-person/traditional, hybrid). The final grades of students in three class sections of an Introduction Psychology course were compared. Results did not indicate that final points varied significantly between the different class sections. Additional analyses looked at the academic self-efficacy measures used. The literature emphasizes that self-efficacy is best measured when content-specific. Thus, the reliabilities of a longer and shorter version of an academic self-efficacy scale were compared. Reliability was not lost (and actually improved) in the shorter version.