Course length as a determinant of student performance in the principles of macroeconomics course.

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to determine if the short sessions 3 weeks, 5 weeks, and 10 weeks had an impact upon the performance of students taking the Principles of Macroeconomics course at Middle Tennessee State University.

This study sought answers to three major questions: (1) Does the natural log of the post-macro TUCE III test scores of classes taught in the 3 week (MAY) session differ from those taught in 15 week sessions. (2) Does the natural log of the post-macro TUCE III test scores of classes taught in the 5 week (SUM) session differ from those taught in 15 week sessions. (3) Does the natural log of the post-macro TUCE III test scores of classes taught in the 10 week (NIGHT) session differ from those taught in 15 week sessions.

Also of concern was the methodology used to estimate the production functions that modeled student performance. This study used two production functions, Cobb-Douglas and Translog, and used two estimation procedures, OLS and Heckman's two-step procedure (Select) to estimate the production function parameters. Previous researchers have used OLS procedures, but in estimating parameter estimates they failed to consider the students that dropped the course. Therefore, the parameter estimates from the OLS methodology may be biased. Heckman's two-step procedure (Select) removes this bias.

This study included 72 and 183 students at Middle Tennessee State University who took the Principles of Macroeconomics courses in the summer and fall semesters of 1995, respectively.

The macro TUCE III was the instrument used to measure performance and student questionnaires were administered to gather additional demographic information. Also, the records office at Middle Tennessee State University furnished other pertinent academically related information.

Conclusions. (1) It was concluded that the 3 week (MAY) time frame was positively related to the post-macro TUCE III test scores using the Translog model and for both estimation procedures (OLS and Heckman's two-step), ceteris paribus. (2) It was concluded that the 5 week (SUM) time frame was positively related to the post-macro TUCE III test scores using the Translog model and for both estimation procedures (OLS and Heckman's two-step), ceteris paribus. (3) It was concluded that the 10 week (NIGHT) time frame was positively related to the post-macro TUCE III test scores using the Cobb-Douglas model with the OLS estimation procedure. Also, the same relationship was found using the Translog model and for both estimation procedures (OLS and Heckman's two-step), ceteris paribus.

Implications. Since the demand for compressed classes is expanding, the conclusion that the 3 week (MAY), 5 week (SUM) and 10 week (NIGHT) time frames are significantly and positively related to learning allows for the inference that the short time frame offerings at universities aids in the learning process, ceteris paribus. This conclusion could make it easier for university officials to expand their summer offerings. This would allow universities to better serve the needs of an ever growing clientele of older and part-time students.