TY  - JOUR
AU  - Orlov, George
AU  - McKee, Douglas
AU  - Berry, James
AU  - Boyle, Austin
AU  - DiCiccio, Thomas
AU  - Ransom, Tyler
AU  - Rees-Jones, Alex
AU  - Stoye, Jörg
TI  - Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic: It Is Not Who You Teach, but How You Teach
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 28022
PY  - 2020
Y2  - October 2020
DO  - 10.3386/w28022
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w28022
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w28022.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
George Orlov
109 Tower Rd.,
Uris Hall, Room 402C
Ithaca, New 14853
United States
Tel: 607-351-9821
E-Mail: george.orlov@cornell.edu

Douglas McKee
110 Cobb St
Ithaca, NY 14850
USA
Tel: 310-266-2438
E-Mail: dmckee@ucla.edu

James Berry
Department of Economics
University of Delaware
E-Mail: jimberry@udel.edu

Austin Boyle
Department of Economics 
Pennsylvania State University
E-Mail: aboyle@psu.edu

Thomas DiCiccio
Department of Social Statistics
School of Industrial and Labor Relations
Cornell University
E-Mail: tjd9@cornell.edu

Tyler Ransom
Department of Economics
University of Oklahoma
158 CCD1
308 Cate Center Drive
Norman, OK 73072
Tel: (405) 325-2861
E-Mail: ransom@ou.edu

Alex Rees-Jones
University of Pennsylvania
The Wharton School
Department of Business Economics and Public Policy
3rd Floor, Vance Hall
3733 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6372
E-Mail: alre@wharton.upenn.edu

Jörg Stoye
Department of Economics 
Cornell University
E-Mail: stoye@cornell.edu
AB  - We use standardized end-of-course knowledge assessments to examine student learning during the disruptions induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Examining seven economics courses taught at four US R1 institutions, we find that students performed substantially worse, on average, in Spring 2020 when compared to Spring or Fall 2019. We find no evidence that the effect was driven by specific demographic groups. However, our results suggest that teaching methods that encourage active engagement, such as the use of small group activities and projects, played an important role in mitigating this negative effect. Our results point to methods for more effective online teaching as the pandemic continues.
ER  -