Student Development in Teacher-Student Interaction: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Online Education

Last registered on September 25, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Student Development in Teacher-Student Interaction: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Online Education
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0010355
Initial registration date
November 06, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
November 08, 2022, 3:44 PM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
September 25, 2024, 11:26 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
China
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Chunchao Wang
Affiliation
South China Normal University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Yaru Zhang
PI Affiliation
Jinan University
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PI Name
Hang Zou
PI Affiliation
Jinan University
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PI Name
Aiping Xiao
PI Affiliation
Guangdong University of Finance
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PI Name
Yao Wang
PI Affiliation
South China Agricultural University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2020-02-24
End date
2020-06-30
Keywords
Education, Labor
Additional Keywords
Teacher-student interaction; online education; academic achievements; personality traits
JEL code(s)
C93; I21; J24
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study conducts the first investigation of how the teacher-student interaction in online education impacts the academic achievements and personality traits of primary school students using a field experiment. Our findings indicate that adding regular interactive online recitation sessions to pure online courses leads to significant improvements in students’ exam scores, as well as increased levels of extraversion, openness, and conscientiousness. The positive effects on students' academic achievements and personality traits can be attributed to students' enhanced learning motivation and engagement and increased levels of parental inputs, respectively.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Wang, Chunchao et al. 2024. "Student Development in Teacher-Student Interaction: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Online Education." AEA RCT Registry. September 25. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.10355-3.4
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We conduct a more than 8-week randomized experiment for primary school students in L County in China during the school closure period due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, where some randomly chosen students are provided an opportunity to join a 30-minute interactive online recitation session.
Intervention (Hidden)
We examine the causal effect of interactive teacher intervention in online education on K-12 students' academic achievements and personality traits. To answer our research question, we conduct a more than 8-week randomized experiment for 3rd-, 4th-, and 5th-grade students in 5 schools of L county in China during the school closure period due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, where the students in 15 randomly chosen classes are provided access to a 30-minute interactive online recitation session.
Intervention Start Date
2020-02-24
Intervention End Date
2020-06-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
K-12 students’ academic achievements and personality traits.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We randomly selected one class from each of the three grade levels within each of the five schools to form our treatment group. In total, we selected 718 students from 15 classes, which accounted for one-quarter of the total sample. The remaining 2,319 students formed the control group. For the treatment group, we asked the corresponding teachers to teach a recitation session to students through an online Tencent Meeting every Friday after regular online classes.The Tencent Meeting was set up by members of our experimental team, and in line with the regular online recorded course session, we set the duration of the online recitation session to 30 minutes. For the control group, all students were directed to self-study at home.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
We randomly choose 15 classes and provide students in those classes access to a 30-minute interactive online recitation session each week during our intervention period.
Randomization Unit
class
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
5 schools
Sample size: planned number of observations
3037 students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
718 students are treatment group 2319 students are control group
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Department of Economics, Jinan University
IRB Approval Date
2020-02-15
IRB Approval Number
N/A
IRB Name
Study has received IRB approval. Details not available.
IRB Approval Date
Details not available
IRB Approval Number
Details not available
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
June 30, 2020, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
June 30, 2020, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
5 schools.
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
3037 students.
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
718 students are treatment group 2319 students are control group.
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials