A Case Study of University Students' Performance in Arabic and Islamic Culture Courses Before and During the Pandemic (Face-to-Face and Online Instruction)

ABSTRACT

In the present study, we examined whether students' academic success in courses devoted to Arabic and Islamic culture changed when the familiar face-to-face delivery format (before the Covid-19 pandemic) was discarded in favor ofan online synchronous delivery format (during the pandemic). The final class grades of students enrolled in one of four courses in a sequence devoted to Arabic culture and religion were compared while holding constant the variable instructor. The ability of early performance indicators to predict final class grades was also examined to assess whether there were differences between instructional deliveries. Superior performance and lower failure rates were observed online for courses at the beginning of the sequence, but not at the end of the sequence. These findings suggest that the impact of instructional delivery might vary depending on the students' accumulated academic experience.