Modeling improvement for underrepresented minorities in online STEM education

Previous research has shown that students from underrepresented minority groups tend to receive lower grades in online classes than their peers, especially in science-focused courses. We propose that there may also be benefits to online courses for these students (e.g., opportunities for peer discussions where minority status is less salient), though little is currently known about these potential benefits. We present a new perspective on learning outcomes by measuring improvement, rather than grades alone. In learning management system data from seven semesters of an online introductory science course, we found that students from underrepresented minority racial groups were indeed less likely to receive high grades, and scored lower on exams; however, their exam scores improved throughout the semester a similar amount compared to their peers. We also compared improvement to students' behaviors, including exam submission times and forum usage, finding that these behaviors were related to improvement. Finally, we also briefly discuss implications of these findings for reducing inequalities in education, and the possibilities for underrepresented minority students in online STEM education in particular.