Increasing Undergraduate Success: A Randomized Controlled Trial of U-Pace Instruction

Abstract

U-Pace instruction, comprised of concept mastery and amplified assistance, has shown promise in increasing undergraduate success. To evaluate the efficacy of U-Pace instruction for students at-risk for college non-completion and students not at-risk and to determine whether concept mastery, amplified assistance, or both U-Pace components are responsible for the greater learning associated with U-Pace instruction, an experiment was conducted with four instructional conditions (U-Pace, Concept Mastery, Amplified Assistance, and Face-to-Face). At a public university, 914 undergraduates (576 at-risk) participated. U-Pace instruction produced greater learning than the comparisons. Additionally, U-Pace instruction produced greater academic success than Face-to-Face instruction. The percentage of final grades of A or B did not differ for Concept Mastery, Amplified Assistance, and U-Pace students. No interaction between instructional condition and risk status was found for final grades or learning. The efficacy of U-Pace instruction for both at-risk students and students not at-risk was supported.

Keywords

• online learning
• instructor support
• mastery
• student success
• U-Pace instruction