The five factor model in online education

Abstract

The following study explored the influence of Five-Factor model personality type on academic performance and class delivery preferences. The study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time involving an international shift to online learning alongside other drastic changes to the learning environment of students. Participants of a Canadian post-secondary completed an online survey consisting of the Big Five Inventory personality questionnaire along with metrics assessing academic performance, class delivery preferences, and other factors impacting learning environment. These other factors included financial stability, past online learning experience, and access to reliable internet. Measures included the self-reported online grades of the student, the overall GPA attained from face-to-face classes, the personal preference of the student between online and face-to-face class delivery, and the personal preference of the student between synchronous (conference-based) and asynchronous (web-based) online learning. Relationships between academic performance, class delivery preference, Five Factor Personality, and the learning environment of students were examined using correlation and regression analyses. Current theoretical perspectives of personality and academic performance are discussed. The study treads new ground not only by virtue of examining online higher education in an unprecedented context where it is the dominant mode of delivery, but also by capturing the unique impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on higher education students and how the factors of personality moderate those impacts.