One Email to Students: Can a Light-Touch Intervention Make a Difference? (Job Market Paper)

Abstract

Poor performance in introductory courses and lack of individualized assistance may contribute to college non-completion. This research aims to identify the effects of increased, personalized instructor feedback on performance in introductory college courses. We conduct an experiment in which poorly-performing students in large lectures are randomized to receive individualized communication through email about their course performance along with a reminder of their instructors’ out-of-class availability. Half of the treated students receive an email from the professor, while the other half receive an email from their teaching assistant. We compare the efficacy of outreach from professors to outreach from teaching assistants. We find that neither treatment measurably increases course performance or perception of instructor quality. Emails from professors decrease attendance at TA office hours, suggesting that students view professor and TA office hours as substitutes. Both types of emails increase the frequency at which students seek help from the email’s sender, but do not increase the frequency at which students seek help from the other, non-sending instructor, even though all emails contain office hour information for both the professor and the TA. Thus, changing the identity of the sender changes the effects of the nudge, which has implications for the scale-up of nudging programs. If messages come from a source that is impersonal or unknown to the recipient, the nudges may be less effective than those in a small-scale study where sender and recipient have a closer relationship.