Unraveling the Impact of Blended Learning vs. Online Learning on Learners’ Performance: Perspective of Self-Determination Theory

After the COVID-19 pandemic, online and blended learning (BL) have been very popular worldwide. They have become as important as face-to-face (F2F) learning. Previous meta-analyses examined the effects of BL and online learning (OL) compared to F2F learning. However, there is no meta-analytic evidence on the effects of BL vs. OL. Which is more effective: BL or OL? So, this study compares the impact of BL and OL based on 37 empirical articles (2000-2024) via meta-analysis. The results suggest that BL has a positive upper-medium effect on student learning outcomes (<i>SMD</i> = 0.611, <i>p</i> < 0.001), especially on cognitive outcomes (<i>SMD</i> = 0.698, <i>p</i> < 0.001) and affective outcomes (<i>SMD</i> = 0.533, <i>p</i> < 0.001). Moreover, moderator analysis finds that BL's effects are better than OL (1) for a class size of 0~50 students (2) for K-12 and university students (3) within 3 months of intervention (4) on non-STEM subjects (5) with different teachers (6) with 30%~69% proportion of OL (7) using mixed interaction (8) with mixed and group learning (9) on Asian students. Moreover, the results provide valuable suggestions for educators and researchers to improve BL's practices.