Implementing quality assurance of university students’ learning outcomes is an important challenge. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, wherein many universities are implementing online education as “a new form of education,” there is a pressing need to rethink class methods. This study clarifies the effect of class experience via online education on Japanese university students’ learning outcomes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The results indicate that students acquire knowledge and skills through online education in the same way as conventional face-to-face education, but regardless of the specialized field, the knowledge and skills acquired differ according to the form of online education employed. Our finding that appropriate learning outcomes are assured even for online education in the same way as face-to-face education is likely to be of major significance.

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI grant number 21K13604 and RIHE open-call research grant number B03001.