We demonstrate how motivational and behavioral processes can explain which students may be more likely to select into online (OL) than face-to-face (F2F) courses and also less likely to perform well in OL courses. University students (n = 999) reported their reasons for OL course selection: university constraints, specific need for flexibility, general preference for flexibility, and learning preferences. Compared to F2F students, only OL students with certain self-selection reasons showed differences in motivation, behavior, and performance. Notably, OL students who said they had a specific need for flexibility created by the costs of competing responsibilities spent more time on non-academic activities (e.g., working, commuting), less time on academic activities (e.g., study groups), and ultimately performed worse when compared to F2F peers. These students were especially likely to be women, older, and part-time. We discuss implications for practice and for using demographic characteristics to control for selection effects.

我们演示了动机和行为过程如何解释哪些学生比面对面（F2F）课程更可能选择在线（OL），并且不太可能在OL课程中表现良好。大学生（n = 999）报告了他们选择OL课程的原因：大学限制，对灵活性的特殊需要，对灵活性的一般偏好以及学习偏好。与F2F学生相比，只有具有某些自我选择原因的OL学生表现出动机，行为和表现上的差异。值得注意的是，那些因竞争责任成本而特别需要灵活性的OL学生在非学术活动（例如工作，通勤）上花费的时间更多，在学术活动（例如研究组）上花费的时间更少，最终与F2F同行相比，表现较差。这些学生特别可能是女性，年龄较大的和兼职的。我们讨论了实践的意义以及使用人口统计学特征控制选择效应的意义。