By reason of the rapid development of cutting-edge educational technologies and its penetration into higher education, the characteristics of learning environment have been going through notable changes such as traditional relationships between educators and learners are shifting “from teacher-centered approaches towards a personalized, small-group orientated, multi-dimensional model of teaching” (Sun, 2011, p. 428), and to “pedagogies that are more personal, social and participatory” (McLoughlin & Lee, 2010, p. 28) which is leading to the emergence of online instruction as a new and additional supplementary mode to traditional learning and teaching. Thus, the growing popularity of online education has led to questions about the quality and effectiveness of online education. 

Regardless of the volume and dispute of the research on the effectiveness of online learning, one can see there is a consensus of view among scholars upon the effects of online education on student academic performance. Generally all academics agree on the fact that distant learning is as effective and beneficial as traditional mode of learning (Donavant, 2009; Fortune, Shifflett, & Sibley, 2006; Williams, 2006). The research compiled by Donavant (2009) revealed that there is “no statistically significant difference” in the effectiveness of online and traditional education delivery (p.239). However, the results of this scholarship indicate that though there is no noteworthy relationship between online education learners and individual controlling variables of gender, age, race and previous exposure to online instruction methods, the level of online education is remarkably related to academic achievement gained from formal education. Fortune et al. (2006) support the same view when they claim that the on-campus students of Silicon Valley who major in business demonstrated very little knowledge in practice. Therefore, they contend that the two methods of instruction can be considered similarly valuable regarding skill advancement. They credited this outcome to the fact that students who choose online courses are normally more autonomous in comparison with their peers opting for on-campus learning.

Furthermore, there are a few researchers who brought up the issue that the effectiveness of online education is based on some definite factors as appropriateness or effectiveness of online learning in particular fields of education. Amidst these researchers are Austin, Donavant and Vernon, Vakalahi, Pierce, Pittman-Munke, and Adkins. For instance, according to Austin (2009), skills that are necessary for public administration students are not adequately provided with current online education technology. In the same vein, Vernon, Vakalahi, Pierce, Pittman-Munke, & Adkins` (2009) findings were of the same view that courses, which require practical skills, should not be taught online although they are frequently taught online. However, this perception is opposed to the discoveries of Donavant`s (2009) study, where the police officers showed their inclination for the traditional mode of learning as well as for online learning for their professional development. 

In summary, as the literature review has demonstrated, there are many different points of view and answers to the research problem relying upon the researcher depending on the different areas of study along with various types of learners. Though the results propose that online education gets along well with traditional face-to-face learning and is as good as traditional learning when offering educational values, it still needs more research on the long-term effectiveness of online learning. To the best of my knowledge, though no past studies in this field were conducted in Kazakhstan. Thus this research study is critical to the field of international education in that it will contribute to the existing body of knowledge and fill the knowledge gap in literature in terms of Kazakhstani setting. 

This study employed both the qualitative and quantitative research methods to explore the effectiveness of online learning upon undergraduate student academic achievement. The benefit of using a mixed method research design is that it gives full insight into a deeper understanding of a phenomenon (Gay, Mills, & Airisian, 2009). The quantitative approach has been used for this study as the most appropriate and suitable research paradigm as it refers to numeric information and regarded as objective, which can be tested and measured (Creswell, 2014) whereas the qualitative research is based on the assumption that the phenomenon is subjective as the research is conducted from the subject`s perspective (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2007) and used for participant interviews. According to Cohen, Manion & Morrison (2007), the utilizing sampling technique should be available and suitable as well as appropriate methodology and instrumentation for the study. Thus, the sample for this study comprises six participants who are purposefully selected from Nazarbayev University in Astana through purposeful snowball sampling technique. The sample includes three male and three female undergraduate students. The age of participants is between 20 and 21. For this reason, these findings cannot be generalized to the broader community based on this study alone. This section provides the instruments used in collecting data. The method of data collection was a mixed methodology of quantitative and qualitative techniques. The instruments consisted of the student survey and interview questions. A survey is generally administered to a sample of population in order to describe their significant attitudes, opinions and beliefs on a given question while interview is applied to encourage the interviewees to freely discuss their own opinion on the issue (Creswell, 2014).

The student survey gathered descriptive data about their studies and demography. The survey revealed that all respondents were third year students of Kazakh ethnicity, took an average of two classes, which used blogs and board discussions as supplementary tools. Apart from the survey, an interview was conducted with the students on views about effectiveness pertaining to online learning as supplementary tool. Student answers have been classified into the following categories: course organization, interaction with teachers and peers and feedback and grading. Students were satisfied with the way their courses organized specifically how their professors combined traditional and online mode of learning. For example, one female student said, “The layout, assignments and blog writings worked well together”. Also this student reported the usefulness of having board discussions and blogs since “the written exercises and various ideas were available throughout the course, a person can refer to any necessary information they needed any time”. As for the theme on feedback one male student appreciated the immediate feedback available on online quizzes and blogs. Instructors provided timely feedback on assignments, encouraged interaction on the blogs, and gave reasons on how and why the assignments were assessed. The respondents also indicated that feedback was not just provided by the instructor, but from other students as well. Additionally students reported that communication with their mates along with their professors was an important and useful aspect of their courses. Another theme that emerged from students’ responses was having the positive attitude towards online interaction with peers. For example, one of the students commented, “In a traditional learning setting, some students’ opinions are not heard owing to some external or internal factors or other students being too dominant in the classroom.” However, in an online environment it is vice versa, everyone has an opportunity to express his opinion and hear other views.

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