a homework assignments online

a homework assignments online

The Impact of Online Homework Assignments on Student Learning

1. Introduction to Online Homework Assignments

1. Introduction

There are many attributes of the internet that can be used for good or for bad. One attribute is the ability to provide personal feedback to users in response to entered data, making the ability of the internet to serve as a pseudo-tutor one of its great strengths. In this study, we examined the impact of online homework assignments for a large lecture class on student learning. We used internet technology for delivering and grading assignments in an inexpensive way. While the work in this paper focused on online homework assignments, our work sets the stage for future studies in which the goal would be to assess how different attributes of internet technology can most effectively be combined to enhance the learning process.

2. Motivation and Data

The professors in charge of the introductory accounting classes at the university prior to the implementation of online technology reported that one of the reasons they invested time in working with a commercial publishing firm on their new textbook is that they wanted to ensure for the students a book that had a myriad of good problems. When we teach accounting, the only way to be successful is to work many problems. It is not sufficient to watch someone else work problems and it is not sufficient to talk about how one might work problems. Students must work problems on their own in order to be successful in the class. How do we ensure that the students are working the assigned problems?

2. Advantages of Using Online Homework Assignments

Several studies have compared the effect of using online homework with that of using paper-and-pencil homework. The results of these studies are somewhat mixed. At most, a few courses taught using the online homework system result in students outperforming those taking the paper-and-pencil section. However, a vast majority of the courses result in students performing about the same independent of the format used. Thus, one general conclusion that can be reached is that students are definitely not harmed when they are assigned online homework. In general, we find evidence of a positive correlation between language learner autonomy and online homework completion and performance. Our results show that with online homework, learners can be more autonomous as more extensive feedback can be administered.

The ability of the online homework system to instantly check the work students have done on their own time and immediately give the student feedback as to whether they are solving the problems correctly is why the science educators we have interviewed have continued to use the system. Their thought is that the first step to learning how to perform assigned problems is to do a lot of assigned problems, and this happens if students can get immediate feedback. They are also impressed that good performance can be achieved in this format. Additionally, our observations of many hours of online homework activity indicate that students seem to enjoy getting immediate feedback and also that they spend more time working with problems instead of passively reviewing solutions as a way to study. To gain these advantages, the vast majority of the science users require that the system has been set up to give the students 5 or 6 attempts on the same problem, even up to 12 attempts each semester. At the end of this process of trial and error, with instant feedback, they report that the students are able to quickly learn how to solve the problems and are in fact enjoying their learning process.

3. Challenges and Solutions in Implementing Online Homework Assignments

There are two main challenges in implementing online homework assignments. Students may not see the reason to do the assignment and/or may not be able to solve the problems. Some students believe that because these assignments are often graded on the basis of completion rather than correctness, there is little incentive to spend much time trying to complete work on these assignments. The common complaint from students is that these assignments take up time and cause little satisfaction, as they are often based on easy, monotonous, and time-consuming computational tasks. The fact that students become over-reliant on hints and computer-generated feedback, and spend time fiddling with numbers to game the system without learning much about the course material, adds to the frustration. These assignments only make students feel frustrated when they are not able to find the right computational answer and they do not see the right choice on the answer menu.

Given that the learning benefit from interactive learning software will be higher if students are more engaged in the problem-solving process, instructors need to find ways to motivate students to persist in problem-solving. Even if the work done on these assignments is not graded, the assignments can still be helpful in maintaining regular contact between the students and the material of the course. For example, one study shows that students who receive participation grades for completing online homework assignments are more likely to be significantly more engaged in the problem-solving process than those who receive a completion grade. The success of this technique can be attributed to the fact that it holds students more accountable for their engagement with practicing problems and that creating extra credit problems can motivate students to practice their problem-solving skills. Instructors can further use inquiry-based tasks in their courses by providing less completion-based homework and more problem-based homework to help students apply their conceptual understanding of the course material to solve context-rich and more cognitively demanding problems.

4. Best Practices for Designing Effective Online Homework Assignments

To maximize the effectiveness of both face-to-face and online assignments, instructors are encouraged to consider several best practices. Offer a wide array of question types for your homework. Faculty should incorporate many question types in online homework. Variety captivates and helps students to focus. Develop interesting problems. Both in traditional homework and online, students report that interesting problems are helpful in the learning process. Especially in upper-level classes focusing on the major, assignments should develop students’ skills, pique their curiosity, and enable them to appreciate the applicability of their new knowledge.

Implement the “hint, answer, and solution” setting to provide guidance for mastery. This setting provides context-specific feedback on each student’s answer. When students submit incorrect answers, the setting allows them to see a hint with guidance for how to arrive at the correct answer. When students view the hints, their answers are no longer counted as part of their maximum number of attempts. After seeing hints, students have the opportunity to submit final answers; the resulting scores are recorded and a “solution” will also be provided if the setting is turned on. The “hint, answer, and solution” setting ensures that students have ample opportunity to learn the correct material for homework problems. In addition, the setting provides supportive instruction as students begin to develop knowledge and confidence with individual assessment items. After the assignment deadline has passed, students can see the full problem solution in addition to explanations of the answer and hints.

5. Conclusion and Future Directions

We examined the impact of assigning homework problems online and allowing students multiple out-of-class attempts to find the correct answers. Our results show that assigning online homework has a significant and positive impact on students’ knowledge of macroeconomic principles. This result should not be surprising; students in the treatment section were provided incentives to engage in practice, and as a result, devoted more time and energy in developing their understanding of the concepts covered in class. Students in the treatment group who stated that they would have turned to the instructor for homework assistance, in fact reported spending more time studying and practicing macroeconomic concepts.

Surprisingly, a small proportion of the students did not even look at the homework system. The introduction of a relatively small amount of bonus points—enough to move up a borderline letter grade, on average—motivated students to seek multiple homework attempts. Students demonstrated positive perceptions of the homework system. These perceptions may affect the following benefits: promote a deeper understanding of the material, reduce the need for in-class review of homework problems, and increase the work completion rate. Moreover, how much work do students need to do to master the material? Additional research in this area could provide a more complete understanding of how students’ examination performance varies with the number of practice attempts.