Measuring the effectiveness of online problem solving for improving academic performance in a probability course

Research on impact in student achievement of online homework systems compared to traditional methods is ambivalent. Methodological issues in the study design, besides of technological diversity, can account for this uncertainty. Hypothesis This study aims to estimate the effect size of homework practice with exercises automatically provided by the ‘e-status’ platform, in students from five Engineering programs. Instead of comparing students using the platform with others not using it, we distributed the subject topics into two blocks, and created nine probability problems for each block. After that, the students were randomly assigned to one block and could solve the related exercises through e-status. Teachers and evaluators were masked to the assignation. Five weeks after the assignment, all students answered a written test with questions regarding all topics. The study outcome was the difference between both blocks’ scores obtained from the test. The two groups comprised 163 and 166 students. Of these, 103 and 107 respectively attended the test, while the remainder were imputed with 0. Those assigned to the first block obtained an average outcome of −1.85, while the average in the second block was −3.29 (95% confidence interval of difference, −2.46 to −0.43). During the period in which they had access to the platform before the test, the average total time spent solving problems was less than three hours. Our findings provide evidence that a small amount of active online work can positively impact on student performance.

Opening the Online Homework System: Toward Cooperation and Collaboration

One of the core tensions in open educational practice in current mathematics and physical science coursework is the use of online homework systems. Many such tools are from commercial providers and have profit to that provider as a motive. Open resources are pursued by those who, for reasons of cost or of pedagogy, seek to resist the tools of commercial providers. This pursuit is frequently made outside of the context of discussions of open educational practices; indeed, the first author of this presentation describes one such effort that started before he was even aware of open education as a discipline. It is important to ask how those faculty, particularly in the mathematics and physical science disciplines at non-elite institutions, assign homework in ways that encourage practice and skill-building, and more broadly, how such content can be shared more robustly and completely among faculty at different institutions.

An English Online Homework Tutoring System Supported by Internet Database

College English tutoring is an important content of current research, and how to provide more effective methods for teaching tutoring is currently a hot research topic. Therefore, this paper designs an Internet-based online tutoring platform for college English teaching, which is accelerated by using the K-means clustering algorithm. The data processing efficiency and processing methods to improve user satisfaction require more practical experience to summarize. In the business logic layer, the uploaded information is mined through the K-means clustering algorithm to form an online tutoring university English database to provide platform data support, realize the business logic judgment of the data, convert the data in the database, and return to the user interface of other formats, to provide users with browsing and consulting. In the data access layer, the data from the business logic layer is processed. After the processing is completed, data can be added, deleted, modified, and checked in the database. Finally, the operation result of the database is fed back to the business logic layer for processing. Experimental results show that the designed platform has good data mining performance, low connection speed and low response delay, good compatibility, low CPU usage, fast resource sharing speed, and high user satisfaction. It can be connected to different operating systems.

The Effect of Online Homework (IXL) on Students' Mathematics Achievement

We examined the potential different effectiveness of an online homework system (IXL) and the traditional paper-and-pencil homework. A study involving 98 participants was conducted in a middle school (grade 8). We compared the post-test results from the online homework group with the traditional homework group. Both homework assignment effect (class-level) and homework completion effect (student-level) proposed by Trautwein (2007) were investigated. No significant difference was found among the students who were assigned different types of homework (class-level). We conclude that IXL is as effective as the traditional homework on students' learning. Meanwhile, not surprisingly, we revealed that students who complete the homework outperformed the students who did not (student-level). We suggest that teachers give students an option to do online or traditional homework based on their preference, as long as they complete the homework.

A Comparison of Students’ Preferences in Online Algebra Instruction Pre- and Post-Covid-19

This study is aimed towards understanding students’ preferences in online learning of College Algebra at a community college in the United States, before and after the Covid-19 pandemic. We analyze the results of Student Satisfaction surveys administered during Fall 19, Spring 20 and Fall 20 semesters. The classes were partially or fully online with synchronous and asynchronous components such as face-to-face and/or virtual meetings, pre-recorded video lessons, assignments through online homework platforms, and discussion board assignments. Our analysis show that students found face-to-face meetings most helpful, when classes were taught partially online. After the transition to online teaching, virtual meetings did not directly replace the face-to-face meetings, instead online homework platforms were preferred. We find that students ultimately started utilizing all components of online classes on an equal basis. Our results reflect students’ adjustment to online teaching, taking more advantage from asynchronous course components and becoming active learners over time.

Using an Online Homework System for Fostering Self-directed Learning

Self-directed learning is learning in which the conceptualization, design, conduct and evaluation of new content is directed and driven by the learner itself. This is an essential skill for students in the 21st century. Many large undergraduate courses use an online homework system to engage the whole class in the course material simultaneously. A very important advantage of using an online homework system is the quick feedback that gives students an immediate indication on how well they understand the work. The purpose of this study firstly focusses on constructing a framework along which to determine the role and success of an online homework system towards making students self-directed learners. The second purpose of this study is to give an example of how the framework can be used. The sample group consists of both engineering and mainstream first year mathematics students using the online homework system WebAssign. The study investigates the extent to which the online homework system fosters independent learning in these cohorts of students. The article concludes by discussing the findings, some discussion and conclusions of this framework.

Assessing Online Student Performance via participation, and Examinations as Alternative Measures

Online homework is a relatively new instruction and evaluation technique. While it appears to be an effective tool, empirical studies of its efficacy suggests they have not been done. This paper analyzes correlations among systematic class participation scores, online homework scores and test results from two sections of Effective People Management and two sections of Advanced Human Resource Management taught at a Middle Eastern University – University of Kurdistan Hewler in fall semester 2017.Collection of data were made in four classes of two modules with the outcomes and implications suggesting students were expected to attempt to work on each homework problem three times and were allowed as many attempts as they wished within time limits set by the instructor. Homework problems were made available for extra credit immediately after a new chapter was introduced