A Study of the Effectiveness of Web‐Based Homework in Teaching Undergraduate Business Statistics

Abstract

Web-based homework (WBH) Technology can simplify the creation and grading of assignments as well as provide a feasible platform for assessment testing, but its effect on student learning in business statistics is unknown. This is particularly true of the latest software development of Web-based tutoring agents that dynamically evaluate individual students' skill level and purport to respond with appropriate, targeted teaching to improve learning efficiency. In this article, we compare traditional, textbook-based homework assignments with three systems of WBH for undergraduate business statistics courses: ALEKS, PH Grade Assist, and custom-made online quizzes in Blackboard. These systems represent a range of media from artificial intelligence-based tutoring to instructor-controlled objective testing. Using a common assessment test, we compare the performance of students taught with these different systems. Our study finds, as we anticipated, that student performance depends significantly upon teacher experience and student academic competence. Once these factors are controlled for, however, the technique used to deliver homework makes little difference in student success. In contrast to other published research, we do not find any advantage to automated tutoring and identify some limitations of this approach based on both instructor and student feedback.

'I guess' to 'I get': an effective use of smart technology to transform undergraduate statistics education

“…In fact, several previous studies (Cooper et al, 1998;Cooper and Valentine, 2001) have found that students who spend more time on doing homework will perform much better in exams than those who do not. In practice, the standard formatted homework (i.e., multiple choice questions) is broadly used (Palocsay and Stevens, 2008). Such homework templates offer several advantages because it is easy to grade, but such approaches also have serious issues.…”

“…They not only need to know the components in the introduced models, but also need to engage in creating model learning that includes how to recombine and redesign multiple models to find the appropriate solution to practical problems. To achieve the goal of getting the creating modelling capability (other similar terminology for the ability includes 'critical thinking' or 'problem solving'), practicing in homework and getting feedback are essential for an undergraduate student in a statistics class (Palocsay and Stevens, 2008;Prybutok et al, 2009). In fact, several previous studies (Cooper et al, 1998;Cooper and Valentine, 2001) have found that students who spend more time on doing homework will perform much better in exams than those who do not.…”

“…Homework is an indispensible critical component of undergraduate statistics education (Cooper and Valentine, 2001;Palocsay and Stevens, 2008;Warton, 2001). van Dijk et al (2003) argue that statistics education is a process in which students learn a variety of models (i.e., elements of symbolic and structured representations).…”

“…Failure to understand and apply this knowledge subsequently prevents students from reaching an expected performance in upper level classes that require stronger data analysis skills. Although a great deal of emerging technologies such as graphical calculators, multimedia learning systems, and web-based learning systems were extensively adopted by higher education institutes, the results have not always achieved the expected educational goals (Moore, 1997;Palocsay and Stevens, 2008).…”

Evaluating the impact of a web-based resource on student learning

“…More recently, Dufresne et al (2002) found weak evidence that web-based homework improves performance on a physics course compared to traditional paper-and-pencil based homework. On the other hand, Palocsay and Stevens (2008) find little difference between publisher and lecturer designed WBRs for providing supplementary material to undergraduate students on a business statistics course. Other studies compare performance when technology is used to provide supplementary materials rather than simply as an alternative method of provision.…”