This study compares exam scores for students in general chemistry versus performance in two online learning systems: WebAssign, which presents problems in a traditional manner, and ALEKS (Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces), which is an adaptive, tutorial-based system. Comparisons are made for students taking the same general chemistry course, taught by the same instructor, in the same quarter in subsequent years, where WebAssign was used one year, and ALEKS the next. Preliminary results for first-quarter general chemistry show a strong correlation between ALEKS performance and exam performance (Pearson coefficient = 0.79, N = 508), and weak correlation between WebAssign performance and exam performance (Pearson coefficient = 0.40, N = 496). In addition, correlations between exam and ALEKS performance are observed early on such that ALEKS performance can be used by students and instructors as an early-time, low-risk metric of student learning.

Comparison of two online learning systems in general chemistry at the University of Washington

244th National Meeting (2012)

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