Numerous computer studies have compared the effect of online homework with pen-and-paper homework on student learning in various college science courses. Most of the literature on online homework in science courses has addressed the students’ understanding of course concepts as determined by a pre-test at the beginning of the course and a post-test at the end of the course. The pre- and post-tests have different questions. However, they do address the same concepts. The pre- and post-tests did not show any significant difference.  However, the performance of the online homework group was better than the pen-and-paper homework group. Allain and William did not find any significant differences in conceptual understanding or test score from ungraded homework to graded online homework in pre- and post-tests. Arasasingham’s study<b> </b>focused on molecular-level conceptualization and visualization.  He separated the students into high homework and low homework scorer groups. The online homework led to higher achievement scores on final exams for each group. Lazarova looked at graded homework and ungraded online homework in low enrollment courses. The data suggested that performance on online homework assignment is a better predictor for student success on assessments measuring problem skills.  Malik, Martinez, Romero, Shubel, and Janowicz used the ACS exam to identify the effect of online homework and written homework in organic chemistry. The online group did a lot better than the written homework group. Also, the students were more satisfied with doing homework online instead of doing it with pen-and-paper. Smithrud and Pinhas found that organic chemistry students, who wrote out answers with pencil-paper first and then transferred the answer to the computer performed better than students who solely entered answers into the online homework.  Our study will determine if there is a correlation between homework and test performance, homework performance and final exam scores, and homework performance and final course grades. Data was collected in fall 2015- spring 2016 in introductory chemistry courses for non-science students, Chem 103 (179 students in six sections) and Chem 104 (181 students in seven sections).

Effect of online homework on students’ performance in introductory chemistry

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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