Abstract
In recent years, educators have attempted to use various methods of engagement with technology to improve student attitudes toward scientific fields. One method is shifting to online homework (OHW) systems. Attitudes toward two types of OHW are analyzed through administering surveys to students at the end of a first semester General Chemistry course. Results indicate a complicated relationship between attitudes and OHW. The traditional-responsive system is praised by students to be easy to manage, and the adaptive-responsive for its in-depth questions. Traditional-responsive system was criticized for oversimplifying and adaptive-responsive fore complexity. Furthermore, responses show there is a more complex interaction than just with the OHW system itself. Instructors should take care when selecting OHW systems for use in their classroom. Keywords: Online Homework, Student Attitudes, Qualitative Research, Adaptive-Responsive Systems, Traditional-Responsive Systems DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-6-03 Publication date: February 28 th 2021
Highlights
Studies have shown that in recent years, student attitudes towards Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) have been increasingly less positive. (Kennedy, Quinn, & Lyons, 2018; Potvin & Hasni, 2014)
These responses indicate that a majority of students held positive attitudes about the online homework system used, shown by the responses of 53% and 62% of Assessment of LEarning in Knowledge Spaces (ALEKS) and Sapling users, respectively, having responses categorized as “I like the system” (Table 3)
Comments about liking the system are related to receiving multiple attempts, such as this student that utilized ALEKS stating: “i love it, it's interactive, helps me learn how to do the problems instead of having to be stuck on a problem that I can't solve.”
Summary
Studies have shown that in recent years, student attitudes towards Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) have been increasingly less positive. (Kennedy, Quinn, & Lyons, 2018; Potvin & Hasni, 2014). Several techniques have been implemented by researchers and instructors to attempt to improve student attitudes towards STEM fields, including the attempt to increase student engagement with course materials(Heflin, Shewmaker, & Nguyen, 2017; PECK). This is important because engagement with course material has been shown to be important in providing students a way to have a more positive attitude toward learning the subject(Erdoğdu, 2019). As far as out-of-class methods, online homework systems have been used method to help increase student engagement with the course material (Erdoğdu, 2019; PECK)
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