Student Effort and Learning Outcomes in Principles of Microeconomics Courses

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine a controversial debate whether students who spend more time on completing the assignments perform better. More specifically, the study investigates the relationship between the time spent (as a measure of students' efforts) on an assignment and students' learning outcomes. The study uses a unique dataset with the students’ out-of-class activities in Principles of Microeconomics courses between Fall 2012 and Spring 2013 downloaded from Aplia, an online learning environment.