Does Online Homework Increase Motivation to Complete Homework?
Scott A Hunter
Department of Systems Engineering, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, NY 10996, USA
This paper was completed and submitted in partial fulfillment of the Master Teacher Program, a 2-year faculty
professional development program conducted by the Center for Faculty Excellence, United States Military
Academy, West Point, NY, 2015
Abstract—Much research has been conducted examining the correlation between completing homework and course
performance. Some research has also been performed examining the same question using online homework. Results
vary and are inconclusive. Rather than trying to duplicate previous research, this paper takes a slightly different angle
and questions whether or not online homework actually increases the motivation to complete homework assignments.
This observational study examines two semesters worth of classes where one semester completed homework on
paper while the other semester submitted homework online. Analysis provides evidence that indeed, online homework
increased motivation to complete assignments. While data appear to suggest that online homework increased
motivation, survey data indicate mixed experiences.
Index Terms—Online Homework, Motivation, Binomial Test of Proportions
I.
INTRODUCTION
The Greek author Euripides writes, “Learning is more
effective when it is an active rather than a passive process.”
Homework has always been an active part of learning even
before it was called homework. The evolution of homework
has transitioned from working and learning at home, say on
the family farm, to traditional homework assigned from
schools. The evolution continues today as the iPod generation
waives goodbye to pen and paper and moves to electrons.
Classrooms now appear to be competing with the local
BestBuy with all their technological toys on display. The digital
age is ushering in a new era of learning online.
Many studies have examined the role of homework and
performance. There does not appear to be any consensus.
Studies show a positive correlation to even a negative
correlation (Kohn 2006; Trautwein and Koller 2003). A study
by Peters, Kethley, & Bullington (2002) looked at performance
scores on multiple choice tests and how homework influenced
the outcomes. They too concluded that homework did not
increase student performance. Lefcort and Eiger (2003)
conclude homework matters and also explored the assigning
of homework before a lecture or after. In summary, it doesn’t
matter when the homework is given just as long as it is given.
Theories vary as to why traditional homework might not
show conclusive evidence. Perhaps too much homework
given can have a negative effect or none at all. Or, that
timeliness of feedback on the homework takes too long
thereby negating any positive effects of homework.
Homework is now becoming more popular online as
computers have become more accessible and internet access
more available. There are many different online homework
web tools such as Blackboard (www.blackboard.com) and
WebCT (www.webct.com). Textbook publishers now also offer
their own supplemental websites for texts where instructors
can assign homework such as Wiley (www.wileyplus.com)
and Cengage Learning (www.cengage.com). One hope of
online homework is to remedy the possible disadvantages of
traditional homework such as the timeliness of feedback
because online homework can give immediate results.
Naturally the next logical question is to ask if online
homework makes a difference in performance. Again, there
are mixed results. Bonham et al (2001), Allain and Williams
(2006), and Peng (2009) report that there does not appear to
be any significant improvements in performance when using
online homework. Some studies seem to be course specific.
Cheng et al (2004) concludes that online homework in
conjunction
with
interactive
engagement
increased
understanding with statistical significance in a physics course.
It is obvious that there are disputes about the
effectiveness of homework or the best way to assign
homework. An underlying assumption of this paper will be that
homework is essential to learning and mastering material
because it provides necessary practice and repetition.
Certainly, one cannot learn to play the piano reading books
about pianos and music, or even watching online tutorials
without actually practicing (homework!).
This paper explores the hypothesis that online homework
increases motivation in completing assignments. If more
homework is completed holding everything else constant, then
one can reasonably conclude that online homework systems
improve motivation.
Student perceptions of utility provided by online
homework systems may also affect motivation. Smolira et al
(2008) addressed this topic. Based on surveys collected for a
finance course, they concluded that students preferred online
homework over traditional homework. Student perceptions in
this study were recorded and are also presented. The paper
concludes with a recommendation to use online systems.
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II. Background
The nexus of this study came about when questioning
whether to change texts for a Statistics for Engineers course.
The same text had been used for many years. Course
objectives were reexamined after a completed academic year
and it was determined that the course was lacking in a certain
topic. Moreover, students had to purchase supplemental texts
to incorporate topics that the original text did not offer. It was
decided that in the best interest of the students (academically
and financially) that it would be prudent to explore other texts
in hopes that all of the desired information could be found in
one book.
A worthy book was chosen and the publisher began to
push their online companion site with the text. It was decided
after much consideration to implement the online companion
site. Students would receive and complete their homework on
the website as well as have access to supplemental materials.
The course would then be compared with previous years to
examine any adverse effects. While not part of this paper but
to satisfy curiosity, the overall course average fell in line with
previous years. Part of the course evaluation included testing
the hypothesis that online homework does increase motivation
in completing homework assignments because students were
recently not turning in many of their homework assignments.
Would just providing homework online change this outcome?
III. Study Description
Two semesters were chosen to evaluate the motivation
effect of online homework. One semester had traditional
homework while the other semester had online homework.
These two semesters were chosen because the same
instructor was teaching both semesters. Additionally, these
two semesters were virtually identical with the exception of the
text and online homework. Semesters will now be identified as
traditional and online semesters to be distinguished as
semesters that had traditional homework and online
homework, respectively.
Both semesters were given the following instructions on
the first day of class:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
There are 20 homework assignments.
Each homework assignment is worth three
points.
Grading is based on giving an honest effort to
complete the assignment in which case the full
three points will be awarded.
Homework is due at the end of each block (there
are five blocks in the course).
Late homework is accepted at any time with a
one point deduction.
You will not be constantly reminded to turn in
homework. The expectation is that homework is
completed by the dates on the syllabus. You are
responsible for remembering.
Both semesters had about an equivalent amount of
homework. The online semester may had more questions
overall because of the ease to add True/False and multiple
choice questions. Deliberate thought went into choosing
homework for the online semester in order to mimic the same
types of questions from the old text. One main difference
between the two semesters is that the online semester had
two opportunities to input a correct answer. After two attempts
the solution was provided.
The study will then compare the homework completion
percentage of both semesters against each other. The idea is
that if the online semester has a higher completion percentage
than the traditional semester, then the online homework
provided more motivation to do the homework because
everything else was held constant.
IV. Anlaysis
Homework assignments for the traditional and online
semesters were aggregated and tallied. Unfortunately, the
traditional semester had one homework assignment dropped.
There were 19 assignments for the traditional semester and
20 assignments given in the online semester.
There was also a discrepancy in the number of students
between the two semesters. The traditional semester has a
total of 37 students while the online semester has a total of 77
students. There were an additional 19 students in the
traditional semester, but they were dropped from the study
because they had a different instructor. This instructor
assigned and collected homework in a different manner.
The total amount of homework assigned is calculated by
multiplying the number of students by the number of
assignments. The traditional semester had a total of 703
assigned homework (37 students x 19 assignments), while the
online semester had 1540 (77 students x 20 assignments)
total assignments. The traditional semester completed 152
assignments whereas the online semester completed 513
assignments. The homework completion percentage for both
the traditional and online semesters equates to 21.6 and 33.3
percent, respectively. The summary data are found in Table 1.
To test the hypothesis that online homework increases
motivation over traditional homework (Equation 1) a twosample test of proportions was used. The two completion
percentages were used in the comparison with a confidence
level of 95 percent.
Ho: pt - po ≥ 0
Ha: pt - po < 0
(1)
Table 1. Homework Completion Summary
Semester
Traditional
Online
Total Number of
Assignments
703
1540
Total Number of
Assignments
Completed
152
513
Completion
Percentage
(%)
21.6
33.3
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There is overwhelming evidence to suggest that the
proportion of completed online homework is much greater
than the proportion of completed traditional homework. The
chance that this was due chance alone is extremely small (pvalue << 0.0001). Therefore, it is reasonable to suggest that
using an online homework system increased student
motivation to complete homework assignments.
V. Discussion
This observational study examined the merit of utilizing
online homework and its effectiveness in motivating students
to do their homework. At first glance, the results of this may
appear to be underwhelming. Do not be fooled by the dismal
homework completion percentages in the first place (21.6 and
33.3 percent). Yes, these percentages are low and may be
considered abhorrent in most classes. Keep in mind that
homework was a relatively small portion of the overall grade
(6 percent). The fact remains that significantly more
assignments were completed.
Certainly there are more effective ways to get more
assignments completed. The two easiest ways are to assign
more weight to the homework grade and to provide constant
reminders by the instructor to complete the homework. While
these ideas will be incorporated in future classes, it was
deliberately done in this study to keep the semesters as
identical as possible.
The study results appear consistent with Peng (2009).
He reported that online homework had a positive influence in
effort given, particularly those whom were considered to have
low motivation. The effect was even larger when students felt
as though the online system was interactive.
Logic would suggest that if students are more motivated
by online homework then they would report having a positive
perception of the system. Smolira et al received a favorable
response from students. Bonhom et al (2001) also reported
overwhelming responses in the favor of doing online
homework from students.
Surveys from this study reported an underwhelming
response in favor of the online homework system. Fig. 1
presents a bar chart of survey responses with regards to
giving a recommendation for using the online homework
system. Sixty percent of the respondents had negative
impressions. This result is surprising because a higher
percentage of people ended up turning in homework than the
traditional semester. Only 50 of the 77 students responded
and perhaps those with stronger feelings replied, but even if
the remaining students all answered positively, the percentage
of students with negative feelings would still be unacceptably
high. Another point to mention is that this was the first time the
instructors had used this system. There were many bugs to
be worked out and this may have caused frustration issues.
Perhaps with more instructor familiarity and experience, more
instruction on how to use the system, presenting other system
benefits, and incorporating the system more during class the
approval ratings would improve dramatically.
Fig. 1. Survey Results for Student Recommendation of Online
Homework System.
VI. Conclusion
Homework, or the opportunity to put into practice the
concepts learned in the classroom, is essential for learning.
Technology has brought about great tools to help gather,
process, and present information. Current students are now all
®
required to have iPads and many are required to have
electronic texts. Online publisher websites provide a lot of
extra resources for students such as video tutorials, lecture
slides, practice problems, and solutions all in an effort to
motivate students to explore and do homework effectively.
Online homework just makes sense.
This observational study is a small data point and for a
rather homogenous group. It is not a robust designed
experiment. It has a small sample size. It was not performed
over varied conditions, demographics, or different grades. It
offers a little bit more than anecdotal evidence that online
homework does in fact increase student motivation to
complete homework assignments holding all other variables
constant. However, this research does appear to be in line
with some of the other research mentioned.
This research did differ with student perceptions.
Although there was some negative feedback in the survey
results, there is still enough evidence to support continuing
using the online system. Instructors over time will become
more familiar with the system and how to use it more
effectively. More student surveys will be collected, their
feedback incorporated, and hopefully this will lead to
increased positive student perceptions of the online homework
system.
There are other positive reasons for online homework
systems as well. Bonham et al (2001) offers up three pro-side
arguments for online systems. These are:
1)
2)
3)
Automated homework systems permit more
practice.
They give automated [immediate] feedback.
They eliminate the easiest form of cheating by
offering randomized variable in questions.
I would also add that online systems provide useful summary
statistics such as time spent on homework, identify problems
students struggle with, and generate reports. Perhaps the
greatest advantage for instructors is that these systems
eliminate grading giving time to improve other areas. Given all
the positives, I recommend using online homework systems.
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VII. About the Author
Mr. Scott Hunter is a Visiting Professor in the Department
of Systems Engineering at the United States Military Academy.
Mr. Hunter teaches Statistics for Engineers, Decision Analysis,
and mentors a Capstone Research Project team. Before
joining West Point, Mr. Hunter was Chief of the Test Design
and Analysis Branch at US Army Dugway Proving Ground,
Utah. He worked as a data manager and operations research
analyst for chemical and biological programs where he
provided experimental designs, statistical analysis, and test
reports.
VIII. REFERENCES
1.
Kohn, A. (2006). “Abusing research: The study of
homework and other examples,” Phi Delta Kappan, 8-22.
2. Trautwein, U., Koller, O. (2003). “The relationship
between homework and achievement—still much of a
mystery,” Educational Psychology Review, 15, 115-145.
3. Peters, M., Kethley, B. & Bullington, K. (2002). “The
relationship between homework and performance in an
introductory operations management course,” Journal of
Education for Business, 77(6), 340-344.
4. Lefcort, H., Eiger, S. M. (2003). Preparatory versus
practice homework,” Journal of College Science
Teaching, 33(1), 16-18
5. Bonham, S.W., Deardorff, D.L. & Beichner, R. J. (2001).
“Online Homework: Does it Make a Difference?” The
Physics Teacher, 39, 293-296.
6. Allain, R., Williams, T., (2006). “The Effectiveness of
Online Homework In an Introductory Science Class,”
Journal of College Science Teaching, 35(6), 28-30.
7. Peng, J. C. (2009). “Using an Online Homework System
to Submit Accounting Homework: Role of Cognitive Need,
Computer Efficacy, and Perception,” Journal of Education
for Business, 84(5), 263-268.
8. Cheng, K.K., Thacker, B.A., Cardenas, R.K., Crouch, C.,
(2004). “Using an online homework system enhances
students’ learning of physics concepts in an introductory
physics course,” American Journal of Physics, 72(11),
1447 - 1453
9. Smolira, J.C. (2008). “Student Perceptions of Online
Homework in Introductory Fincance Courses,” Journal of
Education for Business, 84(2), 90-95.
10. Center for Public Education. (2007, February 5). “Key
Lessons: what research says about the value of
homework,”
Retrieved
from
http://www.learndoearn.org/For-Educators/Key-Lessonson-Homework.pdf