Presented by
Ogbonnaya “John” Nwoha, Rosemary Mokia, & Bilal Dia
ERCBEC Conference
Myrtle Beach, SC, Oct. 22 - 24, 2009
Presentation Outline
 Introduction
 Review of Literature
 Study Design
 Data
 Methodology
 Results
 Conclusion
Introduction
 The purpose of the study is to ascertain if the use of
Aplia makes any difference in the test score of
students.
 It is hypothesized that students who use Aplia in a
Business Statistics course should score higher on
course tests than students who did not use the
technology.
Introduction Contd’
 The study is necessary to justify the money and time
spent by students and faculty adopting the Aplia
technology.
 The study provides an independent assessment of the
technology’s claim.
 The study contributes to the literature on Computer
Assisted Instruction (CAI) n general and Aplia in
particular.
Literature Reviewed
 CAI as a supplement to classroom instruction (Burke
Marilyn & Others, 1992)
 CAI against paper based assessments (Clariana Roy &
Wallace Patricia, 2002)
 Differences in exam scores by:
 gender, ethnicity, GPA, ACT, SAT, and citizenship (Guili
Zhang at all, 2008)
 employment (Swanson Vivien et al, 2006)
Literature Reviewed Contd’
 Differences in exam scores by:
 age, educational level, learning style, self efficacy task
value and motivation (Yukselkurt, et al, 2007)
 class attendance (Tiruneh, gizachew, 2007)
 nationality, race and ethnic background (Viadero Debra,
2003)
Study Design
 Two sections of Business Statistics
 Taught by same instructor
 Offered same days of the week
 Administered same tests
 Identical course syllabi
 Graded components included Aplia assignments for
one section only
The Grading Scales
Table 1: Grading Scales
Grading Scale for the AM Class (Aplia)
Students will be evaluated in the following manner:
1. Three exams (worth 20 percent each)
60%
2. Nine quizzes (worth 1 percent each)
9%
3. Assignments and Home work
6%
4. Aplia Assignments
25%
A
B
C
D
F
Grading will be on a scale as follows:
90 – 100 percent
80 – 89 percent
70 – 79 percent
60 – 69 percent
Less than 60
Grading Scale for the PM Class (No Aplia)
Students will be evaluated in the following manner:
1.Three exams (worth 100 points each)
300
2. Nine quizzes (worth 10 points each)
90
3. Assignments and Home work
60
Grading will be on a scale as follows:
A
405 – 450
B
360 – 404
C
315 – 359
D
270 – 314
F
Less than 270
Data
 Test scores for three exams were recorded
 Aplia scores for Aplia users was obtained
 A questionnaire was administered to obtain additional
information on demographics, study style,
employment, preferred class time, level of computer
use and many other variables
 Open ended questions asked for pros and cons of the
Aplia technology
Methodology
 Descriptive statistics was used to summarize data on
exam scores and Aplia scores.
 A test of the difference between two population means
is used to make inferences in this study.
 Microsoft Excel Analysis Tool Pak was used to
implement the analysis.
Results
Table 2: Mean Test Scores
AM Class
(Aplia)
PM Class
(No Aplia)
Difference
P-Value
(two-tail)
EXAM1
66.30
55.24
11.06
0.0164
EXAM2
54.35
38.61
15.74
0.0024
EXAM3
73.37
50.57
22.80
0.0002
EXAMTOTAL
194.02
144.42
49.60
0.0001
Sample Size
54
42
Results Contd’
Table 2 indicates that:
 The mean score for the AM class (Aplia users) was
higher than the PM class in all three exams
 The differences were :
 11 percent for the first exam
 16 percent for the second exam
 23 percent for the third exam
 The differences are statistically significant at the 2%
level
Results Contd’
 Interestingly, the difference in mean score between the
two classes increased with each exam
 possible explanation :
 the students became increasing familiar with Aplia as
the semester progressed
 the students increased their use of Aplia as the
instructor began every class section with a discussion of
Aplia assignments
Results Contd’
The frequency distribution for the sum of the three exams (EXAMTOTAL).
Scores
AM Class
(Aplia)
PM Class (No
Aplia)
0 - 180
23 (43%)
31 (74%)
181 - 210
9 (17%)
5 (12%)
211 - 240
7 (13%)
2 (5%)
241 - 270
9 (17%)
2 (5%)
271 -300
6 (11%)
2 (5%)
Sample Size
54
42
Grade
Equivalent
F
D
C
B
A
***The percent distribution for each class is in brackets.***
Results Contd’
Table 3 reveals that:
 74 percent of the students who did not use Aplia would
have failed the course if exam scores were the only
considerations in assigning final grades. This
compares to 43 percent of “F” grades for those that
used Aplia.
 28 percent of those who used Aplia would have made
either an “A” or a “B” compared to only 10 percent for
those who did not use Aplia.
Results Contd’
 On the open ended questions, most of the students
stated that Aplia helped them understand the
material.
 On the con side, students stated that Aplia was
expensive and time consuming.
Conclusions
 Students who used Aplia scored higher in business
statistics exams than those who did not use the
technology.
 Aplia users scored 16.5 percentage points higher on
the average than non-users.
 Students identified cost and time as the disadvantages
of using Aplia. However, the students who used Aplia
admitted that it was useful in furthering their
understanding of business statistics.
Conclusions Contd’
 One implication of the findings of this study is that
CAIs including Aplia should be part of an instructor’s
tool kit.
 These CAIs fit the way most of our students work.
They spend a lot of time on computers and they enjoy
all kinds of computer games.
 They might as well be meaningfully engaged on the
computer.
Future Studies
 Willingness to Pay
 Multinomial Vs. Simple Regression
 Concentrating on Intervening Variables
 ANOVA Report on other variables collected