Revising Online Assignments and the Impact on Student Performance at a Community College

Increasing Students' Growth Mindset and Learning Perception by Allowing Online Revision and Resubmission in a Community College

“…These findings are consistent with the prior study of Tila and Levy (2020) finding that 91 percent of students enrolled in Spring 2017 and 2018 reported in their perception questionnaires that they reviewed the material before resubmitting the assignment. In the prior study, however, the questionnaire only requested that students provide a yes/ no answer as to whether they reviewed their notes.…”

“…We considered the multiple submission of online assignments an interesting pedagogical tool because prior studies have shown that online quizzes are perceived as a valuable learning tool (Marden et al, 2013) and online homework improves study habits (Richard-Babbs, Curtis, & Penn, 2015). Much of the research indicates mixed findings because, while research indicates that such formative assessment opportunities can be significant in enhancing students' learning (Evans et al, 2014;Tila & Levy, 2020), the opportunity to resubmit them might not be beneficial since it might lead to guessing on initial attempts (Rhodes & Sarbaum, 2015;Orchard, 2016).…”

“…Orchard ( 2016) and Rhodes and Sarbaum (2015) analyzed the efficacy of multiple attempts on different students but did not collect any information about students' perception and opinions. In contrast, Tila and Levy (2020) ran a study with students at Kingsborough Community College during Fall 2017 and Spring 2018, allowing students to resubmit some of their online multiple-choice assignments. The findings indicated that the additional attempts yielded better results and that students' perception of multiple submission opportunities was extremely positive, while overall course performance remained the same.…”

Experiences from a Data-informed Approach to Configuring Online Assignments

“…They found that second attempts score higher than first attempts (for a given individual student), which I observed with my data as well and is not surprising (what I found that was surprising was that those that attempt twice do not achieve better results than those that attempt once). Recently, Tila and Levy (2019) reported a similar observation for their own course (“single submitted attempts were not worse off than multiple submitted attempts” [p. 1]), but they also investigated student perceptions related to the opportunity to submit multiple attempts, and they reported that their students were very satisfied, and the authors strongly encourage this practice. My assertion is not that multiple attempts do not have some benefit to some students in some applications, but rather, it is that certain test option settings may inadvertently (and without the awareness of the instructor) be encouraging the deliberate use of a first attempt that is intended only as a way to become familiar with the test content and gain clues for subsequent attempts and may not promote learning overall.…”

“…The bottom line of my own analysis of my own course is that for no group of students (where a group is based on final exam grade) did the average grade for the second of two attempts exceed with statistical significance that for single attempts. However, the advice of Tila and Levy (2019)—that allowing multiple attempts may “cultivate and nurture a growth mindset among community college students” (p. 11)—would suggest that there may be benefits to multiple-attempt availability that go beyond what LMS data analysis can show. My overall perception is thus that planning to use multiple attempts does not seem to be a good strategy for a student, but having multiple attempts as an option if needed may not be a bad thing (e.g., if one has a bad first attempt, or if one is just not good with these tests).…”