Developing web-based homework system to evaluate students' homework performance and physics achievement

Abstract

Web-based homework and assessment have been becoming widespread practice in physics courses. Although some disagreement whether this is an encouraging or uncertain growth for student learning, there is inadequate research assessing the pedagogical effect of changing the medium from on paper, hand-graded homework and assessment to web-based and computer-evaluated one. In this study, web-based homework system is developed to assess students' homework performance and physics achievement in introductory physics course. One of two identical sections of introductory physics course students received paper-based, hand graded grouped homework while the other received the individual web-based homework. Then it is compared the two groups on conceptual performance measures by using Force Concept (FCI) test. No significant differences were found in students' FCI test scores; while, average homework performance scores were found significance that could be attributed to the homework method used in favor of paper-based homework group.