2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Student Earnestness in Online Circuit Analysis Textbook When Answer Is Available

Presented at Online and Remote Teaching

Engineering courses increasingly use online learning materials, especially in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the growth in online classes. Online textbooks often have interactive components such as different types of quiz questions which may allow students to reveal the answer when stuck. These interactive components attempt to engage students in the reading material and course content.
But how do students actually engage when question answers are available with a click? Do students attempt to answer the question before revealing the answer? Or do students skip attempting the question and jump immediately to reveal the answer?
This paper aims to quantify the "earnestness" of student behavior in an online, interactive circuit analysis textbook over a period of one year. We measure student earnestness by looking at the percentage of students revealing answers prior to making a solution attempt. Thus, earnestness can indicate student engagement with the learning material.
We investigate how student earnestness correlates with length of time in the course (as defined by progression through chapters), length of time in a chapter (as defined by progression through the sections in a chapter), class size, question difficulty, number of questions in the exercise, and length of the textbook section or assignment.
The results show better student performance and/or more earnestness on questions with certain parameters. We compare the results to earlier investigations in similar interactive computer science books. Through this research, we aim to improve our understanding of how students engage with interactive learning materials, and what factors correlate with differing levels of student engagement, to inform more effective future development of interactive textbooks.

Authors

Mohsen Sarraf zyBooks, A Wiley Brand
Prof. Mark Atkins Ivy Tech Community College Indianapolis [biography]

Mark has been an associate professor of Electrical Engineering, Electrical Engineering Technology, and Computer Technology at Ivy Tech Community College, Indianapolis, Indiana since 2003. He has authored content for zyBooks, a division of Wiley, since 2017. He received BSEE and MSEE degrees from Purdue University. He worked 5 years as a design engineer for IBM and 13 years as an application engineer for Intel before switching to academia.
Ms. Jenny Welter zyBooks, a Wiley brand [biography]

Jennifer "Jenny" Welter has been a publishing professional for more than two decades, specifically focused on engineering publications and courseware during the majority of her tenure. She is passionate about supporting engineering education, specifically focused on content and assessment development for more effective student learning. She earned her BA in English from The University of Iowa.
Yasaman Adibi zyBooks, a Wiley Brand [biography]

Yasaman Adibi is an Engineering Content Author at zyBooks. She earned her PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Minnesota in 2015, where her research focused on medical imaging using ultrasound. She also did two years of postdoctoral resear
Dr. Nikitha Sambamurthy zyBooks, a Wiley Brand [biography]

Nikitha Sambamurthy is the Editorial Director at zyBooks, at Wiley Brand. She completed her Ph.D. in engineering education at Purdue University, and has since been dedicated to bridging engineering education research and engineering education industry.
Ms. Lauren Fogg zyBooks, a Wiley Brand [biography]

Lauren Fogg obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2021 and her Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2022 from Louisiana Tech University. She is currently working on her Ph.D. in Engineering with a concentration in Engineering Education from Louisiana Tech University. She is currently an Associate Engineering Content Developer with zyBooks, a Wiley Brand. Her research interests are diversity, gender equity, retention, project-based learning, cognitive models of problem-solving, and making engineering textbooks more accessible and innovative for students.

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