By David Swart, Miami University
Information
Many instructors assign homework for their classes through external publishers due to the convenience of having an online platform to deliver and grade assignments for hundreds of students. With advances in technology, however, learning management systems, such as Blackboard, Canvas, and Moodle can be used to build, assign, and grade homework almost as easily as those externally-created programs. Now online instructor-created homework assignments can compete with externally-created assignments in terms of convenience, but can they also compete in terms of quality and student learning outcomes? This study carried out in an introductory statistics class over two semesters at a Midwestern university will be analyzed to see whether instructor-created assignments could be superior to these externally created assignments in student learning and engagement.