Title: Measuring and motivating student effort in an online version of the core class in operations management

Authors: Robert L. Bregman

Addresses: Department of Decision and Information Sciences, C.T. Bauer College of Business, University of Houston, 334 Melcher Hall, 77204-6021, Houston, TX, USA

Abstract: Observations of students taking a graduate online core class showed significant variability in their use of the online courseware, rudimentally measured as courseware access days and number of tutorials viewed, and lower than expected grades. It was theorised that usage of the online courseware was a measure of individual student effort and a cause of the lower grades. This research attempted to motivate better student effort by capturing multi-dimensional measures of courseware usage and providing real-time effort-related feedback. Experiments conducted over two semesters showed significant improvements in the usage of online courseware components, course evaluation scores, and student grade averages.

Keywords: online teaching; student motivation; e-learning; electronic learning; online learning; internet; world wide web; student effort; effort measurement; core classes; operations management; student observation; graduate students; significant variability; online courseware; access days; tutorials; multi-dimensional measures; courseware usage; real-time feedback; effort-related feedback; courseware components; course evaluation scores; student grades; grade averages; MBA programmes; master's degrees; business administration; higher education; universities; Texas; Houston; United States; USA; innovation; learning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIL.2012.047138

International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 2012 Vol.11 No.4, pp.369 - 385

Published online: 28 Aug 2014 *

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