3 The Impact of Course Resource Utilization upon Student Performance

ABSTRACT: Today’s engineering students have many resources, like textbooks, study supplements, Internet websites, and CD-ROMs available to them. But, it is not clear if students use these resources, how they use them, and if their use improves student performance. This paper reports a study in which self-reported student activity logs were used to examine how students used a variety of supplementary study resources in the introductory thermodynamics course. Of the supplementary materials studied, students showed a preference for the textbook, interactive CD-ROM supplements, textbook homework problems, and on-line homework problems with instantaneous coaching feedback. Student use of these supplements was correlated with their performance on homework exercises, regularly scheduled examinations, and a final examination. These correlations indicate that students use the four aforementioned supplements in a mutually supportive manner and that they rely heavily upon homework exercises to understand the course material. The one supplement that correlated most strongly with student performance upon a comprehensive final examination was the online homework. This finding reaffirms that instantaneous, constructive performance feedback can and does improve student performance.