Analyzing How Business Students Engage in Learning in an Introductory Data Analysis Course
By Robert Pavur & Alan Kvanli, ITDS Department, UNT College of Business
University Forum on Teaching & Learning (UFTL) 2013
Contribution to Total Grade
25% Final
45% In-Class Exams
10% Online Modules
10% Online Chapter Post-test
5% Excel Experiential Group Projects
5% Clicker Discussion
Correlations with
Total Grade
Final Exam .83
Comprehensive Multiple
Choice Final exam has highest
correlation with total score
despite having only a 25%
weight in the course. Final
exam correlation with total
score is .83
Online Post tests .79
OnIine Post tests and Online
Modules had practically the
same correlations. The post
tests were built into Blackboard
and students could take these at
any time before a certain date.
Interestingly, these Online Post
tests only represented 10% of
the student’s total grade. Online
Post tests correlated to the total
score with a value of .79.
In Fall of 2012, approximately 200 students were able to score
points on each of the following activities:
Group projects, Clicker Questions, Online Learning Modules,
Online Post Chapter quizzes, in class exams, and extra credit
questions.
These activities are recorded in Blackboard. An analysis is
performed to determine how these student activities are
related to the student’s overall grade.
Online Modules .79
Online modules were
designed to provide students
with repetitive exercises to
learn fundamental concepts.
Students could retake
modules as many times as
necessary to get a passing
score on these modules.
These modules are part of
the Hawkes Learning System.
Online Module correlation
with total score is .79.
In-Class tests .66
In-Class tests had a weight of 45%,
which is the highest weight of any
category. Three in-class tests were
administered and one test was
dropped. Many of the topics from
the Post tests and Online modules
were included on these tests along
with lecture material. In-class test
correlation with total score is .66.
Excel Experiential & Group
Projects .49
Excel Experiential & Group
Projects were an important
component to the course and
confirmed that students do
learn from each other.
Despite a low weight of 5%,
the
correlation
was
a
respectable .49.
Clicker Discussion Activity .36
Clicker discussion activities
kept the students engaged.
The contribution was only 5%
but still had a moderate
correlation level of .36.
Blackboard Activity
and Correlation with
Total Grade.
Total Time Spent on Blackboard .41
The total time that a student spent on
Blackboard was recorded for the
entire Fall semester of DSCI 2710.
Despite no grade contribution directly
from
using
Blackboard,
the
correlation between time spent on BB
and a student’s total score was .41, a
moderate correlation level.
Total Time Spent Viewing Content
Pages on Blackboard .31
Class
content
posted
on
Blackboard is instrumental in
having a positive effect on a
student’s overall grade. The
correlation of .31 illustrates
significance with a student’s
overall score in the class.
Time Spent Retrieving Old Exams on
Blackboard .18
Students may believe that viewing old exams is
the best way to study. However, the
correlation of time spent on BB viewing these
exams is low at .18.