Self-paced asynchronous online courses offer students significant flexibility in when and where learning occurs. Recent research by the Michigan Virtual Research Institute examined how student pacing, particularly the order in which they submit assignments, is related to online STEM and World Language course performance. Understanding students’ pacing behavior and its relationship to course performance can help inform the strategies educators and mentors use when working with students in self-paced online courses.
In the following interview from our “Interview with a Researcher” blog series, the lead researchers behind Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute’s (MVLRI) STEM and World Languages reports synthesize some take-home messages about students’ assignment submission patterns.
Why is it important to consider online learners’ assignment submission patterns?
Assignment submission patterns are a part of a set of student behaviors called pacing—how students progress through a course. Pacing has traditionally been thought of as the timing of students’ assignment submissions. When conceptualizing pacing in this way, we often ask questions like, Are students waiting until the last minute to submit assignments? Are they submitting assignments early or late? Are they submitting a lot of assignments close together? It’s well-established that the timing of student assignment submissions is related to course outcomes. However, our team wanted to know more about the possible impact of out-of-order assignment submissions because, anecdotally, this was a pattern Michigan Virtual (MV) instructors were noticing within these asynchronous courses. Assignment sequencing is the term we gave to describe the order in which students submit their assignments. When we looked at this behavior across two domains (STEM and World Languages), we found evidence that it is related to course outcomes. Specifically, as students submit more assignments out of their intended course order, final course scores tend to decline.
Why did you feel like it was important to look at assignment sequencing in World Language courses?
Great question! The original hypothesis that prompted this research was that submitting assignments out of their intended order would be detrimental to student performance because it would undermine the scaffolding built into the courses. So, based on this hypothesis, our first study on assignment sequencing used a sample of students enrolled in Michigan Virtual STEM courses since they are highly scaffolded. Of course, scaffolding is likely to vary by subject area and course, so we felt it was important to expand our research. After preliminary analyses of assignment sequencing in several other subject areas, World Language had a high percentage of students who moved out of alignment with course pacing guides and is a distinct subject area from STEM, making it an ideal choice for expanding our previous research. Looking across these two subject areas also allows us to understand the generalizability of our findings, compare and contrast key differences, and provide data-backed recommendations to instructors and mentors of students in these subject areas.
What did students’ assignment submission patterns look like in World Language courses? Could you explain the relationship between students’ assignment sequencing and their final course scores?
We found that it was really common for students to deviate from course pacing guides! 97% of students submitted at least one assignment out of alignment with their course pacing guide. Among these students, approximately 45% of completed course assignments were submitted out of order. While the volume of assignments submitted out of order was fairly high, students were about three assignments “off” from the intended pacing guide order.
Looking across the spectrum of student performance, we observed that students’ final course scores steadily declined as their assignment submissions became increasingly out of order, both in terms of the number of assignments submitted out of order and how far “off” students were from the pacing guide expectation. To put this in perspective, students who submitted the fewest assignments out of order had average final course scores as much as a full letter grade higher than students who had the greatest number of assignments submitted out of order.
You mentioned that the first study in this series looked at assignment sequencing in online STEM courses. Were there any notable differences between that study and this one? Did you see any patterns across these two studies?
The general pattern of results was similar across the two studies in that students’ assignment submission patterns had a relationship with final course scores. The biggest difference, however, was in the percentage of students who went out of order in each subject area. While both studies showed high rates of out-of-sequence behavior, 93% of students went out of order in the STEM study compared to 97% in World Languages. Across both studies, course scores steadily declined as students submitted a greater percentage of assignments out of order and strayed further from the intended assignment sequence. In STEM courses, there was a 9.5 point difference in average final course scores between students with the fewest and greatest number of assignments submitted out of order, whereas in World Language courses, there was a 9.6 point difference. The relationship between assignment sequencing and final course scores was really similar across the two studies, which suggests that monitoring and encouraging proper pacing is important for student performance in both subject areas.
Based on your findings across these two studies, what recommendations do you have for online instructors and mentors?
Our findings indicate that it is common for students to deviate from course pacing guides at least once during their time enrolled in MV online asynchronous courses. Some deviation is to be expected and is unlikely to negatively impact student performance, especially if that deviation is infrequent or small (e.g., within a unit). However, if students are consistently moving between units or submitting a high volume (more than 25%) of their assignments out of order, online instructors may want to flag these behaviors (and students) and monitor for performance declines.
In general, adhering to best practices for online teaching and mentoring is recommended to help online learners be as successful as possible. Communicating course expectations early on (informing students of the structure, workload, pacing, and demands of self-paced online learning) may help students adjust their expectations and approach to their course(s). Regularly checking the gradebook and benchmarking student progress against course pacing guides can help teachers and mentors identify students who may be struggling with course pacing. Mentors and instructors should also communicate regularly about students’ progress and work collaboratively to address pacing issues.
It is also possible that submitting assignments out of order may have a greater impact on some students’ performance than others. For example, students with less content knowledge may miss key benefits of built-in scaffolding when submitting assignments out of order, which may negatively impact course performance. Further, because the design of these studies limits our ability to make cause-and-effect statements, it is likely that other factors interact with pacing to affect student performance. In particular, encouraging the development of metacognitive, time management, and self-regulated learning skills may help students reflect and make adjustments to their own learning behaviors. In this regard, providing students with personalized feedback may be useful.
Final Thoughts
Across two reports, the relationship between pacing and final course scores has consistently shown that final course scores decline as students become increasingly out of alignment with their course pacing guides. Instructors and mentors can help students succeed by paying particular attention to students’ pacing within their online courses.
You can check out the full reports below:
Out of Order, Out of Reach: Navigating Assignment Sequences for STEM Success
In addition, this blog is part of a blog series exploring the impact of student assignment submission patterns.
