Action Research Report Mosteller

Online Submissions in a Math class
Action Research Report

Robin Mosteller
Spring 2014
INTE 6720

Action Research Report Mosteller

2
Introduction and Problem Statement
I currently serve as a Middle School Math teacher in an 8
th
grade classroom. The
school is located in Northern Colorado and serves a population that is about 40%
free and reduced lunch. As a middle school, we use a standards-based grading
system that allows students to retake and turn in late work without penalty. The
high school, that the majority of our students will attend, often comments that 9
th

graders have a hard time adjusting to deadlines imposed by teachers and turning in
work on time.
The 8
th
grade team often brainstorms ways to help students make this adjustment. I
am interested to see if it is beneficial to have students enter assignments into
Blackboard in order to help students adjust to math online and also to hold students
accountable for turning in work on time.
Purpose and Intended Audience
The purpose of this concurrent Action research study will be to measure the extent
turning in homework online will affect turn-in rates. In the action research study,
quantitative comparisons of student turn-in rates before and after implementation
of an online submission will be analyzed. At the same time student impressions of
the online submission requirement will be explored using student surveys of all
participants. The research will not look at accuracy of students math answers but
will concentrate on completion rates of assignments regardless of correct or
incorrect answers.

The intended audiences of this Action research study are the 8
th
grade teachers and
math teachers at my current school. The research will also be shared with fellow
students and instructors in the Information and Learning Technology program at
the University of Colorado.
Research Questions
This research will focus on 3 questions in order to look at helping students turn-in
assignments on time and receive feedback on the assignments.
1. To what extent does turning in assignments using an online submission tool
in a math class affect turn-in rates?
2. What are the student's perspectives on electronic feedback?
3. How does the time spent entering assignments compare with the time
previously spent grading and correcting assignments?
The goal of the three questions is to see if there is or is not a benefit for the student
and teacher in having assignments turned in online.


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Context of Study
Colorado is making the transition form a state created assessment to the PARCC
assessment that will be given across the United States. As a result of this transition,
my school has been looking at ways we can help build student technology skills in
content classrooms. The district is in its third year of a 1:1 initiative, which means
all core classes have a set of netbooks at all times.

Since the school uses standards-based grading and allows late work without penalty
the completion rate for on time homework is not great. Particularly in my math
classes students get homework about 4 nights a week. Often I notice that I have less
then 50% of students turning in homework on time. Since not all students complete
the homework, class time used reviewing and grading homework is not as effective
as it could be. Another consequence of the grading system is that homework is only
10% of the overall class grade. As a result, students often do not look at or receive
much feedback on assignments. By introducing the feedback to be immediately
through the computer I foresee students making more connections between their
homework and eventual assessment grades.

My school has about 40% of students on free and reduced lunch. As a result of socio-
economic status, several of my students do not have consistent or any access to
Internet at home. Therefore, accommodations would need to be made to allow
those students to enter assignments during the school day. Instead, the research will
allow all students to enter assignments online during the beginning of the class
period using the classroom netbooks and Blackboard. Students are already familiar
with Blackboard due to using it to take test and quizzes in many science classes.
Students who have not completed any homework may use this time to complete the
original assignment. To prevent students from randomly guessing or copying their
neighbor students will still be required to turn in their original homework (paper
version).
Literature Review
According to Thomas (2009) the aim of a literature review is to examine the
literature for material that is relevant to your research topic. With this in mind I
conducted a literature review to look for similar content in regards to submitting
homework online in a traditional middle school math classroom. I realized that this
was too narrow of a scope and ended up researching literature surrounding 1:1
initiative, computer aided instruction, homework, and middle school math. The
review of the literature helped to check the validity of statements often presented
as facts (Stringer, 2014, p. 120).
Literature Review Questions
When starting the literature review I broadened my research questions. To show
the correlation between questions I have included the table below.


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Research Question Literature review Question Search words
1. To what extent does
turning in
assignments using an
online submission tool
in a math class affect
turn-in rates?

1. How can using computers
in a traditional class affect
student engagement?
Student engagement
Computer-assisted
instruction
mathematics
Secondary schools
2. What are the student's
perspectives on
electronic feedback?

2. What types of feedback
are effective when grading
homework assignments in a
standards-based grading
system?
Homework
Standards-based
grading
Immediate feedback
Automated grading

3. How does the time
spent entering
assignments compare
with the time
previously spent
grading and correcting
assignments?
3. What have the success
and downfalls of 1:1
initiatives been from a
teachers perspective?
1:1 initiaves
Secondary schools
Middle School
Math

The first question was developed to see what research existed for using any
computer program in a math classroom and not to limit the search to simply online
submissions of homework. The second question focused on what type of feedback is
useful to students when receiving feedback. I hoped to see if I needed to include
more detailed feedback in my assignments vs. just correct and incorrect answers.
The third question looked at 1:1 initiatives since this is how I am able to have
netbooks in my class at all time.
Literature search procedures
When starting my literature review I used the Auraria Librarys online database
search. I started by using Education Full Text, Academic Search Premier and JSTOR
databases. Initially I tried searching the key words of math and automated
feedback. This result led me to many technical science papers that did not directly
relate to my topic. I went back to my literature review questions and used broader
terms. The terms used are contained in the table above. After narrowing down my
search by reading the abstracts I found about 25 articles that partially related to my
research topic. After reading the full articles I found about 10 articles that related to
my research more directly then the other articles. I recorded these articles, the type
of research, and direct quotations into a table. The table can be found in Apendix A.
Overall I was frustrated by the lack of research specifically regarding to Middle
School Math but found information about post-secondary mathematics which could
be extrapolated to secondary setting.

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Literature Review Findings
When looking at the literature I found that I had 3 main themes that were directly
related to my literature review questions: Computer assisted instruction, feedback,
and 1:1 initiative implementation.
Computer assisted instruction (CAI)
When looking at the original search results for my queries I noticed that computer-
assisted instruction was covered in more depth then online submission of work.
The search of articles also showed that a similar keyword to CAI was Information
and Communication Technology or ICT. One of the possible reasons for the recent
rise in the research is that many districts are transitioning to computer assessments.
For PARCC test students will take the summative assessments on computers
(Doorey, 2012, p.28).

The literature suggests mixed results for CAI implementation. Tienken (2008),
found that the CAI drill and practice program was not an effective intervention for
8
th
grade math students in the study (p.6). This research confirms the work of Cates
(2005) which showed that peer versus computer assisted drill and practice had
mixed results depending upon the students (p. 637). Although the study only looked
at two pairings of students one conclusion was that merely applying a single
educational technology to all students may not always benefit all students (Cates,
2005, p. 638). This research is at odds with the work of Mendicino , Razzaq, and
Heffernan published in 2009. The more recent study shows that students who
completed homework with CAI technology that interacted with student answers,
particularly the program ASSISTment system, had a statistically reliable difference
in favor of the web-based homework condition (Medicino, Razzaq, & Heffernan,
2009, p. 342) Although neither study uses the same program I will be using they do
show that the type of technology used does make a difference when looking at
student achievement.

Perhaps the most concise review of CAI was by Pierce and Stacey (2008) who
looked at implementation of CAS, which is Computer Algebra system, or type of CAI.
Their study found that CAS was used differently by different teachers even when
teaching the same course (Pierce & Stacey, 2008, p.8). Since my school has
implemented a 1:1 initiative the use of technology has been dependent on the
individual teachers. There has not been a provided structure or restructuring of
content due to the implantation. When reading the studies the main difference
between the application of CAI is the feedback that students receive from the
program. This leads to the second theme.
Feedback
In the ASSISTment study, students benefited from the immediate correction of
answers with specifics details(Medicino, Razzaq, & Heffernan, 2009, p.333). For
example students could find the mistake in their work instead of knowing that the
final answer was wrong. This idea led to looking at what type of feedback is the
most meaningful. The literature review showed that the type of feedback for CAI

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made a difference. In a study conducted on open-learning math classes, researchers
found that drop-out rates decreased and academic results improved when students
were provided frequent formative assessment feedback (Sancho-Vinuesa, Escudero-
Viladoms, & Masia, 2013, p.59). This study focused on using automatically graded
weekly assessments before a summative test. In many ways this is how homework
in a standards-based grading system is perceived. Students must complete
homework as a way to practice the material but the homework is a small percentage
of the grade. Although my research will focus mainly on middle school students, and
this research was for post-secondary students, the incentive or lack of incentive of
increasing grades with submitting the practice work is the same. While this study
focused on immediate feedback of score along with comments the type of
comments was not discussed. To fill in this gap I turned to Rakoczy, Harks, Klieme,
Blum, & Hochweber and their study of students perception of feedback. The study
looked at social-comparative feedback and process-oriented feedback (Rakoczy,
Harks, Klieme, Blum, & Hochweber, 2013, p. 63). Social comparative feedback was
mainly viewed as a grade and process-oriented feedback was about helping
students understand the discrepancy between current knowledge and the
performance goal. One of the reasons Rakoczy et al suggests that process oriented
feedback is not given often is because of the time consuming nature of providing the
feedback(p.64).

In addition to the two studies already mentioned in this section, another study
focused on using test-enhanced learning in a biomedical class setting. This study
conducted by Wojcikowski and Kirk (2013) was focused on implementing test-
enhanced learning in a post-secondary setting. Since I envision the online submittal
of homework to be a form of formative assessment I thought this research could be
useful. Mainly the fact that students need immediate feedback to multiple choice
questions in order to remove misconceptions or false information confirms what
Rakoczy suggests with social-comparative feedback (Wojcikowski &Kirk, 2013,p.
916).

When developing the feedback provided to students in my research study it is clear
that I cannot just look at student perception of feedback. I realize now that I should
adapt my third research question to also include the time it takes to generate the
feedback given to each student. Since the computer program I am using allows for
both score and feedback based on each questions response I can enter more details
about what might have contributed to a wrong answer. As suggested by
Wojcikowski and Kirk(2013) I will limit detailed feedback to about 100 words to
avoid an overload of information (p.916). Initially, to save time, I thought I could
just give students a grade and have students retake the assignment because they
wanted a better score.
1:1 initiatives
Since the technology I have available is due to a 1:1 initiative I thought researching
the literature around implementation of 1:1 initiatives in the United States would be
useful. I have noticed in my own building that some teachers use the provided

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technology in more meaningful ways and some teachers dont use the technology at
all. Looking through the literature it is clear that the type of use with technology
matters when implementing a 1:1 initiative.

Based on a literature review by Holcomb (2009), it is clear that mathematics is
the content area in which laptops were used the least frequently (p.51). This lack of
emphasis in the use of laptops in mathematics showed while conducting my
literature review. Analyzing the study conducted by Manniger and Holden (2009) I
was able to identify many benefits of a 1:1 initiative. Mainly the mention of
providing immediate feedback to students was on par with the findings in the
previous section (Manniger & Holden, 2009, p.244). Overall Holcomb found that
the most effective model for a 1:1 initiative is the concentrated model, in which all
students in a classroom have their own laptops that they are able to take
home(2009, p. 53). Since this is not the type of initiative implemented in my district
I continued to look for the advantages and disadvantages of a 1:1 initiative.

To help better understand the challenges in implantation of a 1:1 initiative I looked
at the research by Topper and Lancaster (2013). Topper and Lancasters research
showed that technology has challenges that could hinder or restrict potential
benefits (p.347). Since my district has made the commitment already, I tried to
focus on application of technology in districts and not on the financial side. Topper
and Lancaster found that successful implementation often had a strong
commitment to the integration of technology that is communicated, understood, and
promoted at all levels (Topper & Lancaster, 2013, p.352). Using this idea in my
action research I will make sure that parents and students understand why we are
transitioning to online submission of homework.
Quality of Literature
When using the Auraria Library I was very aware of looking for only peer-reviewed
articles. The articles I used were a mix of primary and secondary sources. Overall
the literature was recent and mostly comprehensive. Within the 9 primary sources
the methodology was clearly explained in the articles and overall the 9 articles
included several different methods. The one negative item I noticed when reviewing
the Literature is that several studies were conducted outside of the United States
and therefore introduced variables such as different curriculum or grade level
classifications. Despite these differences it was easy to understand how grade levels
or types of schools compared to American schools.
Gap in Literature
There is clearly a gap in literature relating to computers in middle school math
settings. The few articles that contained middle school math and computers stated
that instruction in mathematics generally does not contain the computer use that
other courses include. Specifically, I noticed a lack of studies about how students in
a 1:1 initiative who cannot take their computer or netbook home use the resources
in classes effectively. Generally the research has focused on increased use of
technology at home in a 1:1 initiative. The literature surrounding homework

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focused either on tradition paper-and-pencil homework or homework using other
tutoring software online. I could not find any literature regarding submitting
homework answers online when the homework is completed in a traditional
manner.

Overall, I see a large gap in the literature related to Middle School Mathematics,
homework and 1:1 initiative. My study will help directly link homework in a middle
school math class to a 1:1 initiative where students may not take their netbooks
home. As more districts are reducing the scope of implementation for 1:1 initiatives
I feel that more research on how 1:1 technology with out the ability to take the
technology home will be developed.
Methods
This will be an action research study using mixed methods to analyze results. The
study will use quantitative measures to analyze results for two of the research
questions and qualitative measures to analyze results for the third research
question. By using mixed methods the study will look at a wider picture then a
narrow view of just the quantitative measures that dont take into account
participant feedback and feelings.
Research questions
This research focused on 3 questions in order to look at how to help students turn-
in assignments on time and receive feedback on the assignments in a timely manner.
While conducting the literature review and research is was clear that students
perspective on the process of electronic feedback was as important as their opinions
regarding the act of submitting assignments. Therefore the second research
question was modified from the research proposal.
2. What are the student's perspectives on electronic feedback and submission?

The goal of the three questions is to see if there is or is not a benefit for the student
and teacher in having assignments turned in online.
Site selection and sampling
I conducted the research at my current work site with students who are currently
enrolled in two my math classes. Out of the 50 students I teach daily in the classes
that participated, 42 students participated in the complete study. The research
included students in both Algebra and Connected 3 Math. All students were
expected to submit online assignments during the course of the research. As I
anticipated all of the algebra students chose to complete pre-implementation and
post-implementation survey while less then 5 Connected 3 students chose to opt-

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out of the post-implementation survey. Observations of classroom time were
recorded in all classes when assignments are being submitted online. Since this
study is limited to a typical activity in my classroom I gather any additional
permission from parents, however an email to all the parents was sent explain why
students are submitting assignments online.

Due to using my own classroom, which is consistently participating an inquiry
regarding management and procedural expectations, I did not think there was a
need for formal consent. Students were not expected to complete any additional
work outside of the classroom or school hours then already expected. An email was
sent to parents letting them know why we are working on submitting assignments
online and to clarify that this does not require Internet access at home. Students had
the ability to opt-out of the study by not completing the student survey portion of
the study. Student privacy was protected by using class and assignment turn-in
averages instead of averages for individuals. Student survey responses were
anonymous which insured there was no effect on students overall grade in the
course. Since we are used Google Forms for the survey students were able to retain
a copy of their survey responses. Classes were also given access to the raw data of
assignments turned in on time through out the course of the study.

Data collection methods
To answer the primary question of the action research I used three data collection
methods. The first method was to analyze gradebook records. I used gradebook
records from the two classes that participated in the study. In order to get data for
the pre-implementation turn-in rate I pulled records for assignments in the first two
weeks of third quarter that were comparable to the assignments submitted online. I
pulled assignments from the beginning of 3
rd
quarter due to the fact that the
assignments turned in online were at the beginning of 4
th
quarter. Often assignment
turn-in rates for these two classes are higher at the beginning of a quarter then at
the end of the quarter so I wanted to make sure I had comparable data. For
assignments sumitted online during the course of the research I pulled record of the
4
th
quarter gradebook up until the research ended. I looked at missing or
assignments turned in late compared to assignments turned in on time. Stringer
(2014) stated that initial phases of exploration are used to reveal the reality that
makes up peoples day-to-day experience (p. 102). A base line level pre-
1. To what extent does turning in assignments electronically in
a math class affect turn-in rates?
Gradebook records
2. What are the students perspectives on electronic feedback
and submission?
Student surveys,
before and after
3. How does the time spent entering assignments compare with
the time previously spent grading and correcting assignments?
Observation records
kept in field diary

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implementation was found for each of the two sections that participated. The
baseline level was the arithmetic mean of turn in rates for homework assignments.
Distributions of the turn in rates of homework during the research were used to see
if turns in rates are clustered at a higher level than the baseline level found before
implementation.

The second method of data collection included student surveys given through
Google Forms. Students were already familiar with this survey platform and it
allowed for multiple choice, scaled rankings, and text answers. The survey was
created using the outline provided by Stringer (2014) on pages 118-119. First the
purpose and focus of the survey were defined as how students view submitting
assignments in Blackboard. When administering the survey I read a paragraph of
introductory information regarding the study. Reading the information aloud
encouraged more students to listen to the material instead of simply skimming past
a paragraph at the top of the survey. The survey was shown to classmates in my
Graduate Course in order to find any problematic questions. Some clarification
regarding the questions related to Blackboard was needed before the survey was
given to students.

After the students submitted several assignments online I asked students who were
still willing to participate to take a post implementation survey. This survey was
also created in Google Forms and administered to students after having the TA read
over the questions. Students were once again given the option to not participate in
the survey. The survey used multiple choice, scaled rankings and also text entry.
Also included in the student survey were questions regarding issues students might
have had when submitting assignments online in order to provide greater insight as
to how the process could be changed in the future.

The third type of data was a field diary that included observation records. As Koshy
(2010) states field diaries can keep a record of what happens, of why and where
your ideas evolved and of the research process itself (p. 90). The observations
focused on the time it takes to grade assignments and correct assignments in class
before implementation and after implementation. The field diary will consist of two
columns. The first column will record the assignment and the second column will
record the time it takes to enter the assignment online or correct the assignment in
class.
Data analysis methods
Quantitative methods were used to analyze the pre-implementation gradebook
records. An average turn-in rate for each class was used to get a baseline before
implementation of the online submission. After implementation quantitative
analysis was again used to get an average turn in rate per class. The average was
found for each class by finding the total number of turned-in assignments and
comparing it to the total number of assignments that should have been turned in.
Analyzing just an overall average helped to eliminate any assignments that were
outliers.

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The student survey given before implementation involved several open-ended
questions. The open response questions were categorized and coded. Each question
was coded based upon trends in student answers. Student answers were labeled
according to the core idea of the student response. After analyzing the core ideas the
responses were labeled into 10 main ideas. These ideas included computer issues,
formatting of answers, transferring answers from paper to computer and time
taken. Formatting and transferring were the two categories that were the hardest to
differentiate. The formatting category involved a student response that indicated
knowing what type of answer to type or how to show certain symbols. The
transferring category included student answers about keeping track of what
problem number they were on, knowing the parts of the question included, or the
act of rewriting answers. The initial survey provided indications for the post-
implementation survey questions including the addition of what type of questions
students found easiest. The survey also had some ranking components that can be
analyzed quantitatively.

The observation records will also be analyzed quantitatively. An average of class
time used to enter online submissions will be compared to an average class time
used to review answers traditionally. A comparison with the averages of during
implementation and before implementation will help determine if online
submissions are worth the time it takes in class.

Schedule
The table below represents the projected time frame from the proposal to the actual
time frame carried out in the research. For the most part milestones were
completed early to allow plenty of time for collection of the main data.

Milestone Projected Time
Frame
Actual Time Frame
Build Student before survey 2/25-2/27 2/25
Send Parent email 2/28 2/28
Collect Gradebook record 3/3 3/2
Analyze before implementation
Gradebook record
3/4-3/7 3/3-3/7
Literature review 3/5-3/10 3/5-3/10
Distribute before student survey 3/10 3/12
Record times for in class submissions 3/24 -4/4 3/24-4/4
Build student after-implementation
survey
4/3 4/1
Distribute after implementation
survey
4/4 4/2-4/3
Analyze data from after
implementation survey
4/10-4/15 4/5-4/10
Analyze data from field diary 4/5-4/10 4/10
Analyze data from gradebook 4/5-4/10 4/10

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Write data analysis 4/16-4/25 4/16-4/25
Write action research report 4/29 4/29

Checks for Rigor
Credibility of the study was kept by recording all observations and keeping records
of all data collection protocols and responses after the study was completed. Since
consciously taking note of events places a premium on noting what is actually
happening, rather than describing it from memory a copy of the field diary is
available (Stringer, 2014, p.93). Students participating in the study will also have the
opportunity to discuss raw data in order to see if they notice anything different or
can attribute different meanings.
As for transferability, I chose to conduct this research in my 8
th
grade math classes.
My classes were randomly selected at the beginning of the year and therefore the
make up of the class is similar to others in my school. This will allow teachers to see
that the trend of the action research may also apply to their own classrooms. To
show dependability to the audience, the final report will include an inquiry audit the
details the description of the procedures that have been followed (Stringer, 2014,
p. 94). Raw data from surveys and document review will be available for any one
who would like to view and confirm results found in the study.
Findings
When looking at the on-time completion rates for before implementation and after
implementation both of the classes made improvements when submitting
assignments online. The baseline for the Algebra class was 72% on-time rate and for
the Connected 3 Math class the baseline was 46% on-time. Both classes had a higher
on-time turn in rate then their baseline. Algebra increases to 89.7% on-time and
Connected 3 increased to 60% on-time. This statistical data shows that the affect of
online submissions has increased the on-time rate of student submissions. When
comparing the quantitative data to the survey responses of students there is a slight
disconnect.

As the graph below shows the majority of students say that they are equally likely to
complete the assignment on-time. This would include that majority of students that
had turned in assignments on-time through out the school year. The responses that
are concerning are the students who are less likely to complete an assignment when
submitting it online.

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When starting this research the second research question aimed to find out if the
student perception of feedback and submission would be overall positive. When
student perception is negative in a classroom the entire climate of the class can
change. On the pre-implementation survey 52.5% of students (21 out of 40
students) said that they would like their assignments graded within 1 day of
completion. In order to meet this expectation online submissions would need to be
automatically graded or the class would need to grade the assignment as a whole
group everyday. To look at this fact students were asked on the post
implementation survey When entering the assignments online you were able to
immediately see how many you got correct. How did you use this information? IN
response to this question many students said that they liked knowing how many
questions they got correct immediately. One participant responded Yes, this way I
knew what I got wrong right away whereas Mrs. Mosteller takes weeks to give a
single paper back much less tell us what we got wrong. This student summarizes
how nice it is to have immediate feedback while another students response of No, if
I typed it in wrong or the format was different it was hard to tell what I got right and
what I got wrong shows the downfall to the submission process.

On the post implementation survey students were asked if they would recommend
teachers having their students submit math assignments through Blackboard. Out of
the 35 students who answered the question 45% said that they would not
recommend this method to other teachers, 42% said that they would only
recommend this method with conditions. Some of the suggested conditions were to
only include multiple-choice questions or to limit the number of equations that had
to be typed. As you can see by the graph below, the no responses and yes with
conditions are almost equivalent. When combining the yes and yes conditional
responses the students do think that teachers should have their students submit
answers online.

Did knowing you had to submit an activity online
change how likely you were to complete the
activity?
I was equally likely to
complete the assignment
on-time
I was less likely to
I was more likely to
on-time

14

For the third research question I looked at the time it took to enter data online
versus the time it took using traditional methods to grade homework. For one of the
Algebra assignments that was submitted online it took students the full 80 minute
class to enter answers. This assignment had a lot of equations to type as answers. On
the other hand in my Connected 3 class students had to enter mainly a number or
multiple choice answers. This class on average submitted assignments in 15 minutes
compared to the algebra submission average of 35 minutes. Both average times
during the research period were higher then the times before online submissions.
Previously it took 10 minutes to check answers with Algebra students and 5
minutes to check answers with Connected 3. This increase in time could have long-
term effects on the topics covered in class if online submissions continued through
out the entire year.
Comparison of research to the literature review
One of the things I found in my literature review is that the formatting and entering
of mathematical formulas into Blackboard or other similar programs is not an easy
process. Students had many difficulties typing equations into the program. This
resulted in having to double check students written answers with the submitted
answers which lead to even more time being used on the assignment. The literature
was clear that until an easier method was available for formatting mathematical
answers would continue to be troublesome.

The second theme I found while researching the literature was that the type of
feedback was just as important as students getting an overall score. Unfortunately,
students received feedback for overall questions correct and then would ask in
person what was wrong or how to correct the issue. In the future a teacher who is
considering having students submit assignments online should consider the goal of
the submissions. If the teacher goal is to have students learn from their mistakes
What would your recommendation be to a
teacher about having student submit their
math work through blackboard
No
Yes
Yes, conditional

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then the teacher should take more time to enter independent feedback for each
possible answer.

The third theme found while conducting the literature review was the use of 1:1
technology. As part of this research students used the technology available in the
class to enter assignments and receive feedback. This ensured that all students had
access to the needed technology but also used up additional class time to submit
answers. The literature clearly showed that 1:1 initiatives where students could
take home the technology was more effective. If students had had access to the
technology to submit answers at home and then ask specific questions about the
results in class the class time used would have been more productive.
Limitations
There are several limitations to the study as it was conducted. The first limitation is
the limited time period used to conduct the study. Since the action research study
was part of a course the time period was rather condensed. There is a possibility
that the students were still learning how to submit answers online and the amount
of class time used would have eventually been reduced making the online
submission more practical. For a future research study I suggest conducting the
study over a longer period of time. This research does still show that the online
submissions will increase even if more class time is used.

A second limitation is the lack of generalizability since the study was an action
research study. The study as it was conducted could be generalize to the rest of the
school but due to differing technology and expectations in various schools could not
be extended to other schools. The study is still valuable in situations similar to the
one in which the research was conducted. The study also shows how action research
could be used in similar situations by a teacher in order to see if online submission
would be useful for their situation.

A third limitation is the fact that only 43 students participated in the study.
Mathematically the more students that participate the more valid the results will be.
Although not a lot of students participated the literature review had peer reviewed
articles with less participants showing that there is still a value to any research. In
the future a teacher might attempt the same research with a larger population of
students in varying levels of math classes
Implications for Practice
By conducting this study I hoped to see that submitting assignments online will
minimize the amount of class time spent correcting homework and increase the
feedback to students. Unfortunately, the initial entry of assignments took more class
time while still increasing feedback to students. However, one positive impact was
that students gained competency at entering math answers in an online setting and
therefore increase their perceived comfort in taking online assessments.


16
The increase confidence in entering math answers online will help students when
taking the PARCC assessment. Students will be taking a math assessment through
PARCC for at least two more math course. The growth in confidence will therefore
affect other teachers and classes. The more students can practice this skill in future
math classes the more confidant they will become.

A negative impact was that the online submission took more class time then
previously used to review homework. To minimize this impact assignments could
be shortened in order to decrease the time it takes for students to enter the answers
online. Assignments should also be designed in order to make entering the answers
as easy as possible. As seen with the Connected 3 students, when assignment entry
is multiple-choice the time taken to enter answers is significantly lower.

Another negative impact was that data entered did not always get graded as correct
due to technology. This resulted in having to double check students written answers
with the electronic answers. To reduce the likelihood of this happening in the future
I suggest that teachers analyze multiple previous assignments to see how their
students are writing answers. For instance, some students included a 1 in front of a
variable and others did not. The computer unfortunately graded any answers with a
1 as incorrect. If a teacher had known this before the teacher could have included
this as one of the acceptable answers thereby reducing the number of incorrectly
graded answers.
Conclusion
This action research project looked to answer 3 main research questions.

2. What are the student's perspectives on electronic feedback and submissions?

The findings show a mixed result. The gradebook data shows that students are more
likely to submit assignments when submitting them online, however, the student
data shows that students dont perceive this difference when looking at motivation
to complete assignments. This disconnect indicates that further studies should be
conducted to see which factor is more important to turn-in rates over a longer
period of time.

In addition to turn-in rates the study looked at students view of submissions. The
students suggested that online submissions should not involve entering equations
or polynomials but should stick to one number answers or multiple choice. This will
result in more upfront time for teachers when creating the online submission.
However, in the long term teachers can transfer these assignments from year to

17
year and will not have to recreate the assignment in the online submission tool.
When creating multiple choice answers for problems I included the option of none
of the above for each question. This minimized the ability students had to randomly
guess answers.

The third research question looked at the time it takes to submit assignments.
Teachers know that class time is a valuable resource and want to spend the most
time on content and minimize the time spent on management and trivial matters.
The research shows that the time spent entering assignments does increase. Future
studies should look at if the time spent entering assignments online will decrease
over a period of time as students get used to the process.

When looking at the results of this study it is clear that there needs to be additional
research conducted. Overall the study shows that in similar situations to those in the
study the assignment turn-in rate does increase if submissions are online. Teachers
should strongly consider having students start submitting assignments online at the
beginning of the year when students are taught other classroom procedures. This
will allow direct model and teaching of submitting assignments online while the
assignments are relatively easy for the content. As the year progresses students and
teachers will then be able to fine-tune the issues with the online submission process
in order to lead to the best results.


18
References

Cates, G. (2005). Effects of peer versus computer-assisted drill on mathematics
response rates. Psychology In The Schools, 42(6), 637-646.
doi:10.1002/pits.20105
Doorey, N. (2012). Coming soon: A new generation of assessments. Educational
Leadership, 70(4), 28.
Holcomb, L. (2009). Results and lessons learned from 1:1 laptop initiatives: a
collective review. Techtrends, 52(4), 49-55. doi:10.1007/s11528-009-0343-1
Koshy, V. (2010), Action Research for Improving Educational Practice (2
nd
ed.)
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc
Maninger, R., & Holden, M. (2009). Put the textbook away: Preparation and support
for a middle school one-to-one laptop initiative. American Secondary Education,
38(1), 5-33.
Mendicino, M., Razzaq, I., & Heffernan, N. (2009). A comparison of traditional
homework to computer-supported homework. Journal of Research on
Technology in Education, 41, 331-359.
Pierce, R., & Stacey, K. (2008). Using pedagogical maps to show the opportunities
afforded by CAS for improving the teaching of mathematics. Australian Senior
Mathematics Journal, 22(1), 6-12.
Rakoczy, K., Harks, B., Klieme, E., Blum, W., & Hochweber, J. (2013). Written
feedback in mathematics: Mediated by students' perception, moderated by goal
orientation. Learning and Instruction, 63-73.
doi:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2013.03.002
Sancho-Vinuesa, T., Escudero-Viladoms, N., & Masia, R. (2013). Continuous activity
with immediate feedback: a good strategy to guarantee student engagement
with the course. Open learning, 28(1), 51-66.
doi:10.1080/02680513.2013.776479
Stringer, E. T. (2014). Action research. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Thomas, G. (2009). How to do your research project: A guide for students in education
and applied social sciences. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Tienken, C., & Maher, J. (2008). The influence of computer-assisted instruction on
eighth grade mathematics achievement. Research In Middle Level Education
Online, 32(3), 1-13.
Topper, A., & Lancaster, S. (2013). Common challenges and experiences of school
districts that are implementing one-to-one computing initiatives. Computers In
The Schools, 30(4), 346-358. doi:10.1080/07380569.2013.844640
Wojcikowski, K., & Kirk, L. (2013). Immediate detailed feedback to test-enhanced
learning: An effective online educational tool. Medical teacher, 35(11), 915-919.
doi:10.3109/0142159x.2013.826793


19
Appendice A
Citation Type of
paper
Location of
study
Findings- Direct quotations
Tienken, C., & Maher, J.
(2008). The influence of
computer-assisted
instruction on eighth grade
mathematics achievement.
Research In Middle Level
Education Online, 32(3), 1-13.
Quantitative
, quasi-
experimenta
l study
New Jersey after students became familiar with CAI, the
teachers taught them how to use slide presentation
software to create a digital book report-p6

the site facilitator ensured that the mathematics
content was consistent for all teachers and that the
teachers and students-p.6

the small population of available teachers created
external validity concerns

overall there is not evidence that the CAI program
influenced the average achievement of students in
the experimental group positively compared to the
students in the control group

the CAI drill and practice program was not
effective intervention for increasing achievement
Holcomb, L. (2009). Results
and lessons learned from 1:1
laptop initiatives: a collective
review. Techtrends, 52(4),
49-55. doi:10.1007/s11528-
009-0343-1
Literature
review
United States More and more schools are implementing 1:1
programs as a means for increasing student
achievement-p.49

With regards to students attitudes and learning,
research has indicated that laptop students are more
engaged, reflective, and active in their learning-p.
49

although not as widespread and significant as
writing scores, math scores increased as a result of
1:1 learning p. 51

Mathematics is the content area in which laptops
were used the least frequently p.51

in texas, the effects of laptops on mathematics
achievement generally became stronger over time as
teachers and students became more accomplished
technology users-p. 51

the lack of statistically significant effects suggest
that simply providing each student with a laptop did
not increase student achievement p.52 based on 4
years in one texas district

It was found that students who were prepared and
encouraged to go to college from an early age were
more successful in 1:1 laptop programs than
students from low SES neighborhoods who were less
likely to have a strong research focus p. 53

the most effective model for a 1:1 initiative is the

20
concentrated model, in which all students in a
classroom have their own laptops that they are able
to take home. p. 53

Students part of a concentrated model reported
spending more time doing homework on the
computer and more time engaged in learning
activities outside of school compared to those who
did not have continuous access to a laptop p.53

Wojcikowski, K., & Kirk, L.
(2013). Immediate detailed
feedback to test-enhanced
learning: An effective online
educational tool. Medical
teacher, 35(11), 915-919.
doi:10.3109/0142159x.2013.
826793
Primary
study
Australia test-enhances learning has gained popularity
because it is an effective way to increase retention of
knowledge; provided the student receives the
correct answer soon after the test is taken. P.915

the concept is based on work by cognitive
psychologists who found that when subjects are
tested on material, they remember that material
much better than when they are not tested. P. 915

providing student feedback to assessments has for a
long time been known to enhance the benefits of
testing p. 916

if student feedback is not provided to multiple
choice questions, the tests risk the possibility that
they present inaccurate or misleading information
that inadvertently constructs misinformation or false
recall p.916

However few studies have attempted to determine
the type of feedback that is most effective for
questions regarding complex biomedical
information 916

there were no significant difference in the
anonymous student feedback on learning and
teaching with respect to whether the course helped
me develop valuable skills p.916

the detailed feedback was limited to about 100
words to avoid an overload of information p. 916

suggest that detailed feedback to online test-
enhanced learning is an effective tool to increase
performance in biomedical exams p. 917

Doorey, N. (2012). Coming
soon: A new generation of
assessments. Educational
Leadership, 70(4), 30.
Summary United States PARCC- Partnership for the assessment of readiness
for college and career- p. 29

students will take the summative assessments on
computers p. 30

21
Rakoczy, K., Harks, B.,
Klieme, E., Blum, W., &
Hochweber, J. (2013).
Written feedback in
mathematics: Mediated by
students' perception,
moderated by goal
orientation. Learning and
Instruction, 63-73.
doi:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2
013.03.002
Primary
study
Germany the question of how and on what conditions
feedback in mathematics affects learning seldom has
been addressed

To address these challenges, we developed a type of
feedback called process-oriented feedback, which
combines the properties found in previous studies to
be beneficial 63

Social comparative feedback-grades

purpose of feedback is to highlight the discrepancy
between current understanding and performance on
one hand and the learning goal on the other 64

Feedback is that it needs to be understood in ways
that contribute to improvement of learning 64

feelings of competence due to successful task
completion after feedback 65

contrary to our first hypothesis, process-oriented
feedback had no significant total effect on
development of interest69

grades are strongly attached to students pride and
sense of worth as a learner 70

Mendicino, M., Razzaq, I., &
Heffernan, N. (2009). A
comparison of traditional
homework to computer-
supported homework.
Journal of Research on
Technology in Education, 41,
331-359.
Primary
study
U.S web-based homework is already popular in
colleges 331

The opportunities for students to do their
homework online increase as the digital divide
narrows 332
MasteringPhysics uses mastery learning to help
students reach mastery when solving physics
problems333

The ASSISTment system also breaks problems
down for students 336

because out of 15 students who had internet did the
assignment at home as instructed. But 10 of the 15
students completed the assignment in the morning
on computers at the school 341

some advantages of homework assistance systems
are immediate feedback to students and automatics
grading and recording of grades for instructors 333

many of these systems do not take students work
into consideration when they require students to
enter a single answer 333


22
-study removed students who had technical
difficulties or didnt turn in paper and pencil version

there was a statistically reliable difference in favor
of the web-based homework condition 342

ASSISTment system can not grade open responses or
essay type problems
Pierce, R., & Stacey, K.
(2008). Using pedagogical
maps to show the
opportunities afforded by
CAS for improving the
teaching of mathematics.
Australian Senior
Mathematics Journal, 22(1),
6-12.
Theoretical-
case studies
Australia when CAS is available different teachers make
different choices about the changes they wish to
make to their teaching style and approach to
mathematics

CAS were designed to assist mathematicians: to
save time and reduce simple manipulation errors

Just as students need to learn to work effectively
with CAS so do teachers need to learn to teach
effectively with CAS

Topper, A., & Lancaster, S.
(2013). Common challenges
and experiences of school
districts that are
implementing one-to-one
computing initiatives.
Computers In The Schools,
30(4), 346-358.
doi:10.1080/07380569.2013
.844640
Primary
research
(convenienc
e sampling)
United states districts that decide to adopt and incorporate
technology face many challenges that may eventually
hinder or restrict potential benefits 347

the early results of 1:1 initiatives suggest
improvements in student writing skills, motivation
and engagement in learning, and development of 21-
st century skills, including project development, and
research and communication 348

One clear indicator of successful 1:1
implementation is a strong commitment to the
integration of technology that is communicated,
understood, and promoted at all levels of
administration 352

expectations for benefits for 1:1 computing for most
of the school districts did not include student
achievement as measured through standardized test
scores 352

Sancho-Vinuesa, T.,
Escudero-Viladoms, N., &
Masia, R. (2013). Continuous
activity with immediate
feedback: a good strategy to
guarantee student
engagement with the course.
Open learning, 28(1), 51-66.
doi:10.1080/02680513.2013
.776479
Primary
research-
mixed
methods
Spain practice activities and weekly assessment test with
automatic feedback are carried out for continuous
monitoring of student learning

The automatic feedback provided after their
completion (score as well as comments) is for
training purposes and is not included in the final
mark 52

Completion of practice test decreases slightly
towards the end of the Algebra section and more
significantly at the end of the semester 57


23
Student grades have improved, which is significant
given that the number of students dropping out has
fallen 59

almost all of the students interviewed referred to
the awareness of learning through immediate
correction of the answers 61

all the students reported feeling more confident
about completing the assessment test due to this
similarity between practice and assessment 61

in particular we must be careful not to exhaust
students, a fact we imagine has had some influence
on the slight reduction towards the end of the
semester

Cates, G. (2005). Effects of
peer versus computer-
assisted drill on mathematics
response rates. Psychology In
The Schools, 42(6), 637-646.
doi:10.1002/pits.20105
Primary
study
Illinois it is apparent that knowing how to match
instruction to the individual needs of the learner
while balancing the time and resources of the
teacher is a necessity for todays school
psychologist 637

research has suggested that efficiency of instruction
is an important variable to students academic
performance637

demonstrated that because written responses take
longer to complete than oral responses the number
of completed antecedent-behavior-consequence
chains can be increased by requiring oral responses
as opposed to written responses

merely applying a single educational technology to
all students may not always benefits all students
638

older students ability to respond rapidly on a
computer may be related to their past learning
history with regard to computers

Results- mixed. One group did better on computer
one did better on peer response
Maninger, R., & Holden, M.
(2009). Put the textbook
away: Preparation and
support for a middle school
one-to-one laptop initiative.
American Secondary
Education, 38(1), 5-33.
Primary
source
Southwester
n United
states
consequently teachers may not be sufficiently
motivated to create a classroom climate where
learning drives the use of technology, instead of the
other way around 7

As the ratio of computers to students increases,
teachers also are able to accept and grade electronic
assignments, monitor student progress through
online assessments, and provide immediate
feedback 8


24
Once the initiative was implemented, the students
readily assisted each other without the helper being
egotistical or those requiring assistance being
demoralized 13

their observations are significant in that the
students who needed keyboards to better attend to
their learning had the technology without feeling out
of place, because everyone else had a tablet as well
19 (speaking of students with IEPs or 504s)


25
Appendix B
Pre-implementation survey
Paragraph read aloud- You may chose to not participate in this research simply by
not filling out the survey. The goal of this research project is to see if it is worth the
class time and effort in the future to submit all assignments through Blackboard. If
you choose to participate you will take a survey at the end of the research project.

1. Have you submitted homework online for another class? *
Yes
No
2. What subject areas were these classes in?
Math
English
Science
Social Studies
Electives
3. Describe how you prefer to check homework in math class in
order to find out your overall score. *

4. In your science class you often use Blackboard, what do you like
about blackboard? *

5. In your science class you often use Blackboard, what do you
dislike about using blackboard? *

6.When entering your warm-ups online what difficulties did you
have? *

7. When you complete a homework assignment, how quickly would
you like teachers to have the assignment graded and returned to
you?

26
Appendix C
Post implementation survey

1.When entering your assignments online for math class what was the
hardest part?

2.When entering your assignments online for math class what was the
easiest part?

3. Rate each question type according to the difficulty you had entering
an answer

Very easy
to answer
Somewhat
easy to
answer
Somewhat
hard to
answer
Very Hard
to answer
Didn't have
to answer
any of this
type
Multiple Choice . . . . .
Multiple Answers
(select all)
. . . . .
Fill in the blank
(words)
. . . . .
Fill in the blank
(equation)
. . . . .
Entering a
number only
. . . . .

4.Did knowing you had to submit an activity online change how likely you
were to complete the activity?
I was less likely to complete the assignment
I was equally likely to complete the assignment on-time
I was more likely to complete the assignment on-time

5.When entering the assignments online you were able to immediately
see how many you got correct. How did you use this information?

6. Overall, what would your recommendation be to a teacher about
having students submit their math work through blackboard.

27
Appendix D

Post implementation Survey results
When entering your assignments
online for math class what was the
hardest part?

When entering your assignments
online for math class what was the
easiest part?
Computer issues 6

Typing 4
Formatting 14

transfer 7
Nothing 3

time 1
Time 5

Submitting 1
transfer 12

Speed 2

Nothing 8

Multiple Choice 4

Immediate
feedback 6

Everything 2
Rate each question type according
to the difficulty you had entering
an answer [Multiple Choice]

Rate each question type according to
the difficulty you had entering an
answer [Fill in the blank (words)]
Somewhat easy 13

Somewhat Easy 10
Very easy 27

Somewhat Hard 22
Very hard 1

Very Easy 3

Very Hard 4

Rate each question type according
to the difficulty you had entering
an answer [Fill in the blank
(equation)]

Rate each question type according to
the difficulty you had entering an
answer [Entering a number only]
Somewhat easy to answer 4

Didn't have to answer any
of this type 1
Somewhat Hard to answer 16

Somewhat easy to answer 16
Very easy to answer 3

Somewhat hard to answer 4
Very hard to answer 16

Very easy to answer 17

Very Hard to answer 3
Did knowing you had to submit an activity online change
how likely you were to complete the activity?

I was equally likely to complete the assignment on-time 29

I was less likely to complete the assignment 7

I was more likely to complete the assignment on-time 5

Overall, what would your recommendation be
to a teacher about having students submit their
math work through blackboard
No 16
Yes 4
Yes, conditional 15

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