Work in progress — connecting online labs and homework

Experts recognize connections between different representations of a topic that novices often fail to use. One aspect of this is that novices may fail to realize material learned in one context, e.g. a lab assignment, is useful in a different context, e.g. homework. As we move toward teaching in a connected online world, we should also move toward strengthening the connections between different aspects of a course. This could improve student learning in many courses, especially introductory courses. Using screen casting, we captured a digital video of work in an online lab assignment in an introductory math class. This video was then embedded into an online homework system, so that when students made a mistake in the homework problems related to the material covered by the lab assignment, they were given the option to review the lab video. Over the first two semesters of use, about 1/3 of the students offered the video opted to follow the link. However, performance overall on the assignment did not change significantly, though speed of completion did improve somewhat. Further work is being done to try to decide when, if ever, such techniques will improve student learning.