A Course Redesign that Contributed to Student Success →
They outline six principles they believe will help improve introductory courses that a big chunk of students struggle with. Here are two:
Principle 3: Reward students for their efforts. The new course design lets students retry a homework problem as many times as they like. Instructors have found that when given that option, many students will work as long as it takes to get the right answer, and the right answer counts no matter how many tries it took to solve the problem correctly. Homework scores equaled 1/8 of the final grade in the course. Students quickly discovered that in this course they could improve their grades by working harder.
Principle 4: Provide regular assessment of progress. The online homework and quizzes offered students immediate feedback. The software also keeps an online grade book that students can access at any time. This was not a course where students had to wonder what they’re getting. They knew.
