Linking course ideas to your life didn't lift grades but slightly lifted activity

The study

1. 01

   Who took part

   1,243 students in four advanced online biology courses at a US public university in spring 2020. Most were in their third or fourth year, and about 7 in 10 were women. 589 wrote the new essays and 654 wrote summary essays.

2. 02

   What they did

   Over a 10-week term, every student wrote two graded essays, each within a 5-day window. One group explained how a course idea applied to their own life and to helping others. The other group answered a question from class notes with no such link.

3. 03

   What happened

   Course grades were about the same, about 89 out of 100 in both groups. The essay group took slightly more part online, with about 40 posts and hand-ins against 39. They also opened course pages about 860 times against 800. Whole class sections, not single students, were put into groups, and the analysis didn't allow for that.

What the study found

1. No difference

   Writing how course ideas fit their own lives and helped others didn't raise grades.

   • Action: List the benefits of finishingtested

   Large randomised trial of 1,243 students in online university biology courses · vs students who wrote essays summarising course material · behaviour was recorded · ⚠ whole groups were assigned, not people

2. Helped

   Students who wrote how the material mattered to them and others posted and handed in slightly more online.

   • Action: List the benefits of finishingtested

   Large randomised trial of 1,243 students in online university biology courses · vs students who wrote essays summarising course material · behaviour was recorded · ⚠ whole groups were assigned, not people

Source