The Impact on Student Learning by Allowing Multiple Attempts on Tests

Abstract

As education continues to modernize, assignments and assessments have started to digitize. With the technological advancement into education, it gives a good chance to revisit assignment policies. It has become very easy for teachers to accept multiple attempts for assignments due to the nature of online submissions. However, it is also important to consider the impacts this may have on a student's learning. It could be claimed that students may express less motivation to complete assignments correctly the first time. It could also be claimed that students can take the opportunity of additional submissions to learn better from their mistakes. Previous research has suggested some combination of both. Real student data from a George Mason University undergraduate course was used to study the impact on allowing unlimited attempts on tests to the final grade obtained at that test, in comparison with a fixed number (2) or only one attempt. The process included data anonymization, data aggregation and data processing. The processing of data included: graphing the assignments and their respective grades, graphing the progression of grades over attempts, and statistical analyses such as t-tests. The interpretation of results is in progress.