Assessing the Efficacy of Personalized Online Homework in a First-Year Engineering Multivariate Calculus Course

The paper investigates the efficacy of a personalized online homework assignment on students’ learning gains in an introductory Multivariate Calculus class for first-year engineering students. The paper looks at the engagement with the personalized online assignment, as measured by the level of proficiency achieved by students on the online homework platform. Students’ learning gains are measured by their scores in the midterm exam (the line integral topic). We found a significant relationship between students’ engagement with the platform and their learning gains. We have also collected feedback on students’ perceptions of learning and on their assessment of usefulness of the platform. Majority of students liked the platform, its ease of use, and how it helps them with preparing for the exam. We offer explanations of the results and give advice to future researchers in this topic.