Homework systems often come bundled with the required digital or hardcopy textbooks, and digital platforms provide students with supplementary materials such as practice questions, quizzes, and videos. And they come with a price tag. According to our research, it costs an average of $90 per course.
“If you’re taking five courses and all of them require an access code, you’ll have to pay an additional $450 that semester just to do your homework,” Clinton-Rissell said. “It creates financial barriers to resources that were previously free.”
Access codes for homework platforms created by educational publishers are individually assigned, cannot be reused by others, and expire after a certain period of time. For many students, grades can depend on completing assignments within the system.
The survey, conducted by Clinton Rissel and Kelly, received responses from 966 students at campuses across the county.
Some students say in surveys that they like the immediate feedback they receive from the homework system and that it increases their interaction with the course. However, some were dissatisfied with the cost and worried that the questions in the homework system were different from those asked in class.
In the survey, black students said the homework system was more helpful than other students. Latinx students were more likely to say their grades suffered because they couldn’t afford the access code. Additionally, research shows that first-generation students report avoiding certain courses that require online homework systems compared to continuing-generation students.
“We remain sensitive to and aware of the challenges facing our students in relation to the modern environment and the costs they have to deal with and juggle. “Creating digital products that are affordable, high quality, and improve student outcomes is one of the motivations and drivers for how we classify our students,” says the nation’s largest educational materials publisher. said Kate Edwards, senior vice president of effectiveness and research at Pearson.
Students think the cost of doing homework is ‘exorbitant’
Online homework platform features often include quizzes, interactive questions, videos, and other visuals to help students learn course concepts.
In the Clinton Resell survey, students said the cost of online homework systems was “somewhat unreasonable.” By comparison, the price that students considered fair for these features was one-third of the actual figure.
Jake Toomey, a student at the University of California, Santa Barbara and member of the Student Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), is appalled by the idea of paying for homework.
“(Students) are by no means wealthy people,” Toomey said. “Really, unfortunately, I know students who sometimes have to make a decision between buying an access code for a class or eating tomorrow’s dinner. These are very real decisions for students.”
Students who participated in the survey also questioned the seamlessness of the system. Clinton Risell says that many students find that because publishers create exercises, professors are not knowledgeable about the problems their students are working on or are unable to troubleshoot technical issues that may arise. He said he felt he was unable to help others.
“[Teachers]are not involved, or at least not as involved, in organizing and writing homework assignments,” Clinton-Rissel said, adding that there is sometimes a lack of alignment between homework assignments and course content. I mentioned that.
Edwards said Pearson’s online homework platforms, such as MyLab, allow instructors to choose assessments from the core content of the course, giving instructors “the flexibility to choose the questions that they feel are most appropriate for their class context.” said. Edwards added that there are many opportunities for instructors to ensure they match classes and assignments to suit them.
What historically underrepresented students are saying about homework platforms
First-generation college students spend more per semester on online materials than continuing-generation college students. According to research. At the same time, 11% of first-generation students reported failing a class because they couldn’t afford an access code, compared to 2.9% of continuing-generation students. Additionally, 35.8% of first-generation students said the cost of online homework systems made them perform worse compared to 25.6% of continuing-generation students.
“Students who are already marginalized by systemic barriers are now being presented with new barriers,” Clinton-Rissell said.
Latino students report higher levels of stress over the cost of online homework systems and are more likely to not purchase textbooks, which leads to lower grades. Black students paid more for access codes than any other student group, but said they had the lowest stress levels about costs.
Advantages of online homework system
Despite the fees, some students who participated in the Clinton Resell study actually reported benefits. Black students in particular found it helpful and reported more engagement with the course content compared to other students.
Clinton-Rissel said that in the survey, students praised the idea of homework itself, rather than the platform for completing assignments.
“They want to be able to practice and they don’t want to wait until a test to see if they know. And that’s a way to support them through the school year,” she says.
For students who are visually inclined or who need to understand thicker material, online exercises are especially helpful in visualizing certain concepts. Online systems often include videos and other visuals to explain complex ideas.
But Clinton-Rissel said those benefits should be weighed against the cost implications for students.
Kyle Goodin, an accounting professor at Missouri State University, uses an online homework system from consultant McGraw-Hill. He said the platform, called Connect, has increased student participation and improved “dropout, failure and dropout” rates in some classes.
“I think the value that students get for what they pay for these things is astronomical,” Goodin said.
In Goodin For example, in the Financial Accounting course, students pay $152 per semester for digital books, homework managers, proctoring services, and additional resources. Goodin said the homework platform allows students to immerse themselves in data analysis and visualization, which is becoming increasingly important in the accounting field.
“I remember paying much less than this when I was a student,” Goodin said.
Transition to open educational resources
In 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic forced campus closures, major publishers made their online homework platforms free. Many instructors have incorporated them into their courses and continue to use them even after fees are reinstated.
But Clinton-Rissel said the research showed that faculty could consider more open educational resources, meaning course materials available in the public domain or under open licenses that can be accessed for free or for a nominal fee. .
Dan Hsieh, political director of PIRG Campus Action, said in a world where knowledge and information is ubiquitous, students should not have to pay exorbitant amounts of money to learn material and do homework.
“We have open textbooks…very high quality, peer-reviewed, and professors can and do choose from them,” Xie said.
But professors like Goodin are skeptical about widespread use of open educational resources.
“Textbook companies like Wiley, McGraw-Hill, and Pearson have authors who are vetted experts on the subject,” he says. Goodin said he doesn’t believe open source textbooks can offer much value at this point compared to what publisher materials provide.
Still, there are efforts to encourage teachers to create their own public textbooks and materials through grants and scholarships.
