Assessing the utility of an online adaptive learning tool in a large undergraduate psychology course

Abstract

In this project we test the utility ofan adaptive e-learning study tool (LearnSmart) within the context of a large undergraduate psychology course. We measured student usage of the e-learning tool and the effect that this usage has on academic outcomes, while controlling for the effects of intellectual ability and personality traits such as conscientiousness and openness to experience. The results ofour analyses indicate that students who made use of the tool performed significantly better on the assessment tasks when compared to non-users. Further, regression analyses indicated that the extent to which students made use of the tool was a stronger predictor of academic performance than four personality variables that had previously been implicated in the literature as related to academic outcomes, and was a stronger predictor of academic performance than intellectual ability for two of the four academic tasks.