Studies In Progress

Please note that the studies listed here are all collecting data in ASSISTments currently, but have not yet been analyzed so no formal peer-reviewed publications are yet available. We offer these examples to display the many different types of studies that are possible using ASSISTments to do randomized controlled experiments. There are many other studies that are in progress but we don't have permission to tell you about them yet.

If you want to learn how to create your own studies, go here.

1. Experiments related to crowdsourcing video explanations from teachers and students.(Some summarized in this journal )

   1. Comparing teacher generated video versus text (video as a "Khan Academy" style screen capture)

   2. Do teacher generate mistake messages delivered through video help?

   3. Comparing Text-Video-Nothing crossed by Hint and Misconception Messages (9 conditions). When is video better than text?

   4. The Patchwork Quilt Experiment

      1. Comparing being taught by two teachers with being taught by the same teacher

      2. Comparing three different teacher's video hint messages versus a mix of teacher

   5. Can we crowd source from student instead of teachers? Video Feedback Provided by Multiple Students

2. Comparing adaptive versus non adaptive conditions

• 1. What should the system do when students are "spinning their wheels"?

  2. Adaptive Homework Study. With University of Illinois- Chicago

  3. Presenting Different Problems Based on the Students' Ability

3. Comparing interventions that target student motivation with business as usual (motivational) control conditions.

• 1. Interventions inspired by Carol Dweck's theory

     1. Promoting "growth mindset" with avatars within intelligent tutoring systems

     2. Studying a Dweck-inspired Intervention. With Stanford University

  2. Seeing if adding humor can increase student persistence

• • 1. Does seeing a cartoon influence student learning?

• 3. Seeing if increasing the variety of problems can increase student engagement

• • 1. Can we reduce boredom by reducing monotony? With Columbia University

• 4. Does giving students CHOICE help them?

• • 1. Can we increase completion rates by explaining a topic?

• 5. Studies that look at student confidence on their knowledge of the math topic

• • 1. Can we improve students performance by helping them align their perception of time to learn a topic with that results of what thousands of others students have done? With Columbia University

4. Evaluating different math games using ASSISTments

• 1. Can we learn which math games are more effective?

5. Evaluating different types of feedback

• 1. Image versus text feedback. With University of Colorado Colorado Springs & University of Maine.

Heffernan, Cristina. Copyright 2014