Online engagement mediates attendance and grades
In a technology-enhanced education course, LMS engagement and formative assessment scores fully mediated the link between lecture attendance and final performance.
Source
Online engagement and performance on formative assessments mediate the relationship between attendance and course performance
Study at a glance
- Design
- Cohort — SEM mediation of lecture attendance → LMS engagement/formatives → final performance
- N
- N=367 · 367 undergraduate education students in a TEL assessment course
- Population
- Undergraduate education students in a technology-enhanced assessment course
- Outcome
- Final course performance mediated by online engagement and formative quiz scores
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Online engagement mediates attendance and grades
These passages occur verbatim in the stored paper text. They support the points listed below; they do not verify every statement in the explanation.
Students attended 10.57 of 13 lectures on average.
Out of the 13 lectures in the Winter 2019 term, participants attended 10.57 lectures on average with an SD of 3.09.
Mean course final score was 82.02.
Participants’ course final score had a mean of 82.02 and a SD of 7.73 (Table ).
What they did
Researchers analyzed LMS log data, lecture attendance, twelve formative quizzes, and final scores from undergraduate education students in a TEL-based assessment course, then tested mediation models with structural equation modeling.
What they found
Attendance correlated with final scores in a baseline model, but when online engagement and formative assessment performance were included they fully mediated that relationship; the direct attendance path was no longer a positive predictor of course performance.
The limits
What it doesn't show
Findings come from one convenience-sampled education course and cannot prove that requiring attendance causes better grades, nor that the same mediation holds in non-TEL lecture courses.
Key terms
- Formative assessment
- Low-stakes quizzes used during the term to monitor learning rather than solely assign a final grade.
- Online learning engagement
- LMS activity such as accessing files, forums, URLs, and assignment areas.
- Technology-enhanced learning (TEL)
- Courses that combine class sessions with substantial digital resources and online activities.
- Mediation
- A statistical pattern where an intermediate variable accounts for the association between a predictor and an outcome.
- Learning analytics
- Use of digital trace data from learning systems to study engagement and performance.
- Structural equation modeling (SEM)
- A multivariate method for testing hypothesized relationships among observed and latent variables.
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Common questions
Did attendance still directly predict final grades once online activity was included?
No—the mediation model indicated full mediation by online engagement and formative assessment performance.
What data sources did they use?
In-class attendance records, LMS click logs, formative quiz scores, and course final scores.
Where were students most active online?
Accessing course materials (files) more than forums or other modules.
Who were the participants?
Undergraduate elementary/secondary education students in a mandatory educational assessment course (n = 367).
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