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Assessment

Online engagement mediates attendance and grades

Lu C, Cutumisu M · International journal of educational technology in higher education · 2022

Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC

In a technology-enhanced education course, LMS engagement and formative assessment scores fully mediated the link between lecture attendance and final 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

Structured fields used in claim comparison tables when every cited study has a complete layer.

Key findings

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.

Methodology

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.

Limitations

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.

How this study connects

Role on claims

Each row is a claim on a concept or method page where this paper supports, challenges, or qualifies the statement. Roles are hand-checked — not a model guess.

  • SupportsAssessmentconcept

    Formative assessment performance can mediate paths from engagement/attendance to final course performance.

    Evidence for the claim as stated.

  • SupportsLearning Analyticsmethod

    Online engagement and formative assessment performance can fully mediate the relationship between lecture attendance and final performance in a technology-enhanced course.

    Evidence for the claim as stated.

  • In a technology-enhanced assessment course, SEM showed full mediation: lecture attendance correlated with final scores until online engagement and twelve formative quizzes were in the model, after which the direct attendance path was no longer a positive predictor. That is a decomposition in one convenience-sampled education course, not a trial of banning absences.

    Evidence for the claim as stated.

  • What gets to be a mediator is a modelling choice, not a discovery of a unique true path. The TEL course paper puts LMS engagement and quizzes between attendance and grades; the TIQS paper puts quality dimensions and frequency on engagement and competencies, including an unexpected negative path; the teacher-education paper chains evaluation literacy → search literacy → ICT self-efficacy. Different diagrams on different variables are not replications of one mediation law.

    Evidence for the claim as stated.

Open questions

Tensions this paper is part of

From concept pages' “where studies disagree.” Disagreement means the same question; scope means different assays, populations, or outcomes.

  • Scope difference — different assays, populations, or outcomes

    What gets to be a mediator is a modelling choice, not a discovery of a unique true path. The TEL course paper puts LMS engagement and quizzes between attendance and grades; the TIQS paper puts quality dimensions and frequency on engagement and competencies, including an unexpected negative path; the teacher-education paper chains evaluation literacy → search literacy → ICT self-efficacy. Different diagrams on different variables are not replications of one mediation law.

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Same topic cluster — not a recommendation engine.