Homework systems often come bundled with the required digital or paper textbooks, and digital platforms offer students additional materials such as practice questions, quizzes, and videos. And they come with a price tag – an an average of $90 per course, according to the survey results.
“If you’re taking five courses and they all require access codes, that’s an extra $450 for that semester that you have to pay just to do your homework,” Clinton-Liesel said. “It creates a financial barrier to what used to be free resources.”
Access codes to homework platforms created by educational publishing companies are individually assigned, cannot be reused by others, and expire after a certain period of time. For many students, their grades may depend on whether they complete tasks within the system.
The survey, conducted by Clinton-Liesel and Kelly, received responses from 966 students on campuses across the county.
Some students noted in the survey that they liked the immediate feedback they received from homework systems and that it encouraged engagement with their courses. But others complained about the cost and were concerned that the questions in the homework systems might be different from what is presented in class.
In the study, black students said homework systems were more helpful than other students. Latinx students were more likely to say their grades dropped because they couldn’t afford access codes. Additionally, more first-generation students reported avoiding certain courses requiring online homework systems than continuing-generation students, according to the study.
“We are always sensitive to and aware of the challenges that students face in today’s environmental context and the costs that they have to navigate and juggle, and that is one of the motivations and driving forces for us how to sort for creating digital products that are accessible, high-quality, and improve student outcomes,” said Kate Edwards, senior vice president of efficacy and research at Pearson, one of the nation’s largest publishers of educational materials.
Pupils think homework cost ‘unreasonable’
Online homework platform features often include quizzes, interactive problems, videos, and other visual materials that can help students learn course concepts.
In the Clinton-Lisell study, students described the costs of online homework systems as “somewhat unreasonable.” In comparison, the price students thought was fair for these features was a third of the actual figure.
Jake Toomey, a student at UC Santa Barbara and a member of the Student Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), is horrified by the idea of paying for homework.
“(Students) are not the wealthiest people,” Toomey said. “I know students who sometimes, really unfortunately, have to make a decision between buying access codes for a class or getting dinner tomorrow. These are very real solutions for students.”
Students in the survey also questioned the seamlessness of the systems. Clinton-Liesel said many students feel that because the publishers are the ones creating the exercises, professors end up not being familiar with the problems their students are working on or unable to help troubleshoot technical issues. that may occur.
“(Teachers) are not involved in the preparation or development of the homework, or at least that much,” Clinton-Lissel said, citing the sometimes lack of alignment between homework and class content.
Edwards said Pearson’s online homework platforms, such as MyLab, provide a selection of assessments from the core content of a course, and the instructor can then have “the flexibility to choose the questions they feel are most appropriate for their own context of class.” Edwards adds that there are many opportunities for the instructor to customize and ensure that their classes and assignments are aligned.
What historically underrepresented students are saying about homework platforms
First-generation students spend more per semester on online materials than their next-generation peers, according to the survey. Meanwhile, 11% of first-generation students reported not failing a class because they couldn’t afford the access codes, compared to 2.9% of continuing-generation students. And 35.8% of first-generation students said they got worse grades compared to 25.6% of continuing-generation students because of the cost of online homework systems.
“We have students who are already marginalized by systemic barriers now getting others,” Clinton-Liesel said.
Latinx students report high levels of stress from the cost of online homework systems and are more likely to not purchase textbooks and have their grades suffer as a result. Black students said they paid for more access codes than any other student group, but had the lowest levels of cost-related stress.
The benefits of online homework systems
Despite the fees, some students who were part of the Clinton-Liesel study reported benefits. Black students, in particular, said they were helpful and reported greater engagement with course content than other students.
Clinton-Liesel said that in the study, students praised the idea of the homework itself, rather than the platforms where they completed the work.
“They want to be able to practice, they don’t want to wait for the test to find out if they know it, and this is a way for them to improve their grade,” she said.
For students who are more visually inclined or need to understand dense material, online exercises are especially helpful for visualizing certain concepts. Online systems often include videos and other visuals to explain complex ideas.
But Clinton-Liesel said those benefits must be weighed against the cost impact on students.
Kyle Goodin, professor of accounting at Missouri State University, uses an online homework system from McGraw Hill, where he also consultant. He said the platform, called Connect, has increased student engagement and improved “dropout, failure, withdrawal” rates for some classes.
“I think the value students are getting for what they’re paying for is astronomical,” Goodin said.
In Goodin financial accounting course, for example, students pay $152 for a digital book, homework manager, proctoring service, and additional resources per semester. Goodin said the homework platform allows students to immerse themselves in data analysis and visualization, which is increasingly important in the accounting field.
“I remember paying a lot more than that, for a lot less, when I was a student,” Goodin said.
Moving to open educational resources
Back in 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic forced campuses to close, major publishers made online homework platforms free. Many instructors incorporated them into their courses and continued to use them even after the fees were refunded.
But Clinton-Liesel said the results of her study suggest that faculty may seek more open education resources — course materials available under a public domain or open license that are free or available for a nominal fee.
Dan Xie, policy director of PIRG Campus Action, said that in a world where knowledge and information are everywhere, students should not have to pay exorbitant amounts to learn course material and do their homework.
“We have open textbooks … that are of extremely high quality, peer-reviewed, that educators can and do choose from,” Xie said.
But professors like Goodin are skeptical about the widespread use of open educational resources.
“These textbook companies like Wiley and McGraw Hill and Pearson have authors who are proven subject matter experts,” he said. Goodin said he doesn’t believe at this point that open source textbooks can provide as much value compared to what publishers’ textbooks offer.
Still, there is a movement to try and incentivize educators—through grants and scholarships—to create their own open textbooks and teaching materials.
