Do weekly on-line homework assignments promote student engagement and enhance learning in first year psychology students?

Traditionally universities have employed face-to-face teaching with paper-mediated assignments, but increasingly digital delivery of some course elements is becoming more important. This paper will evaluate whether the use of on-line formative weekly assignments provided by the core text publisher resulted in improved student engagement and exam performance. A mixed method research design was employed which used an online survey and face-to-face interviews carried out in small focus groups. A comparison was also made of the final exam grades of students who regularly did/not engage with the on-line materials. The results indicate that the resources are positively received by students but primarily used as a revision tool. Their use may also be positively related to academic achievement but perhaps only by those already using effective learning strategies.