Homework is increasingly being auto-administered online with systems that offer numerous assignment settings. This paper discusses the results of a quasi-experiment designed to evaluate student behavior under single and multiple attempt homework settings using an online homework management system. We explore whether or not multiple attempts lead to more effort and improved performance, and evaluate alternative, less desirable, behaviors that are potentially incentivized. We find that multiple attempts lead to “guessing” behavior and in turn grade inflation, hence improving scores without improving learning outcomes.
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