Paper and online assignments in economics: A comparison with panel data

This paper compares the effectiveness of online and paper-based assignments and tutorials using summative assessment results. Students in a large managerial economics course at NUI Galway were asked to do three assignments online using Aplia and one on paper. We examined whether a student's performance on a particular section of the exam was affected (a) by how s/he performed on the corresponding assignment and (b) by whether the student completed the corresponding assignment on paper or online. Our results suggest that the paper assignments were generally more effective than online assignments in preparing students to answer exam questions.