Years ago, Victoria Clinton-Lisell, a professor of educational psychology at the University of North Dakota, decided to use a commercial textbook for her class along with an online homework platform.
Clinton-Lisell said the publishing company rep told her that if she used their homework platform in her course, students would benefit from adaptive learning technology. If students got the questions wrong, they would be given questions more suited for them — “so it was ‘scaffolded,’” Clinton-Lisell said. She was also told this homework was “free.” What she didn’t learn until later was that the homework platform was free with the purchase of the hard copy of the book.
“It was a lot of education buzzwords that, being an educational psychologist, I was very interested in,” she said. When class started, a student approached her wanting to use the hard copy from a friend who took the class the previous term. But the student wondered how to access the homework. Clinton-Lisell realized students would need to pay for a new copy of the book before they could do the exercises she was so excited about.
“I had all these students who had to purchase access,” she said.
In recent years, use of online homework systems that students gain access to by buying a code has become more widespread. A recent survey conducted by Clinton-Lisell and her colleague Alison Kelly, found that nearly 80% of students say they have been required to purchase an access code to an online homework system. A 2022 study found most faculty in the United States, 72%, have required or recommended use of online homework systems for their students to complete coursework in at least one of their classes.
Often the homework systems are bundled with required digital or hard copy textbooks and the digital platforms offer students supplemental materials such as practice questions, quizzes and videos. And they come with a price tag — an average of $90 per course, according to the survey findings.
“If you’re taking five courses and they all require access codes, that is an additional $450 for that semester that you need to pay just to do your homework,” Clinton-Lisell said. “It creates a financial barrier to what used to be free resources.”
Access codes for homework platforms, created by educational publishing companies, are assigned individually, are not reusable by others and they expire after a certain period of time. For many students, their grades could be dependent on whether they complete assignments within the system.
The survey conducted by Clinton-Lisell and Kelly received responses from 966 students at campuses across the county.
Some students noted in the survey that they like the immediate feedback they receive from the homework systems and that it encourages interaction with their courses. But others complained of costs and were concerned that questions in the homework systems might be different from what’s being presented in class.
In the survey, Black students said the homework systems were more helpful compared to other students. Latinx students were more likely to say that their grades went down because they were not able to afford access codes. Additionally, more first-generation students reported avoiding certain courses requiring online homework systems compared to continuing-generation students, according to the survey.
“We are always sensitive to and aware of the challenges that students face in the context of the environment these days and the costs that they’re having to navigate and juggle, and that is one of the motivations and drivers for us to how to sort of create digital products that are affordable, of high quality and improve student outcomes,” said Kate Edwards, senior vice president of efficacy and research at Pearson, one of the largest course material publishers in the country.
Students think the price of doing homework is “unreasonable”
Features of an online homework platform often include quizzes, interactive problems, videos and other visuals that can help students learn course concepts.
In the survey by Clinton-Lisell, students described the costs of online homework systems to be “somewhat unreasonable.” In comparison, the price students considered to be fair for these features was one-third of the actual figure.
Jake Twomey, a student at University of California Santa Barbara and a member of Student Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) is appalled by the idea of paying for homework.
“[Students are] not the most well off people,” said Twomey. “I know students who sometimes, really unfortunately, have to make the decision between buying access codes for a class, or getting dinner tomorrow. These are very real decisions for students.”
Students in the survey also questioned the seamlessness of the systems. Clinton-Lisell said many students feel that because publishers are the ones creating the exercises, professors end up not being knowledgeable about the problems their students are working on or they are unable to help troubleshoot technical issues that might come up.
“[Faculty are] not involved in curating or developing the homework, or at least as much,” said Clinton-Lissel, citing a lack of alignment sometimes between the homework and the class content.
Edwards said Pearson’s online homework platforms such as MyLab, provides a selection of assessments from the core content of a course and an instructor is then able to have “the flexibility to select the questions that they think are most suitable for their own class context.” Edwards adds that there are many opportunities for an instructor to personalize and ensure that their classes and the assignments align.
What historically underrepresented students say about homework platforms
First-generation college students are spending more per semester for online materials compared to their continuing-generation peers, according to the survey. At the same time, 11% of first-generation students reported failing a class because they could not afford the access codes compared with 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 costs of online homework systems.
“We have students who are already marginalized by systemic barriers now being given another,” said Clinton-Lisell.
Latinx students reported high levels of stress over the cost of online homework systems and were more likely to not purchase textbooks, and have their grades suffer because of it. Black students said they paid for more access codes than any other student groups but had the lowest stress levels related to cost.
The benefits to online homework systems
Despite the fees, some students who were part of Clinton-Lisell’s survey did report benefits. Black students in particular said they were useful and reported more course content engagement compared to other students.
Clinton-Lisell said that in the survey, students praised the idea of homework itself rather than the platforms where they complete the work.
“They want to be able to practice, they don’t want to wait until the test to find out if they know it, and it’s a way for them to support 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. The online systems will often include videos and other visuals to explain complex ideas.
But Clinton-Lisell said those benefits should be weighed against the impact of costs on students.
Kyle Goodin, an accounting professor at Missouri State University, uses an online homework system by McGraw Hill, where he is also a consultant. He said the platform, called Connect, has increased student engagement and improved “drop, fail, withdrawal” rates for some classes.
“I think the value that students get for what they pay for these is astronomical,” Goodin said.
In Goodin’s financial accounting course, for example, students pay $152 for a digital book, homework manager, proctoring service and additional resources per term. Goodin said because of the homework platform, students can immerse themselves in data analysis and visualizations, which is increasingly important in the field of accounting.
“I remember paying much more than this, for much less when I was a student,” Goodin said.
Moving toward open education resources
Back in 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic forced campuses to shut down, big publishers made online homework platforms free. Many faculty incorporated them into their courses and have kept on using them even after the fees were reinstated.
But Clinton-Lisell said results of her survey shows faculty could look more into open education resources — course materials available under public domain or open license that are free or accessible at a nominal fee.
Dan Xie, political director of PIRG Campus Action, said in a world where knowledge and information is everywhere, students shouldn’t have to pay exorbitant amounts to learn course material and do their homework.
“We have open textbooks … that are extremely high quality, peer reviewed, that professors can and do choose from,” Xie said.
But professors like Goodin are skeptical about widespread use of open education resources.
“These textbook companies like Wiley and McGraw Hill and Pearson, they’ve got authors that are vetted experts in their subject matter,” he said. Goodin said he doesn’t believe, at this point in time, that open-source textbooks can provide as much value compared to what publishers’ course materials provide.
Still, there’s a movement to try and incentivize faculty — through grants and stipends — into creating their own open textbooks and course materials.
“I really think that’s the future of education,” said Xie.
Online homework access fees are growing, and no, buying a used book doesn’t help. MindShift
