Document Type
Article
Abstract
Technology is used in undergraduate courses to engage students and provide feedback about understanding. TopHat is an application which displays multiple choice questions mid-class. In this field experiment, we determine if displaying or hiding the distribution of peer responses has an impact on exam scores. When students see peer responses, we observe information cascades on both correct and incorrect answers. Getting an individual TopHat question correct predicts a 1.3 percentage point increase on final exam scores, however we find no difference in predictive power between treatments. Participating in one negative cascade predicts that a student will score approximately five percentage points lower on the final exam. Showing students peer feedback may be harmful, as they may get the question wrong in the presence of peer feedback when they may have otherwise answered correctly. Participating in a negative cascade predicts a five-percentage point reduction on final exam scores.
Recommended Citation
Cook, Amanda C.; Bland, James; and Meisner, Andrew
(2021)
"Information cascades in the classroom: the relationship between in-class feedback and course performance,"
The Journal of Economics and Politics: Vol. 26:
Iss.
1, Article 3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59604/1046-2309.1025
Available at:
https://collected.jcu.edu/jep/vol26/iss1/3