Out of Order, Out of Reach: Navigating Assignment Sequences for STEM Success
Pacing, or the timing of students’ assignment submissions, has been shown to have an important relationship to course performance. Less is known about how the submission order or sequencing of assignment submissions relates to course performance. This study found that the order in which students submitted assignments in their online STEM courses is related to their final grades, with students who submitted all assignments in line with pacing guide recommendations outperforming peers who did not. Indeed, students’ final grades decreased as deviations from the pacing guide increased.
