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Enhanced Learning with Web-Assisted Education

An educational system, the tutor-web (http://tutor-web.net), has been developed and used for educational research. The system is accessible and free to use for anyone having access to the Web. It is based on open source software and the teaching material is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. The system has been used for computer-assisted education in statistics and mathematics. It offers a unique way to structure and link together teaching material and includes interactive quizzes with the primary purpose of increasing learning rather than mere evaluation. The system was used in a course on basic statistics in 2011. Three types of data were gathered during the course. A randomized crossover experiment was conducted to assess the possible difference in learning (measured by repeated exams) between students using the system and students doing regular homework. The difference between the groups was not found to be significant. Responses to quiz questions were collected and analysed with item response theory type models. These analysis were used to improve the item banks. Finally, the students answered an in-class survey regarding their experience using the tutor-web. The responses of the students gave clear indications of student preferences.