Balancing homework and video instruction: a repeated cross-sectional analysis of CAD course outcomes

Vasileska, Ivona (author), Vukašinović, Nikola (author), Čok, Vanja (author)

Computer-aided design (CAD) courses require students to develop both procedural skills and higher-order modeling competencies. This 10-year repeated cross-sectional study (N = 1952 students, 2013–2023) examined how replacing mandatory graded homework and the structured practice and feedback mechanisms it provided with optional short instructional videos affected performance. Using descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, interrupted time-series models, and student-level regression with clustered standard errors, we analyzed outcomes across pre-intervention (homework), post-intervention (video), and COVID remote-instruction periods. Results show that although homework and video instruction produced equivalent performance on basic modeling tasks (PE1), the homework period was associated with significantly higher performance on complex modeling tasks (PE2) and modestly higher final grades. The video-based period was associated with elevated failure rates, particularly for complex exams, whereas COVID period introduced temporary grade inflation that masked these effects. Findings indicate that while instructional videos effectively support basic procedural learning, structured homework with feedback remains essential for developing advanced modeling competencies. The results highlight the importance of aligning self-learning methods with task complexity and suggest that a combined approach may best support student success in CAD education.

• Language: English
• Keywords: mechanical engineering, CAD course, student performance, homework, instructional videos
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FS - Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: 23 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 16, iss. 5, art. 731
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-182289
• UDC: 621:004.896
• ISSN on article: 2227-7102
• DOI: 10.3390/educsci16050731
• COBISS.SI-ID: 277209347
• Publication date in RUL: 06.05.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Education sciences
• Shortened title: Educ. sci.
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 2227-7102
• COBISS.SI-ID: 520257817

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: strojništvo, tečaji CAD, uspešnost študentov, domače naloge, izobraževalni videoposnetki

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P2-0425
• Name: Decentralizirane rešitve za digitalizacijo industrije ter pametnih mest in skupnosti