#709: Optional Self-Explanation Tasks in Practice: Participation Rate, Explanation Quality, and Performance

The benefits of self-explanation for learning have been well researched, yet we know little about whether students engage in self-explanation when the tasks are optional. This study investigates participation rates, explanation quality, and their correlation with student performance in an introductory online chemistry course with 129 students. We found that 53% of students voluntarily participated in an optional self-explanation activity and 66.18% of their self-explanations were judged as high-quality by experts. Self-explanation quality was positively correlated with student performance in the course, as measured by formative and summative assessments. These results suggest that while optional self-explanation tasks effectively attract students overall, the intervention may primarily be supporting already high-performing students. Nevertheless, the high quality of generated self-explanations indicates that keeping the activities optional while focusing on increasing the rate of participation could lead to better outcomes at scale when compared requiring mandatory participation.