Understanding Student Effort Using Response-Time Propensities During Problem Solving

Conrad Borchers, Lijin Zhang, Kexin Yang et al. (2026) — Response-time analysis for student effort during problem solving.

📄 Full text (arXiv)

Key Findings

Adaptive learning systems produce substantial learning gains, yet many students engage too briefly or superficially to benefit. This paper addresses the central challenge of measuring student effort during multi-step problem solving using response-time propensities.^[raw/papers/2605.08943.md]

The authors develop models that infer student effort from response-time patterns, finding that common log-based proxies like time-on-task are insufficient. They propose response-time propensity modeling as a more nuanced approach to identifying when students are superficially engaging versus deeply working through problems.^[raw/papers/2605.08943.md]

Connections to AIED

This work directly connects to learning-analytics by providing a validated method for inferring effort from interaction logs. It has implications for adaptive-learning-systems that could use early effort detection to intervene before students disengage.^[raw/papers/2605.08943.md]

The approach also relates to engagement-assessment-video and broader assessment frameworks, suggesting that response-time analysis could complement other engagement signals in multi-modal effort detection systems.

Related Pages

• computational-thinking-ai-agent-creation — Iterative testing engagement as predictor of learning gains

• learning-analytics — Response-time propensity modeling as a learning analytics technique

• adaptive-learning-systems — Effort detection enables adaptive intervention before disengagement

• engagement-assessment-video — Multi-modal engagement assessment combining response-time and other signals

• assessment — Response-time analysis as a formative assessment tool

• sequenced-ai-feedback-learning — Feedback timing should account for detected effort levels

Citation

APA: Borchers, C., Zhang, L., Yang, K., Nagashima, T., & Domingue, B. W. (2026). Understanding student effort using response-time propensities during problem solving. arXiv:2605.08943.