When learning new information, should students focus on studying 1 concept at a time or should they alternate studying between different concepts? Recent research shows that students should mix up or interleave the study of different concepts, particularly when the concepts are related or hard to discriminate (Carvalho & Goldstone, 2015). But…

In this study, we assessed instructor and student attitudes and knowledge toward research methods (RM). Instructors (N = 62) answered questions about course format, topic importance, and resources. Students (N = 166) of some of those instructors answered questions regarding attitudes toward research. Five major factors organize topics that…

We theorize 5 dimensions of academic disengagement based on students' values, motivations, study behaviors, academic interactions, and competing involvements. Using 2010 survey data from the University of California, we find support for this conceptualization. The size of disengaged populations varied between 5% and 25%, depending on the measure…

The library landscape is changing at a fast pace, with an increase in the demand for study space including quiet, individualized study space; open group study space; and as enclosed group study space. In large academic libraries, managing limited high-demand resources is crucial and is partially being driven by the greater emphasis on group…

More than a century of research shows that increasing the gap between study episodes using the same material can enhance retention, yet little is known about how this so-called distributed practice effect unfolds over nontrivial periods. In two three-session laboratory studies, we examined the effects of gap on retention of foreign vocabulary,…

In 2015, the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) collected responses from more than 315,000 first-year and senior students attending 585 bachelor's degree-granting colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. This report presents selected NSSE results from students at 541 U.S. institutions or subsets of that group where…

Class attendance and out-of-class study time are known to be strongly associated with academic engagement and college GPA. The paper examines two other uses of time as influences on academic outcomes: those devoted to active engagements with friends and community as opposed to passive entertainments, and those that connect students to campus life…