Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are usually six to ten weeks long. Participation tends to decrease as the courses progress, leading to low completion rates. This led to the question: Could shorter MOOCs contribute to learners' engagement, retention and success? This paper compares two versions of Study Skills MOOC, which shared the same…

The Future Skills Report about the future of learning and higher Education (Ehlers & Kellermann, 2019) defines a variety of skills in which the active learner plays a central role. Starting from this perspective, our idea is to promote future skills with a digital data-driven study assistant for. As a theoretical foundation research about…

The Essential Skills Team knows that each student has a unique learning style, home and school environment, academic and personal strengths and experiences, and family backgrounds. One of the goals when creating the Essential Skills Campus was to provide resources that harness the strengths and experiences students bring with them to their first…

Students' perceptions during their first semester at university may be critical in the decision to continue or discontinue studies. In this study we consider students' perceptions of what factors enable successful transition to university. Using qualitative research, students' perceptions are obtained by in-depth interviews and focus groups that…

This study investigated the combined predictive validity of intelligence and personality factors on multiple measures of academic achievement. Students in a college of higher education in the Netherlands (N = 137) completed a survey that measured intelligence, the Big Five personality traits, motivation, and four specific personality traits.…

Academic coaching can be a crucial step in helping students transition to college. Coaches work with students to be strategic in establishing and achieving their academic goals as well as becoming engaged on campus. At the University of South Carolina, academic coaching is defined as a one-on-one interaction with a student focusing on strengths,…

All young people, including foster youth and youth with disabilities, can succeed academically given adequate support and advocacy from educators, professionals, and their caregivers. Casey Family Programs (www.casey.org), a Seattle-based national operating foundation that has served children, youth, and families in the child welfare system since…

A revised orientation week program at Flinders University is described that emphasized the "care group" concept in which the new students were assigned to a small, carefully organized group within the larger group. Support programs such as one for study skills are underway. (LBH)

Examined the effects of goal instability on performance of students enrolled in learning skills courses (N=60). Results showed students with high goal instability had lower grade point averages than students with low goal instability. (BH)

This study sought to evaluate the impact of orientation, general levels of adjustment, differences between orientation attending and non-attending students, and differences between faculty and student academic performance evaluations for freshmen at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania during the crucial first six weeks on campus. From a pool…

Compared the effect of study skills or adjustment workshops on college freshmen (N=304). Workshops were held the first week of the fall term, and students were evaluated at the end of the term. No enduring changes were found, but students who attended the adjustment skills workshop earned higher mathematics grades. (JAC)

Research suggests mature college students use more desirable approaches to academic learning, adopting a deep approach (meaning orientation) more often and a surface approach less often than younger students. Explanations include motivation by intrinsic goals; acquisition of a surface approach by younger students in secondary education; and…

A national survey was conducted which examined the scope of freshman seminar programming, the characteristics of these seminars, and the variance between different types of freshman seminars with respect to their goals, topics addressed, and other characteristics. The study surveyed 2,460 regionally-accredited colleges and universities of whom…

This study, fourth in a series examining factors related to involvement in academic tasks, considers the ways in which cognitive, affective, and motivational variables associated with involvement change over various phases of completing an actual academic task (studying for a final examination). The phases of studying were: (1) just about to begin…

Describes a six-week residential orientation and study skills program for educationally disadvantaged students at Livingston College, New Jersey, which includes mock registration, developmental workshops, content study skills courses, purposeful nonacademic activities, and group counseling, and which is adapted to the needs of a multiethnic,…