Recent research shows the importance to teach students the self-regulated use of effective learning strategies at university. However, the effects of such training programs on students' metacognitive knowledge, use of learning strategies, and academic performance in the longer term are unknown. In the present study, all first-year pharmacology…

Recent approaches to initial teacher education programmes consider non-academic qualities when selecting prospective teachers. The motivation to become a teacher is crucial in the admission to, progression in, and graduation from initial teacher education programmes. Previous research has highlighted the association between motivational factors…

The massification and diversification of the student population who enters university has become a challenge for Higher Education institutions. A better consideration of this diversity could help to gain a greater understanding of students' achievement process, and this requires observing situations where this diversity is substantial. Thus, in…

Study habits drive a large portion of how university students study. Some of these habits are not effective in fostering academic achievement. To support students in breaking old, ineffective habits and forming new, effective study habits, an in-depth understanding of what students' study habits look like and how they are both formed and broken is…

Most universities teach mathematics in the first year and the complexity of the subject demands also different levels of mathematics. Although students understand the reason why they need to learn mathematics, there are more than half of students struggling during the math classes. It is also interesting to compare male and female students' study…

The foundation of how students usually learn is laid early in their academic lives. However, many or even most students do not primarily rely on those learning strategies that are most favorable from a scientific point of view. To change students' learning behavior when they start their university education, we developed a computer-based adaptive…

How can instructors help students adopt effective learning strategies? In this study, students in a large introductory psychology class completed a "learning how to learn" assignment in which they read one of four randomly assigned empirical articles about the utility of a learning strategy (i.e., distributed practice, rereading,…

This combined interview and survey study explored the relationship between interview data and data from an inventory describing engineering students' ratings of their approaches to studying. Using the 18-item Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST) students were asked to rate their approaches to studying in relation to…

Students must master content for success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), but "how to" is rarely taught in college. Faculty are reluctant to sacrifice class time, believe such instruction is remedial, or assume students possess or will attain these skills independently. To determine whether explicit…

How students manage their time is critical for academic performance and is an important component of self-regulated learning. The purpose of the present study was to examine relationships among first-year college students' (N = 589) time use, academic self-regulation, and target and actual grade point average (GPA) at three time points. Findings…

Background: How students go about studying, including the learning activities that students engage in both during and between classes, is not easily understood. Previous research indicates that critical student features, such as approaches to learning and decisions of how to organise studying activities, develop in bidirectional interactions…

Research shows that a surface approach to learning is more common among students in the natural sciences, while students representing the "soft" sciences are more likely to apply a deep approach. However, findings conflict concerning the stability of approaches to learning in general. This study explores the variation in students'…

Self-regulated learning (SRL) plays a key role in student's academic achievement. This study used a social cognitive lens and qualitative methods to discover and describe the SRL of a group of eight students during their first semester in college. Each participant was interviewed four times at strategic points between August and December 2012. In…

First-year university students (n = 199) completed an online questionnaire that queried their purchase of paper books and eBooks for university study and personal interest. The questionnaire also required students to rate their learning characteristics including reading strategies, study self-regulation, learning control beliefs and achievement…

The purpose of this study was to explore the motivational characteristics and learning behaviors affecting at-risk college students. To explore how motivation and learning behaviors are related to academic achievement, the relationships between (a) self-efficacy; (b) learning and study strategy indicators; and (c) academic outcomes were assessed.…