Graduate-level reading groups serve as a primary forum for students to learn current and complex concepts in their field. Because graduate students lament that reading "abnormally long" articles discourage them from attending particular reading group sessions, we tested the hypothesis that attendance will decrease proportionally with…

Background: Online learning is becoming a global phenomenon and has a steadily growing influence on how learning is delivered at universities worldwide. Motivation of students, however, has become one of the most serious problems in one important aspect of online learning--online collaborative groupwork or online group homework. It is surprising…

The authors explore how and to what extent students use their textbooks. Data was collected through a survey regarding when reading is primarily done, how the textbook is used for studying, and which specific study strategies the students used. The results indicate that students know it is important to read, know the professor expects them to…

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 aim of this study was to examine students' (N = 579) achievement goal orientation profiles, the temporal stability of these profiles across the transition to upper secondary education, and profile differences in academic well-being (i.e., school value, school burnout, schoolwork engagement, satisfaction with educational choice). By means of…

The IL-HUMASS survey is applied to a sample of Spanish Social Sciences and Humanities students in an attempt to gain a better understanding of their information literacy from an internal perspective. We analyze scores for three dimensions (motivation, self-efficacy and learning habits) of each of the survey's 26 variables, grouped into 4…

This study presents a survey developed to measure the skills of entering college freshmen in the areas of responsibility, motivation, study habits, literacy, and stress management, and explores the predictive power of this survey as a measure of academic performance during the first semester of college. The survey was completed by 334 incoming…

Ten years ago when Ruffalo Noel Levitz (RNL) published its annual study of freshman motivations, those students were entering college in the shadow of the worst recession since the Great Depression. That report, which examined attitudes of students from 2009, provided insight into their motivations, attitudes, and needs in the midst of a very…

Motivation plays a crucial role in learning. Motivation energizes the behavior of the individual. It also directs the behavior towards specific goals. It helps students acquire knowledge, develop social qualities, increase initiation, persist in activities, improve performance, and develop a sense of discipline. This paper aims to compare the…

Academic dishonesty is a persistent problem in institutions of higher education, with numerous short- and long-term implications. This study examines undergraduate students' self-reported engagement in acts of academic dishonesty using data from a sample of 321 participants attending a public university in a western Canadian city during the fall…

This paper presents a reflection on students' levels and types of motivation at a college of health sciences in Saudi Arabia and highlights the social and cultural factors possibly contributing to the differences in motivation among those students. The results of this study, which followed a mixed-methods approach, indicate a multiplicity of…

This project studied the effect of individualized, voluntary learning contracts for 18 students who performed poorly in the first part of the semester. Contracts were hypothesized to increase commitment and motivation, and lead to changes in behaviors and course performance. Self-reported prioritization and learning-related behaviors (completion…

Research on the dualistic model of passion has investigated harmonious and obsessive passion in many domains. However, few studies have investigated passion for studying and the role passion for studying plays in student engagement and well-being. The present study investigated the relationships between harmonious and obsessive passion for…

The objective of this study is to analyze the relationship between preservice teachers' time and study environment management, effort regulation, self-efficacy beliefs, control of learning beliefs and metacognitive self-regulation. This study also investigates the direct and indirect effects of metacognitive self-regulation on time and study…

The purpose of this study was to examine the different perceptions that shape African American male high school students' understanding of their academic experiences that lead to their success or lack of success in school. In addition, the study identified factors that explain the underachievement of African American male students who are…