Does personalized goal setting and study planning improve academic performance and perception of learning experience in a developing setting?

Self-Regulated Learning Practice of Undergraduate Students in Health Professions Programs

BACKGROUND

University students are expected to take charge of their learning without being dependent on teachers. Self-regulated learning (SRL) is the process by which students direct their learning to achieve their set targets and goals in a timely and controlled manner. This study was undertaken to explore the practice of SRL by undergraduate students from different programs in a health science focused university during COVID-19 pandemic.

METHOD

Thirty-three undergraduate students of five health professions education programs were recruited to take part in focus group discussions to explore their SRL practice with online learning. Their responses were subjected to thematic analysis.

RESULT

Our students appeared to practice SRL, going through the phases of forethought and goal setting, performance and self-reflection. They set goals for academic as well as personal development in the university. Academic goals like achieving target GPA or marks were achieved by following different study techniques, personal management including time management, and by creating a conducive learning environment. Personal development such as interpersonal skills, social networking was achieved through socializing and participating in extracurricular activities. The students also engaged in self-reflection and analysis of their own performance followed by designing strategies to manage the challenges they faced.

CONCLUSION

Undergraduates of health professions programs appear to show evidence of practicing SRL. Although impacted by COVID-19 induced lockdown and online learning, they seem to have strategized and achieved their goals through individualized SRL processes. Promoting and fostering an atmosphere of SRL in universities to cater to the needs of the students would help them be more successful in their careers.

Developing a Social Determinants of Learning™ Framework: A Case Study

Supplemental digital content is available in the text.

AIM

The aim of the study was to propose a framework, social determinants of learning™ (SDOL™), an actionable model to address learning disparities and expand learning opportunities to support nursing student diversity, equity, and inclusion.

BACKGROUND

There is significant growth in the racial and ethnic diversity across students at all levels of higher education, mirroring the growing diversity of the US population. Yet, lower rates of persistence and higher attrition rates among these student groups continue.

METHOD

The authors established six socially imposed forces, causative domains, as foundational to the SDOL framework. Key attributes of each domain were identified through a literature search. A case study illustrates an initial study of interventions targeting specific domains of the framework aimed toward student success.

CONCLUSION

Equitable education for all has far-reaching implications across nursing education and higher education in general. Further development and testing of the SDOL framework will support the goal of equitable education for all.

The Impact of Strengthening Study Habits for Medical Students During COVID-19 Academic Transition: a Mixed-Methods Study

PURPOSE

Assess the impact of learner-specific interventions on third-year medical students to cope with quarantine distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

We conducted a nested cross-sectional and mixed-methods study in a sample of 81 third-year medical students. Two face-to-face interventions were designed and conducted to offer tools to improve study habits, time management, and prioritizing skills. A nine-item structured questionnaire was administered. Descriptive statistics was performed for the quantitative section and thematic analysis for the qualitative section.

RESULTS

Of the study population, 74.1% (60/81) completed the online questionnaire, 65.4% were female, and the mean age of the sample was 21.4±1.2 years old. Overall, ~50% of participants affirmed that the workshops were useful to improve time management, organize tasks and adapt to the new study modality imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 60% of the students found the application of the provided tools during the interventions (SMART and COMPASS) useful to determine personal values and set a proper mindset for coping with distance learning. Further, 93.3% of the respondents applied the SMART strategy learned to set goals at least once during the confinement time. These findings were also seen in the thematic analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, most of the students found the workshops useful and were able to practice what they had learned during this pandemic lockdown. Medical schools and higher education institutions should evaluate the possibility of formally including study habit preparation for undergraduates' students in order to provide resilience and successful academic adaptation during an ever-changing world.

Investigating mechanisms for recruiting and retaining volunteers: The role of habit strength and planning in volunteering engagement

Volunteering rates in high-income countries are declining. Most research into understanding volunteering engagement has focused on conscious processes (e.g., motives), with little exploration of non-conscious antecedents of volunteering engagement. Adopting a new line of investigation, this research used temporal self-regulation theory to investigate the influence of both rational and automatic processes on volunteering engagement. Two related studies using different methodologies were conducted to investigate the influence of intention, planning, and habit strength on volunteering engagement. In both studies, intention and habit strength were significant predictors of volunteering engagement, with planning only significantly predicting volunteering engagement in Study 1. It was also found, in Study 2, that habit strength moderated the intention-behavior relationship. These findings highlight that both rational and automatic processes play a part in volunteering engagement and have implications for recruiting and retaining volunteers.