Study Behavior in Computing Education—A Systematic Literature Review

As the field of computing education grows and matures, it has become essential to unite computing education and higher education research. Educational research has highlighted that how students study is crucial to their learning progress, and study behaviors have been found to play an important role in students’ academic success. This article presents the main results of a systematic literature review intended to determine what we know about the study behaviors of computing students and the role of educational design in shaping them. A taxonomy of study behaviors was developed and used to clarify and classify the definitions of study behavior, process, strategies, habits, and tactics as well as to identify their relationship to the educational context. The literature search resulted in 107 included papers, which were analyzed according to defined criteria and variables. The review of study behavior terminology found that the same terms are used to describe substantially different study behaviors, and the lack of standard terminology makes it difficult to compare findings from different papers. Furthermore, it was more common for papers to use study behaviors to explain other aspects of students rather than exploring and understanding them. Additionally, the results revealed a tendency to focus on specific educational contexts, predominantly introductory programming courses. Although computing education as a field is well equipped to expand the knowledge about both study behaviors and their connection to the educational context, the lack of common terminology and theories limits the impact. The taxonomy of study behaviors in computing education proposed in this article can contribute to contextualizing the research in such a way that researchers and educators across institutional borders can compare and utilize results. Last, the article outlines some areas for future research and recommendations for practice.

Applying SOAR Strategies to Curb Digital Distractions While Note Taking and Studying

Students are distracted by mobile technology in the classroom when learning from lectures and outside the classroom when studying. Students are susceptible to distractions because they are not fully engaged in learning. In the classroom, they record notes mindlessly that capture just one-third of important lesson ideas. When they study outside the classroom, they study information in a piecemeal fashion and employ mindless repetition strategies. These weak and unengaging learning strategies open the door for digital distractions. One potential means to engage students in meaningful learning and to offset digital distractions is an integrated strategy system called SOAR, which stands for select, organize, associate, and regulate. This chapter describes SOAR and how instructors can maximize SOAR's components to curb digital distractions by improving student note taking in the classroom and study behaviors outside the classroom. The chapter concludes by specifying how instructors can teach students to SOAR on their own.

Exploring online study behaviors of adult learners: A case study focusing on teachers’ professional development program

It requires a lot of energy to support the adoption of online learning by adult learners. Thus, the question of how online learning intersects with adult learning may provide meaningful pathways to understanding online learning per se. This study aims to understand the online study behaviors of teachers enrolled in an online Educational Technology Master’s program. This case study involved a Research Methods course, which was part of an online project for teachers. An online control list form and interviews were used as data collection tools. The results indicated that sharing, problem solving, product development, monitoring, and research were prominent activities that shape the study behaviors. While some of the behaviors in these activities indicated the reshaping of previous study behaviors, other behaviors newly appeared during the program. Characteristics of adult learners, online setting features, and the context of the projects were the main factors that influenced study behaviors. Finally, the implications for better online adult learning experiences are addressed.

Challenges of Shaping Student Study Strategies for Success

This paper reports results from a mixed-methods intervention conducted in partnership between a faculty member and an undergraduate to shape student study strategies for success in an introductory course. The instructor provided students with information on the effectiveness of the successive relearning study strategy, conducted an in-class demonstration of the strategy, and explained how students could apply the strategy to their study plan for the first exam. Students were asked about their planned study behaviors for the first exam before the intervention and exam and about their actual study behaviors for the exam after the intervention and exam. Students were asked before the intervention what an instructor could do to convince them to try a new strategy, and again after the intervention whether or not they adopted the new strategy and why. Quantitative results indicated that the intervention had no effect on students’ study behaviors, contrary to the predictions of the prior literature. Qualitative analyses suggested that students were open to learning more effective ways to study and thought that interventions like the one used in this investigation would convince them to try a new strategy. However, students were unable to use successive relearning because of procrastination and time management issues.

Challenges of Shaping Student Study Strategies for Success

This paper reports results from a mixed-methods intervention conducted in partnership between a faculty member and an undergraduate to shape student study strategies for success in an introductory course. The instructor provided students with information on the effectiveness of the successive relearning study strategy, conducted an in-class demonstration of the strategy, and explained how students could apply the strategy to their study plan for the first exam. Students were asked about their planned study behaviors for the first exam before the intervention and exam and about their actual study behaviors for the exam after the intervention and exam. Students were asked before the intervention what an instructor could do to convince them to try a new strategy, and again after the intervention whether or not they adopted the new strategy and why. Quantitative results indicated that the intervention had no effect on students’ study behaviors, contrary to the predictions of the prior literature. Qualitative analyses suggested that students were open to learning more effective ways to study and thought that interventions like the one used in this investigation would convince them to try a new strategy. However, students were unable to use successive relearning because of procrastination and time management issues.

Intended and Actual Changes in Study Behaviors in an Introductory and Upper-Level Psychology Course

We examined self-directed studying of students in an introductory (Study 1) and upper-level (Study 2) psychology course. Students reported their study behaviors for Exam 1 and 2, and wrote Exam 2 study plans. In both studies, students planned to and ultimately did use more active strategies for Exam 2 than Exam 1. However, they struggled to follow through on plans to space studying over time. In Study 1, we also found that greater use of active strategies (e.g., retrieval practice) was associated with higher exam scores when controlling for factors such as study time. Our findings highlight that students across course levels are interested in changing their study behaviors and we note implications for instructors.