Do undergraduate students know and use "distributed practice," the strategy of spacing apart learning opportunities over time, and "interleaved practice," the strategy of alternating between topics during learning? What beliefs do students hold about how learning should be scheduled, and how are common learning activities--such…

The motivation to study may affect students' successes and setbacks in their studies. Research has shown that multiple factors affect students' motivation to study. The purpose of this article is to describe how students conceptualize the motivation to study. We gathered empirical data through group interviews with 32 Swedish students in six study…

The paper discusses children' attitudes towards school and learning soon after entering primary school in Hungary. First and second grade primary school students (N = 33) were interviewed. The interviews explored the following questions: What are the teachers' and the children's roles in the classroom? What is learning? Where do children learn?…

Feedback is a key concern for higher education practitioners, yet there is little evidence concerning the aspects of assessment feedback information that higher education students prioritise when their lecturers' time and resources are stretched. One recent study found that, in such circumstances, students actually perceive feedback information…

Conceptions of learning are seen as an important factor in shaping students' patterns of learning. However, conceptions are often implicit and difficult to assess. Metaphors have been proposed as a method to assess conceptions, because metaphors are closely linked to the conceptual system. Therefore, in our study we assessed which conceptions of…

Background: Students' beliefs about their intellectual ability influence their use of learning strategies, learning effort, and response to failure or setbacks. Students with incremental views of intelligence believe that learning is possible with sufficient effort, whereas those with entity views believe that intelligence is a fixed quality and…

In Portugal, as in other European countries, gypsy children remain largely at the margins of the educational system. Their underachievement and the associated dropout rates from school are serious educational issues and factors contributing to their marginalization in society. However, there is limited research qualitatively examining the…

College students' implicit theories (or mindsets) about intelligence can affect not only their motivations toward learning, but also their cognitive habits and behaviors while learning thus impacting academic achievement. In this paper we describe learning experiences we used with our learning community to 1) introduce students to the concept of…

Research has shown that in addition to academic knowledge, a variety of noncognitive skills are essential to students' post-secondary success. This article summarizes a review by the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR) that brought together hundreds of studies of factors that have been tied to academic success…

This paper aims to readdress the lack of empirical data concerning university learning and in particular the dynamics students' conceptions of learning may have on students' learning outcomes. This paper is written at a time when the EU commission for Higher Education (HE) through the Bologna Process declaration has put into action, since 1999, a…

President Obama's first address to Congress signaled a shift in educational priorities. He committed his administration to ending the dropout crisis in the nation's public high schools and ensuring that by 2020 America would once again lead the world in the proportion of its population with college degrees. What has not been talked about is that a…

This paper presents a case study of using blended learning to enhance students' language skills and learner autonomy in an Asian university environment. Blended learning represents an educational environment for much of the world where computers and the Internet are readily available. It combines self-study with valuable face-to-face interaction…

In recent years there has been an unprecedented increase in support staff in schools in England and Wales. There were widespread expectations that this will be of benefit to teachers and pupils but there has been little systematic research to address the impact of support staff. This study used a naturalistic longitudinal design to investigate the…

The purpose of this study is to expand understanding and discover knowledge about degree attainment among adult learners. This qualitative inquiry explores what recent non-traditional-age bachelor's degree recipients report contributes to attaining the degree. Professional research and expert material on demographics, motivation, challenges and…

This study sought to evaluate the effectiveness of a two-quarter, extended orientation program for new, undecided students at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). The course was designed to assist students with the transition from high school to college and acquaint them with strategies to maximize their success at UCI. Of the 690 new,…