Abstract
Many students use ineffective learning strategies. They tend to start too late and learn in a superficial way, without integrating different parts of the study materials. To help students in Psychological Assessment in Youth overcome these problems, we designed online study-aids to spread their learning over the semester (distributed practice) and provide them with self-test questions (practice testing). Study-aids covered the last week’s course readings and consisted of 10 to 15 questions presented in several stimulating closed formats (e.g., connecting one theory with another, or filling out norm scores in a bell curve). Participation was voluntary and promoted using an incentive system. The study-aids were evaluated in two cohorts of students (2018: N = 94; 2019: N = 84). Participation was good: 79% of the students completed the study-aids (range 69–85%). Satisfaction was high: most students indicated that the study-aids supported their studies well (89%). Exam performance improved significantly upon introduction of the study-aids (comparison cohort 2017: N = 69), although more so for the midterm exam ( r = 0.47) than for the final exam ( r = 0.17). These findings suggest that online study-aids can stimulate effective learning by helping students distribute and self-test their learning.
Highlights
Many students use ineffective learning strategies when they autonomously study course materials (Dunlosky et al, 2013)
The study-aids were introduced in the year 2018 (N 1⁄4 94 students) and used again in the year 2019 (N 1⁄4 84 students)
This study shows that weekly online study-aids may stimulate effective learning
Summary
Many students use ineffective learning strategies when they autonomously study course materials (Dunlosky et al, 2013). Psychology students are no exception (Hartwig & Dunlosky, 2012; Gurung, 2005; Gurung et al, 2010; Karpicke et al, 2009). In an influential review study, Dunlosky and colleagues (2013) assessed the utility of 10 common learning strategies by reviewing whether these strategies lead to positive learning outcomes that were robust and generalizable (i.e., across different ages, settings, and types of materials to be learned). They found that frequently used strategies such as summarization, highlighting, and rereading had low utility. Two learning strategies had high utility: distributed practice and practice testing
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