Over the course of my academic life, I have been investigating different ways to promote learning in online higher education settings. Two challenges educational psychologists have continuously encountered are: (1) identifying when students are struggling, and (2) providing appropriate support to help them deal with that struggle. These challenges are particularly critical in large-scale online learning.
Educational technology has been a great ally on this journey. It is incredible how much you can unveil about a learner’s journey by following their digital breadcrumbs!
Depending on an activity’s learning environment and design, you may pinpoint when a student becomes confused. For example, a learner taking longer than others to complete an online activity has been identified as a potential marker of confusion. However, we do not want students to be confused for so long that they give up on an activity, and giving them an automated nudge with hints on how to proceed may be a useful type of support (Lodge et al., 2018).
The expected course of action would be for students to follow the advice they receive. But, it is unknown whether a student will act on the support provided. Why is that? Why would a student deny taking up help or directions on succeeding? The answer to this question lies in what is not revealed in those digital breadcrumbs.
For a student to succeed in our unit, perhaps, all we need to do is to try to meet them where they are and help them achieve one of their many competing life goals during that teaching period.
Among some potential explanations, my research (and that of many other researchers) points towards student motivation as crucial to answering this question (de Barba et al., 2016). Not by saying “let’s get the student interested in this topic at this moment so that they do our planned activities”, but by asking “how does this learning experience fit within the students’ lives”.
What does success look like for our students? For one student, it may be getting a high distinction; for another, it may be a pass. For one student, our unit may be the most important in their learning journey; for another, it is the last thing on their priority list.
Preliminary findings from my postdoctoral study clearly indicate what most of us may know, anecdotally, but is yet to be investigated empirically: students use different learning strategies for different units, according to the perceived importance of the unit. Participants in this study identified their most and least important units during a semester. They consistently reported approaching learning differently across several weeks – regardless of the learning design of a unit.
Put yourself in your students’ shoes: how would you react to a “nudge” on your least important unit of the semester, asking you to put in more effort or time, or to use more effective learning strategies? Sometimes, it is not that students don’t know what to do – they often use effective learning strategies for their most important unit – it is that they strategically choose not to do so.
Why?
Well, they have other priorities. Sometimes, our unit is outside the top of their priority list. And that is ok. When ranking their units in this study, participants included other aspects of their lives, such as other units they took that semester, spending time with friends and family, caring responsibilities and working. Well-being research has provided some clarity on this matter, considering all of a person’s life projects – or their “well-doing” – to understand their impact on each other better (Little and Balsari-Palsule, 2020).
So, for a student, getting a ‘pass’ in our unit allows them to achieve their academic and other life goals. Our job as teachers is to help our students ensure that a ‘pass’ in our unit means that they are achieving the learning outcomes so that they can pursue their academic goals while also pursuing a healthy, balanced life during the semester.
Needless to say, it is also our responsibility to ensure that willing students get the help and support they need to at least reach the ‘pass’ line. When life gets tough, thankfully, universities have many resources to support students when needed, but they may need help identifying those.
If we are lucky, students may be willing to go the extra mile in our unit and put in the effort required to get a high distinction. And we can make this an exciting journey for them by setting up additional resources that allow them to explore and develop further their interests.
But this shouldn’t be our expectation as teachers. The decision to engage as little or as much as possible ultimately lies with the student. As an educator, I find this confronting (“surely, there is something we can do to get them more engaged”). But, for a student to succeed in our unit, perhaps, all we need to do is to try to meet them where they are and help them achieve one of their many competing life goals during that teaching period. At whatever level suits them, be it a ‘pass’ or a ‘high distinction’.
References
de Barba, P. G., Kennedy, G. E., & Ainley, M. D. (2016). The role of students’ motivation and participation in predicting performance in a MOOC. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 32(3), 218-231. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12130
Little, B., & Balsari‐Palsule, S. (2020). Personal projects. In B. J. Carducci, C. S. Nave, J. S. Mio, & R. E. Riggio (Eds.), The Wiley encyclopedia of personality and individual differences: Models and theories (pp. 305-310). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119547143.ch51
Lodge, J. M., Kennedy, G., Lockyer, L., Arguel, A., & Pachman, M. (2018). Understanding difficulties and resulting confusion in learning: An integrative review. Frontiers in Education https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2018.00049
Dr Paula de Barba
Dr Paula de Barba has over 12 years of experience in educational psychology research. Having earned her PhD from the University of Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences and completing her postdoctoral at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, her expertise is investigating student motivation and learning strategies within online settings. Presently, she leads the quality assurance efforts for postgraduate online courses at Monash Online. Dr. de Barba’s research focuses on autonomous learning, motivation in online courses, self-regulated learning, and learning analytics, all aimed at empowering students and enriching their educational journeys.
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