Michele Marden is a Math Instructor at Sylvania, and a member of the Learning Assessment Council
Study Skills and Self Regulated Learning: Can students self assess? Can we help them do so?
Occasionally a student asks me for advice about how to study math. My responses until very recently were along the lines of “work more problems” or even the less specific “study more.”
Recently I have had a realization: I don’t know how to help my students overcome their struggles because I never had significant struggles with math and I have had precious little training (ie, none) in how one best learns math. This is complicated by the fact that I enjoy math and understand its value while many of my students do not. It is embarrassing that it took nearly 13 years for this realization to solidify!
Last year on a five-hour flight back to Portland, I read a study skills book. It discussed general studying tips and different studying methods for various subjects. Some of the suggestions were obvious, others were not. All went beyond my most common suggestions of “work more problems” or “study more.” None of them were ideas that I shared regularly with students, until now. For my lower level classes, I incorporate “study skills 101 for math.” Sharing study skills has certainly helped some of my individual students, but I always wonder if there is something more I could do…
At a recent math conference, I attended a session about Self Regulated Learning (SRL) given by Lawrence Morales at Seattle Central Community College. SRL goes way beyond my study skills 101. From my brief introduction at this session, I believe that the SRL helps students recognize and handle lack of motivation issues and also gives them tools to evaluate their learning. Note: SRL can be used for all disciplines/programs.
Self Regulated Learning might be a tool for faculty to help students recognize their lack of progress (or lack of motivation) through a framework that would let them self-correct before they are so discouraged that they quit college. Morales described incorporating SRL in his classes as peeling an onion: It has to be an ongoing process where students are trained to self-regulate as opposed to discussing it in one or two class meetings.
SRL is research based and claims to increase student learning. Below is some of the data analysis from a slide Morales shared at the conference session from a CUNY study.
[Data is from slide 16 of the powerpoint from the session. See http://bit.ly/orwasrl for the entire powerpoint given by Morales.]
The CUNY Study: Results
| Developmental Students | Self Regulated Learning | Control |
| Completed Course | 73% | 67% |
| Passed final exam | 54% | 34% |
| Passed course | 50% | 33% |
| Passed COMPASS post-test | 47% | 27% |
| Intro Math Students | Self Regulated Learning | Control |
| Passed final exam | 73% | 50% |
| Passed course | 68% | 49% |
| Passed COMPASS post-test | 64% | 39% |
Intriguing results!!!
Maybe this will help me give some additional support that will help struggling students succeed.
Suggested readings by Morales:
- How Learning Works by Ambrose
- Zimmerman, B. J. (2002). Becoming a self-regulated learner: An overview. Theory Into Practice, 41(2), 64-70.
If you know about SRL or are interested in chatting about it, please post a comment or contact me.
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