Persuading Students Of Their Responsibilities In The Learning Process

Abstract

Education is a two-sided coin, with teaching technique and curriculum on one side and student effort and motivation on the other side.  Much educational research is directed predominately at the teaching side, while slighting the student's side.  This study reports an experiment that emphasizes the role of the student’s effort in learning.  The students in the experimental group were asked to compare their individual effort and test score to the mean reported effort and test score of the class.  They were then asked to consider making adjustments in their efforts with the hope of improving their performance.  As a result, the students in the experimental group increased their study hours and significantly increased their exam scores as compared to the control group students.  The results of this study indicate that actively reminding students of their effort and performance in course work has a positive effect on students' effort of study which can ultimately translate into improvement of academic performance.