Learning from the Learners

Successful College Students Share Their Effective Learning Habits

Elizabeth Berry, Bettina J. Huber, Cynthia Z. Rawitch

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781442278622
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Higher Education

This book turns the traditional approach to student success on its head by examining the learning habits of successful students based on what they have told us about their learning strategies, on what they do to succeed in college, and on the teaching practices they think best foster their learning. This approach is in stark contrast to most recent studies of learning at the college level which focus on what students need to do to succeed, but are written from the point of view of "experts" who provide advice to struggling students.

Learning from the Learners: Successful College Students Share Their Effective Learning Habits is based on what "expert" students tell us about what they - as learners - do to succeed. It is grounded in a 10-year study that rests on a rich qualitative data set that includes open-ended survey responses gathered on a term-by term basis and in depth interviews during the freshman and junior years with over 700 students of diverse backgrounds. Additionally, since many students interviewed were the first in their family to attend college and from backgrounds traditionally underserved by higher education, the book's insights will be of particular interest to educators elsewhere who are increasingly expected to help similar students succeed.

Themes include student success, academic challenges, diversity, pedagogy, and technology in the classroom. No other book on the widely discussed subject of student success relies on such a wealth of quantitative and qualitative data about what works from the point of view of students themselves.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Part One: Project Parameters
• Chapter 1: The Evolution of the Learning Habits Project
• Chapter 2: Who Are the Learning Habits Students, and Why Do They Persist?
• Part Two: Differing Patterns of Engagement within Major Student Subgroups
• Chapter 3: Being the First to Go to College
• Chapter 4: The Role of Gender in Fostering Persistence and Effective Learning Habits
• Chapter 5: Campus Diversity and College Learning through the Eyes of Learning Habits Students
• Part Three: Key Themes in Teaching and Learning
• Chapter 6: Reading with Understanding
• Chapter 7: Gains in Written Communication between the Freshman and Junior Years
• Chapter 8: Students and Technology
• Chapter 9: Sliding into Learning
• Part Four: Fostering Student Initiative
• Chapter 10: Factors Influencing Academic Help Seeking by College Students
• Chapter 11: Self-Regulated Learning Habits
• Chapter 12: Encouraging Students to Be Thoughtful about Their Learning
• Part Five: Conclusions and Recommendations
• Chapter 13: Conclusions and Recommendations
• Appendix 1
• Appendix 2
• Appendix 3
• About the Editors
• About the Contributors