The amount of information contained in any educational data set is fundamentally constrained by the instructional conditions under which the data are collected. In this study, we show that by redesigning the structure of traditional online courses, we can improve the ability of educational data mining to provide useful information for instructors.…

Academic procrastination is a common problem among secondary students. This paper provides secondary teachers with evidence-based strategies to reduce or prevent academic procrastination in their classrooms. Given that reducing academic procrastination is a responsibility for teachers as well as students, the paper describes teacher-administered…

The complexity of a course's structure may influence how well students understand what is expected of them. Using the foundation of the industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology literature, the authors modified a measure of "Perceived System Knowledge" (Williams & Levy, 1992) for employee performance appraisal to be appropriate for…

This paper develops a research model based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model (UTAUT) and Hofstede's cultural dimensions to explore factors that influence student effort at learning Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) using LISREL was utilized to validate the proposed research…

At the college level, the effectiveness of active-learning interventions is typically measured at the broadest scales: the achievement or retention of all students in a course. Coarse-grained measures like these cannot inform instructors about an intervention's relative effectiveness for the different student populations in their classrooms or…

Once comprised of local, sole-proprietor ownership, the nation's for-profit institutions now range from small, privately owned schools to publicly traded corporations. Enrollment in such colleges has grown far faster than in traditional higher-education institutions. Moreover, during the 2009-2010 school year, for-profit colleges received almost…

College students who preferred a highly structured classroom situation but were in a section with low structure had lower mean achievement than had other students. (Editor)

Article is based on a paper presented at the 1969 meeting of the Northwestern Scientific Association. (Editor)

Course instruction was manipulated to yield two different levels of structure in an exploratory analysis of the effects of course structure on student satisfaction in 166 introductory educational psychology students. Results suggest that student satisfaction for different degrees of course structure depends on personality attributes. Seven…

Four sections of introductory psychology were involved in a study of aptitude-treatment interactions. Two sections were taught with a high-structure curriculum, and two with a low-structure curriculum. Students' preference for structure was measured with the Inventory of Beliefs (IOB). During eight weeks of instruction, observers recorded…

Reports on an experiment that tested whether course length and concentration affect learning. Using the "Economics U$A" television series, compares student performance in two classes taught over differing time periods. Results implied that concentrated time periods for courses may lead to more concentrated student effort. (LS)

This handbook is designed to help educators improve the effectiveness of daily lessons. The need for flexibility and the ability to develop meaningful variety are emphasized. Suggestions and guidelines are provided for writing objectives, planning lessons, and selecting instructional methods. Three major categories of teaching/learning…

Because of their enormous memory banks, computers can be of great help in planning curriculum and instruction. After a teacher has determined the subject and objectives of a course unit, computers can retrieve a list of resources appropriate to the particular subject matter and to the students (e.g., materials, activities, teaching procedures, and…

A study found college honors (n=231) and nonhonors (n=709) first-year students were similar in extracurricular interests, educational objectives, and some study habits; they reported differences in most other areas. Findings have implications for advising both groups, such as placement of emphasis on format of academic courses, orientation to…