Reducing Procrastination in an Undergraduate Study Skills Course: A Qualitative Exploration of Change and Change Resistance

• In Event: 53.045 - Practices That Facilitate and Help Assess Learning

Abstract

Although many study-skills courses aim to help students limit their procrastination, the process of personal change in this context is not fully understood. In this practice-based qualitative study, we analyzed 303 end-of-semester writing assignments to explore reasons why undergraduates experienced, or did not experience, reductions in their levels of procrastination while enrolled in a study-skills course. Four themes emerged to describe the process of change for students who reduced their procrastination, revealing the salience of personal ownership, meaningful consequences and benefits, action fueled by awareness, and allowance for sustained effort. Four contrasting themes described resistance to change through reacting to external conditions, being discouraged by internal states, lacking belief in the ability to change, and gaining knowledge without taking action.

Authors

• Lauren C. Hensley, The Ohio State University

• Jessica Cutshall, The Ohio State University - Columbus