December 3, 2024 | By Keith Heumiller

As students increasingly enroll in online postsecondary STEM courses, instructors and students need new strategies to bolster academic success, particularly for students systemically marginalized in STEM and higher education.

In the November 14 webinar Building Students’ Motivation and Learning Skills in Online Courses, researchers from the Postsecondary Teaching with Technology Collaborative shared insights from the Collaborative’s formative study of technology-enabled instructional strategies designed to support students’ self-directed learning in online and hybrid STEM courses.

Researchers discussed three brief, technology-based strategies designed to support three types of processes that research says help students to manage their learning: motivational, metacognitive, and applied learning processes.

Panelists provided a detailed overview of the strategies and highlighted findings from rapid-cycle experiments (RCEs) performed at four institutions across the United States, drawing evidence from 105 course sections and more than 2,000 students from fall 2022 through fall 2023. They shared takeaways for instructors, administrators, and others working to support students and improve learning outcomes in online and hybrid settings. They also shared feedback from instructors and students who participated in the study.

The Importance of Self-Directed Learning Skills

Jessica Mislevy, director of digital learning and technology policy at SRI Education, opened the webinar by framing the need for self-directed learning (SDL) skills in online STEM courses. She emphasized that online learning places additional responsibility on students to manage their learning independently, a task that can be particularly daunting in content-heavy STEM disciplines.

“Online learning puts more demands on students to manage their own learning, can exacerbate feelings of isolation, and is associated with lower pass rates,” she said, adding that these issues are “especially salient for students from groups marginalized in STEM and higher education.”

Practical Strategies for Building SDL Skills

Panelists described the three strategies instructors used during the RCEs to foster SDL skills. These candidate strategies, which were co-designed or adapted for online courses with instructors at the Collaborative’s partner institutions, include:

• Instructional Videos
  These short videos and associated reflection activities focus on key SDL themes: time management, growth mindset, and a sense of belonging. Paige Roseman, associate professor of psychology at Wake Technical Community College, shared her experience using the videos in her courses.

  “The videos are incredibly well thought out, easy to implement, and accessible,” she said. “They include multiple formats, such as transcripts, ensuring that students with disabilities can engage with the content effectively.”

• Reflective Prompts
  Weekly reflective prompts guide students in setting goals, assessing their progress, and planning their next steps. Krystal Thomas, senior education researcher at SRI Education, spoke with Roseman about the value that students saw in the prompts. Thomas shared some quotes from her interviews with students during the RCEs.

  One student said, “When I got asked, ‘What didn’t you understand so well this week?,’ I realized, oh, I really need to study this because I didn’t really understand it that well.” The student explained, “That actually helped me think back on what I learned.”

• Student-Peer Interaction & Networking (SPIN)
  The SPIN strategy fosters peer collaboration and a sense of belonging through introductory surveys, group work, and discussions. Roseman highlighted how a simple survey about students’ nonacademic interests helped create a more connected online classroom.

  “I loved being able to share themes with the class—how many students were working, were parents, or shared other commonalities,” she said. “It brought people together in a way that’s often missing in online environments.”

  Thomas added that one student was so inspired by the SPIN strategy that they went on to form a WhatsApp study group with eight classmates.

  “That’s remarkable—eight students connecting in an asynchronous online course to support each other,” Thomas said.

What the Data Revealed

Panelists including Paul Burkander, senior education researcher at SRI Education, and Renzhe Yu, associate professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, shared their findings on the strategies’ impact on metacognitive skills, applied learning skills, motivation, and academic performance.

• Applied Learning Skills: Students in courses using the strategies showed significant improvement in the use of tools such as diagrams and lecture note reviews.
• Metacognitive Comprehension Monitoring: There was a significant improvement in how students evaluated their understanding and adjusted their approaches.
• Motivational Engagement: Clickstream data from the course learning management system showed higher levels of engagement with the strategies among students systemically marginalized in STEM, and that engagement with the strategies was associated with increased SDL behaviors.
• Course Grades: Although not statistically significant, a Bayesian analysis determined a 78% probability that the strategies positively impacted end-of-course grades.

Reflecting on her experience, Roseman said, “I’ve seen real improvements in student participation, discussions, and outcomes. These strategies empower both faculty and students—they’re accessible, adaptable, and effective.”

Looking Ahead

Building on these findings, the Collaborative is refining its strategies into a cohesive set of resources for broader institutional implementation. The next phase of research will explore the effects of using these strategies in combination and their impact on student retention.

“We believe the strategies have potential to help students not just succeed in a single course, but to equip them with the skills to thrive across their college experience,” Mislevy said.

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Watch the full fall 2024 webinar.

Download a transcript of the webinar.

Download the presentation slides as a PDF document.

Tags: Instructional Strategies Online Learning Self-directed Learning