A large-scale test of the relationship between procrastination and performance using learning analytics

Abstract

Many studies have found a relationship between students’ self-reported procrastination and their grades. Few studies have used learning analytic data as a behavioural measure of procrastination in order to predict performance, and there is no systematic research on how this relationship may differ across assessments or disciplines. In this study we analyse nine years’ worth of institutional electronic submission records, a total of 73,608 assignment submissions, to examine the relationship between submission time and grades across assignments, students, courses, and disciplines in higher education. A significant negative relationship was found overall, with students who submitted closer to the deadline obtaining lower grades, however the size of the relationship was negligible, accounting for less than 1% of the variance in grades. The relationship varied significantly depending on student, assignment, course and discipline.     

Curious sex ratios and cytoplasmic genes

Evolutionary theory predicts that most populations should consist of roughly as many males as females. Recently, a variety of populations have been described which show very different proportions of the two sexes, especially in invertebrate species that contain individuals whose offspring are almost all female. Some of these instances can now be explained by the diverse actions of various ‘selfish’ elements residing in the cytoplasm of the individuals, which are transmitted exclusively through the female line. These instances of curious sex ratios exemplify an important principle: the fitness of genes, rather than of individuals, is the primary currency of evolution.     

Recorded Student Interviews in Improving Instruction

Abstract

A Valuable Resource: Key Resources on Teaching, Learning, Curriculum, and Faculty Development By Robert J. Menges and B. Claude Mathis San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1988, 406 pages, index, $35. Reviewed by Ohmer Milton

Accomplished Advocates for Change: Women in Academe: Outsiders in the Sacred Grove By Nadya Aisenberg and Mona Harrington Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1988, xii + 207 pages. Reviewed by Amy A. Kass

The Power of Scientific Thought: The Cultural Meaning of the Scientific Revolution By Margaret C. Jacob Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1988, xii + 274 pages, $29.95. Reviewed by Robert L. Spaeth     

Philosophy and Education: a personal retrospective

This article reports a follow‐up study of students who had failed or had not completed the first year of an Advanced General National Vocational Qualification (GNVQ‐‐an academic qualification with a vocational focus intended mainly for 16‐18 year‐olds) in Business Studies in 1995‐96. Failure is usually attributed to student deficiency or deficient course‐related factors. Yet student accountability assumes capability, understanding and lack of coercion in making choices. In the present research these assumptions were critically examined and found misleading. The students’ career histories since the end of the course first year are sketched and the way in which the subjects made sense of their decisions and experience is reported. It is argued that simple ideas of choice, while supporting assignment of blame to failing students and exonerating their institutions, do not illuminate factors involved in making poor choices, or the way in which students who are ‘at risk’ can be supported.     

Perspectives on academic staff involvement in the acquisition and implementation of educational technologies

This article presents the results of a study using both quantitative and qualitative data to uncover the extent and nature of the involvement of academic staff in the processes of acquisition and implementation of educational technologies. Actor-network theory (ANT) is used to inform the design of the study and the analysis of the data. Three main areas of investigation are (1) issues of institutional policy and overall purpose of technology, (2) issues of staff involvement in various activities related to acquisition and use of technology and (3) issues related to the existence of arenas for dialogue and discussions of technological needs and requirements across organisational boundaries. The analysis focuses on the diffuseness of the role of academic staff in processes of development of institutional policies and technology acquisition. The article concludes with suggestions for organisational policy in higher education contexts, and possible directions for new research.     

Individual differences in word recognition acquisition: A path from an interactive model of reading to an interactive instructional setting

The present research attempts to demonstrate that it is possible and instructive to combine classroom observational procedures with theoretically guided reading concepts. It explores the application of an interactive processing model to classroom word recognition acquisition, in a longitudinal case-study design. Five first graders were observed four times in an instructional setting where they had to search for words in a reference text. From the various behaviors observed, it was possible to infer five differents types of searching strategies: Context-oriented; Code-oriented; Unmediated; Copying; Passive. The results show a great inter- and intra-individual variability in the use of the different types of strategies. In particuliar, there are different patterns of occurrence of the code-oriented and context-oriented strategies (simultaneous versus alternate). The results also show that word by word planning of the search was difficult for very beginning readers.