Anxiety
Current conceptions of anxiety emphasize the interactive effects of our own thought processes, beliefs, and emotions and how they affect academic performance. Cognitive worry, a major component of anxiety, is manifested in negative self-referent statements. These negative thoughts, beliefs, and feelings about one’s abilities, intelligence, future, interactions with others, or likelihood of success, divert a student’s attention away from the task at hand, such as studying for an online course or taking a test. This is especially important for online learning, where students may also exhibit anxiety towards computers in general or computer-based learning activities. If students worry that they will not have time to finish an assignment for their online course, then they are making matters worse by taking even more time away to worry about their performance. This type of self-defeating behavior often sabotages a student’s efforts. If students are tense, anxious, or fearful about studying or their performance in online learning situations, this will divert their attention away from the academic task and inward to self-criticism or irrational fears.
Students’ scores on this scale measure how tense or concerned they are when approaching online academic tasks and courses. Students who score low on this measure (indicating high anxiety) need to learn techniques for coping with anxiety and reducing worry so that they can focus on the task at hand and not their anxiety. Many very capable students are often incapable of demonstrating their true level of knowledge and skill because they are paralyzed or distracted by debilitating anxiety. In fact, helping some students learn how to reduce their anxiety is sufficient for helping them to improve their performance in their online courses. Once these attentional blocks are removed, many students show large increases in performance.
Coefficient Alpha = 0.85
Sample items:
- Even when I am well prepared for a test in my online courses, I feel very anxious.
- I become very tense when I study for online courses.
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Attitude
Students’ general attitudes toward their courses and succeeding in school have a great impact on their diligence when studying, particularly in online courses where they are likely to engage in more self-directed study. If the relationship between school and life goals (academic, personal, social and work-related goals) are not clear for students it can be difficult to maintain a mind-set that promotes good work habits, concentration, and attention to online courses and course related tasks.
Students’ scores on this scale measure their general attitudes and approach for performing the tasks necessary to be successful in online courses. Students who score low on this scale need to work on high-level goal setting and reassess how school and their online courses fit into their future. If their online courses are not seen as relevant to students’ life goals and attitudes, then it will be difficult, if not impossible, to generate the levels of motivation, attention, and active information processing needed to help take responsibility for one’s own learning and for helping to manage one’s own study activities.
Coefficient Alpha = 0.83
Sample items:
- I dislike most of the work in my online courses.
- I am able to learn effectively from online courses.
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Communication
Effective communication is essential to the learning process, especially in online courses where there is little, if any, face-to-face contact between the instructor and students. Communicating with the instructor and other students in an online course can be an important resource for students. For example, if a student becomes confused when studying online course material, discussing the problem with the instructor or other students may be the best way to solve the problem. Students need to feel comfortable contacting these people even though they may have never interacted with them face to face. In addition, in many online courses, students are required to communicate online with the instructor or other students.
Students’ scores on this scale measure their attitudes and preferences towards communicating online and their use of online communication tools. Students who score low on this measure may need to develop more positive attitudes toward communicating online and they may need to learn more about how to communicate effectively online. Becoming involved in online discussions or chat sessions, using email, and posting questions on bulletin boards, can help students establish a sense of classroom community that can help them as they study for their online courses.
Coefficient Alpha = 0.71
Sample Items:
- I like to use e-mail to communicate with other students in my online courses.
- I need to meet face-to-face with other students in my online courses rather than communicating with them online.
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Concentration
Concentration helps students to focus and maintain their attention on school-related activities, such as studying and working on online course assignments, rather than on distracting thoughts, emotions, feelings, or situations. People have a limited capacity to process what is going on around them and in their own thoughts; if they are distracted, there will be less capacity to focus on the task at hand. For students this means that distractions, or anything else that interferes with concentration, will divert attention away from tasks related to their online courses.
Students’ scores on this scale measure how well they are able to concentrate and direct their attention to school activities and tasks related to their online courses. Students who score high on this measure are effective at focusing their attention and maintaining a high level of concentration. Students who score low on this measure are less successful at focusing their attention on the task at hand by eliminating interfering thoughts, emotions, feelings, and situations. They need to learn techniques to enhance concentration and to set priorities so that they can attend to their online courses as well as to their other responsibilities. Learning techniques for focusing attention and maintaining concentration help students implement effective learning strategies and can make learning and studying both more effective and more efficient.
Coefficient Alpha = 0.86
Sample items:
- My mind wanders when I study online course materials.
- I find it easy to pay attention during online lessons.
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Information Processing
Meaningful learning is enhanced by the use of active rehearsal, elaboration and organization strategies. These strategies help to build bridges between what a student knows and what he or she is trying to learn and remember. Using what we already know, that is, our prior knowledge, experiences, attitudes, beliefs, and reasoning skills to help make meaning out of new information is critical to success in educational and training settings. This is especially important in an online learning environment, where students are likely to be required to make connections between new material and prior knowledge on their own, with less help from an instructor than what might be available in a traditional, classroom-based course. The difference between an expert and a novice is not just the amount of knowledge they possess but also, and perhaps even more important, the way that knowledge is acquired and organized. It is the difference between storing one thousand folders by throwing them in the middle of a room versus storing them by some meaningful organization scheme in filing cabinets.
Students’ scores on this scale measure how well they can create imaginal and verbal elaborations and organization schemes to foster understanding and recall of the information they are learning in their online courses. Students who score low on this measure need to learn methods that they can use to help add meaning and organization to what they are trying to learn. These methods range from simple paraphrasing and summarizing to creating analogies, the use of application, creating organizational schemes and outlining, and the use of synthesis, inferential, and analytic reasoning skills. A student who does not have a repertoire of these strategies and skills will find it difficult to incorporate new knowledge and understanding in such a way that acquisition and recall will be effective, often despite the large amount of time spent studying. The effectiveness and efficiency of learning in online courses can be facilitated by the use of information processing strategies.
Coefficient Alpha = 0.85
Sample items:
- I make connections among the different ideas or topics I am studying in my online courses.
- I try to apply what I am learning to my everyday life.
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Motivation
The Attitude Scale measures students’ general attitudes for succeeding in online courses. However, although general attitudes are important, so is a student’s motivation to perform the specific tasks related to achievement. The degree to which students are motivated and accept responsibility for studying and for their performance is reflected in the everyday behaviors they exhibit related to their online courses and the academic tasks related to these courses. These behaviors include reading the assigned material, preparing for class or online lessons, finishing assignments on time, and being diligent in studying, even if the topic is not particularly interesting to them (or even trying to figure out ways to make it more interesting).
Students’ scores on this scale measure the degree to which they accept responsibility for performing specific tasks related to school success and success in online courses. Students who score low on this measure need to work on goal setting, perhaps at the more global levels assessed on the Attitude Scale, but certainly at the more specific level of individual tasks and assignments. Accepting more responsibility for studying and achievement outcomes requires that students learn to attribute much of what happens to them in school to their own efforts rather than to outside forces such as luck or poor teachers, or to uncontrollable forces such as innate ability. Accepting more responsibility and attributing success to one’s efforts results in more effective studying and academic performance.
Coefficient Alpha = 0.88
Sample items:
- I have enough self-discipline to complete the work in online courses.
- Even if I do not like an assignment in an online course, I am able to get myself to work on it.
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Selecting Main Ideas
Effective and efficient studying requires that students select important material for in-depth attention. Most online lessons, discussions, supplementary textbooks and other materials, contain redundant information, extra examples, and many supporting details to help explain what is being taught or presented. A major task in online courses involves separating the important from the unimportant or simply didactic information that does not have to be remembered. If a student cannot select the critical information, then the learning task becomes complicated by the huge amount of material he or she is trying to acquire. Lacking this skill also increases the likelihood that students will not have enough time to study everything that must be covered.
Students’ scores on this scale measure their skills at selecting important information to concentrate on for further study in their online courses. Students who score low on this measure need to learn more about how to identify important information in an online course so that they can focus their attention and information processing strategies on appropriate material.
Coefficient Alpha = 0.85
Sample items:
- In an online course, it is easy for me to decide what I need to include in my notes.
- When studying online course material, I seem to get lost in the details and miss the important information.
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Self Testing
Reviewing and testing one’s level of understanding are important for knowledge acquisition and comprehension monitoring. These strategies both support and contribute to meaningful learning and effective performance. Without them learning could be incomplete or errors might persist undetected. Reviewing and self testing also contribute to knowledge consolidation and integration across topics. Using mental reviews, going over notes and course materials, thinking up potential questions to guide reading or help prepare for an exam are all important methods for checking understanding, consolidating new knowledge, integrating related information (both from what is being learned and from what is already known), and identifying if additional studying must be done. Self testing can be extremely important in an online learning environment where students are likely to be working independently much if not all of the time; it is up to the students to check for misconceptions and understanding of the material.
Students’ scores on this scale measure their awareness of the importance of self testing and reviewing and the degree to which they use these methods in their online courses. Students who score low on this measure need to learn more about the importance of self testing as well as specific methods for reviewing material in their online courses and monitoring their comprehension. These methods include structured reviews of individual study segments; asking questions before, during, and after reading, studying, or completing an online lesson; trying to use new information in novel ways; trying to apply a principle or method; and using a systematic approach to studying.
Coefficient Alpha = 0.83
Sample items:
- I stop periodically while completing an online lesson and mentally go over and review what was presented.
- I try to identify potential test questions when reviewing my online course material.
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Study Aids
Students need to know how to create their own study aids and how to use those created by others. This is especially critical in online learning environments where students are likely to be working independently. For example, online course or textbook authors (or publishers) will often use headings, special type, white space, special markings, summaries, and statements of objectives to help students learn from their materials. Many also provide links to additional Web sites or supplemental materials to help students learn the material. However, unless students know how to recognize and use these hints and aids, they will not benefit from them. It is also important for students to know how to generate their own study aids using methods such as creating diagrams, summarizing text, creating charts or topic summary sheets, and trying to explain the material to another student. There are other supplementary activities that also support and enhance meaningful learning such as attending group review sessions, participating in online discussions, contacting the instructor, searching for related material on the Web, forming study groups, or comparing notes with other students in your online courses to check for accuracy or completeness.
Students’ scores on this scale measure their ability to use or create study aids that support and increase meaningful learning and retention. Students who score low on this scale may need to learn more about the types of study aids provided in educational materials for their online courses and how to create their own aids. Using and creating study aids improves both the effectiveness and efficiency of learning.
Coefficient Alpha = 0.69
Sample items:
- I try to find a study partner or study group for my online courses.
- I use the titles and headings in my online lessons as a guide to study the material.
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Test Strategies
Effective test performance depends on both preparation strategies and test-taking strategies. A student needs to know how to prepare for the type of performance that will be required and how to maximize that performance. This is especially important in online courses where testing situations are likely to be different than those in traditional classroom environments. Test preparation includes knowing about the type of test students will be taking. For example, is it going to be a short-answer or a multiple-choice exam? Will performance require simple recall or will concepts, principles, and ideas need to be applied? Test preparation also includes knowing about methods for studying and learning the material in a way that will facilitate remembering the material and using it at a later time. Test-taking strategies include knowing about the characteristics of tests and test items, and how to create an effective test-taking plan.
Students’ scores on this scale measure their use of test preparation and test taking strategies in online courses. Students who score low on this measure may need to learn more about how to prepare for tests, how to create a plan of attack for taking a test, the characteristics of different types of tests and test items, and how to reason through to an answer. Often, students’ performance on a test is not an accurate indicator of what they have learned. Knowing about test preparation and test taking strategies and how to use them helps students target their study activities, set up useful study goals, implement an effective study plan, and demonstrate their knowledge and skill acquisition so it can be accurately evaluated.
Coefficient Alpha = 0.72
Sample items:
- When I prepare for a test in an online course, I have trouble figuring out what to do to learn the material.
- When taking a test, I am unable to summarize what I have studied in an online lesson.
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Time Management
Managing time effectively is an important self-regulation strategy for learning in any environment. However, time management is especially important for online learning, because students are likely to engage in self-paced study. Most students have various demands on their time; only by creating realistic schedules and using them can they set priorities and try to fit in everything they want to do. Creating and using schedules also encourages students to take more responsibility for their own behavior. It requires some knowledge about themselves as students and learners. What are their best and worst times of day to study for their online courses? Which subjects are easier or harder for them? What are their preferences for learning methods? This type of knowledge and self-awareness helps students create workable schedules, and perhaps even more important, it helps students to create the motivation to use them.
Students’ scores on this scale measure the degree to which they create and use schedules to manage their time. Students who score low on this scale may need to learn about how to create a useful schedule and how to deal with distractions, competing goals, and procrastination. Accepting more responsibility for studying and achievement outcomes requires that students set realistic academic goals and create plans that will facilitate goal achievement. Effective time management enhances these activities.
Coefficient Alpha =0.86
Sample items:
- I put off studying for online courses more than I should.
- I spread out my study times for my online courses so I do not have to “cram” for a test.
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