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Mandate registration for at-risk students, pair diagnostic assessment with feedback, and build an academic toolbox honed through multiple application opportunities

Design · All designs
Evidence · 2 claims (2 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description

The authors attribute the SSC's success to three design characteristics: compulsory registration (since students rarely seek out free support services voluntarily), diagnostic assessment with individual feedback that makes students aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, and an academic toolbox of cognitive, metacognitive, and self-governance skills practiced repeatedly. As they state: "We believe that the following characteristics of the SSC underlie its success as a student support tool: mandatory program registration, diagnostic assessme nt with feedback, and development of an “academic toolbox” of skills honed through multiple application opportunities." The assessment feedback also framed academic performance as changeable with effort, which the authors connect to Dweck's growth mindset.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

  • Enough time for attitudes toward mandatory attendance to become positive (the article's program duration was 14 weeks)
  • Instructors who provide guidance and constructive feedback throughout the semester, allowing relationship building

Constraints

  • Mandatory course registration and payment of associated fees were not initially well received by most students, though attitudes became more positive with time

Target Learners

  • Undergraduate students on academic probation or otherwise at risk

Learning Goals

  • Awareness of one's own learning strategy strengths and weaknesses
  • Adoption of more sophisticated cognitive and metacognitive strategies
  • Personal responsibility for learning

Claims

Examples

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Key Sources

  • Bowering, E. R., Mills, J., & Merritt, A. (2017). Learning How to Learn: A Student Success Course for At Risk Students. The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 8(3). http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cjsotl_rcacea/vol8/iss3/12
Page metadata
Field Value
type design
id mandatory-diagnostic-plus-academic-toolbox
title Mandate registration for at-risk students, pair diagnostic assessment with feedback, and build an academic toolbox honed through multiple application opportunities
description The authors attribute the SSC's success to three design characteristics: compulsory registration (since students rarely seek out free support services voluntarily), diagnostic assessment with individual feedback that...
status review
generated by process:settle-candidates on 2026-11-02
trust unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources 1 — bowering-2017

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