Keynote presentation at 2019 D2L Connection at Normandale CC on April 5, 2019 How They Think: the True Key to Student Success Troy Dvorak, Professor, Minneapolis College

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The True Key to Student Success
How They Think
How They Think
OBJECTIVE:
Help students become better self-
regulated learners
HOW: (stay tuned…)

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Educational Psychologist
Paul Pintrich
“We are continually surprised at the
number of students who come to college
having very little knowledge about
different strategies, different cognitive
tasks, and, particularly, accurate
knowledge about themselves” (p. 223).
“In terms of instruction,
there is a need to teach for
metacognitive knowledge
explicitly” (p. 223).
Pintrich, P. R. (2002). The role of metacognitive knowledge in learning,
teaching, and assessing. Theory into practice, 41(4), 219-225.

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Psychological Keys to Student Success
Beliefs & Mindset
Attributions
Achievement Goals & Interest
Self-Efficacy
Metacognition
Self-Regulated Learning
Avoiding Thinking Errors

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The chains of habit are too light to be felt
until they’re too heavy to be broken.
Your Task
OBJECTIVE: Help students become better
self-regulated learners.
HOW: Discuss ways you can use and make
explicit these strategies in existing hybrid and
online courses? (This need not be a huge add-on.)

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Great Pedagogies
Course Learning Outcomes
Backward Course Design
Flip the Classroom
Meaningful Assignments
Authentic Assessments
Group Discussions
Quality Matters

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Making Them Explicit In Your Courses
The ideas
Self-Testing & Spaced Review
Dunlosky, J. (2013). Strengthening the student toolbox: Study strategies
to boost learning. American Educator, 37(3), 12-21.
Spaced Review
Spread studying out
over time rather than
cramming.
Self-Testing
The best studying
strategy, hands down.
(Is the essence of flashcards
IF used correctly)

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Study like you’ll have to teach
Nestojko, J. F., Bui, D. C., Kornell, N., & Bjork, E. L. (2014). Expecting to teach enhances learning and organization of knowledge in
free recall of text passages. Memory & Cognition, 42(7), 1038-1048.
• What?
• Have students write quiz questions
for a concept at all six levels of Bloom
• Why?
• Prepares them for questions of
varying difficulty
• The exercise requires self-testing
• Bonus!
• Include their questions on a quiz or
exam (self-efficacy)
“Blooming a Concept”
PK2SS 4, 5, & 7

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Research shows that students who apply
concepts to their own lives (as opposed
to being given examples) have more
interest and perform better.
• Students spend more time studying the things
they find interesting!
Hulleman, C. S., Godes, O., Hendricks, B. L., and Harackiewicz, J. M. (2010). Enhancing interest and performance
with a utility value intervention. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102(4), 880-895.
Son, L. K., and Metcalfe, J. (2000). Metacognitive and control strategies in study-time allocation. Journal of
Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 26(1), 204-221.
Broaden students’ ideas about
intelligence
PK2SS 1 and
Psychological Skills

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Self-
Testing!
Can you help students,
visually, to connect ideas in
a unit or an entire course?
Connect it to the course objectives?
Use it as an introduction?
Use it as a wrapper?

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Adapted from Sylvia Duckworth
Discuss &
Share!
How to use and make it explicit to students so
they can export the process ideas from the course!

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“Learning how to learn cannot be left
to students. It must be taught.”
Gall, M. D., Gall, J. P., Jacobsen, D. R., & Bullock, T. R. (1990). Tools for Learning. A
Guide to Teaching Study Skills. Alexandria. Virginia: Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).
Studying vs. Learning
The distinction between
content and process is exactly
why this title was chosen.
Written for students
Makes this stuff explicit!

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RockinPsychProf

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Success has far more to do
with self-management than
time management.