Auburn Ed Talks
Auburn Ed Talks is the official podcast of Auburn University’s College of Education. On this podcast, we spotlight the people, ideas and innovations shaping the future of education.
Auburn Ed Talks
Self-Regulated Learning and Study Strategies for College Students
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With this episode of Auburn Ed Talks, we’re diving into a topic that impacts every college student: how self-regulated learning, study strategies, and motivation can make or break academic success. And who better to talk us through the best approach than Auburn College of Education Professor Dr. Jill Salisbury-Glennon, whose research focuses on this very topic.
Hey everyone, and welcome back to Auburn ED Talks, the official podcast of Auburn University's College of Education. Recorded in the Frances and William Kochan Media Production Room at our new College of Education building, this podcast spotlights the people, ideas, and innovations shaping the future of education and beyond. Today, we're diving into a topic that impacts every college student: how self-regulated learning, study strategies, and motivation can make or break academic success. Joining us is Dr. Jill Salisbury-Glennon, a leading researcher in this field from our College of Education. And to guide the conversation, we have one of our amazing student ambassadors as host. So let's get to talking!
Student Ambassador:Hey, everyone, I'm Kiersten Wilson. My major is math education. I'm a student ambassador here at the College of Education. I'm thrilled to be here talking with Dr. Salisbury-Glennon here on Auburn Ed Talks.
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:Thank you so much for having me.
Student Ambassador:Before we dive into self-regulating learning, let's start with a quick lightning round to get to know you better. Does that sound good?
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:L et's do it.
Student Ambassador:Okay. So where are you originally from. Where's your hometown?
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:So I'm originally from upstate New York. So I love Auburn and it's weather comparatively. And then, I, we left Penn State and on my job interview it was sleeting sideways and they were not sure if they were going to run the plane. And, then I got to Auburn University and it was March 5th-8th, and it was 70 degrees and sunny, and I fell in love instantly.
Student Ambassador:That's awesome. I, I know personally, I hate the cold, so I would not like New York weather. When did you join Auburn and what brought you here?
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:So I came here in 1997. So this is my 29th year. And when I did my job interview here, I did job interviews at a couple of other places as well, everyone here was just so welcoming and friendly. And when I came here, they had this vision to really expand the program, and they said we’re looking for kind of young scholars with innovative ideas. And we really - we have the groundwork, but we really want you to hit the ground running and make this what you want it to be. So it just seemed like a wonderful opportunity.
Student Ambassador:Can you tell our listeners a little bit about what you teach here in the College of Education?
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:Sure. I'm kind of a teaching and learning person, so I do a lot of learning development and motivation courses both at the undergraduate and the graduate level.
Student Ambassador:Okay. if you weren't in education and research, what career would you have chosen?
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:So I also have a very artsy, creative side. So when a semester ends, like finals, I like to create. So it's not unusual for me. I love interior design, to go paint and redo a room, or I love entertaining too. I love like all the flowers, all the decor, all the food, all the things. It's nice because I kind of get to do a little bit of both.
Student Ambassador:Are there any, like, projects you're working on right now?
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:I do need to redo a bathroom. You know, just fun stuff like that.
Student Ambassador:Yeah, that sounds fun. What is one hobby or interest you have outside of academia that might surprise people?
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:I mean, probably that. People don't realize how much I'm really kind of into that. Like on the weekends and when I have some time, like, I just love to create.
Student Ambassador:What is your favorite Auburn tradition?
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:It's probably somewhat related, but I love tailgating. So we have a tailgate that's been going for over 20 years now, I think. And we have -- it's grown. It's like 50 people now and it brings all the entertaining, all the people, everything all together. So we love that.
Student Ambassador:Is it in a good location like by the -- oh really?
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:Yeah, it's actually over near the library. But we have so many people we can't really fit into a Tailgate Guys one, so we - right now, we're lucky we kind of have secured some lawn, so.
Student Ambassador:Well I love that. Now let's shift gears. Today's topic is self-regulated learning and motivation, something every college student can relate to. So, to start us off, what exactly is self-regulated learning and why is it so critical for student success?
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:So, I'm going to answer that question with a little background. So, I feel like I went to grad school because I've always been interested in this question of why do some students, some learners, perform better than others? Like what is it that they are doing or not doing? And I did a master's thesis on the elaboration learning strategy, and while that was very interesting, it was one strategy and it was very focused. And one night, it was literally Friday night, in Pattee Library at Penn State, when I was at graduate school, I found this special issue of the Educational Psychologist, and it was all on self-regulated learning, an entire issue. And I literally ran out of the library. I first of all, made copies using dimes of the entire -- like I used every coin I have -- of the entire issue, put it in a binder, and I literally ran out of the library like, this is it. This is the area that I want to study. And the reason, in my mind, is because self-regulated learning is encompassing, and it doesn't just look at cognitive learning strategies, and it doesn't just look at motivation, it looks at the synergy of both of them. And we all probably know college students who are very smart on paper. They have a 35, 36 ACT. But if you have no motivation and you watch Netflix all day or whatever it is, you play video games, whatever it is you do, but you're not motivated for school work, you're not going to succeed academically. On the flip side, we all know students that maybe they're, cognitively they don't score super high, but they are so motivated. They go in and visit the professor all the time. They have an incredible drive. That you need both. You need a combination of both. And that's what self-regulated learning is.
Student Ambassador:So, like, staying busy and keeping yourself, like, on a strict kind of schedule, does that kind of go into that motivation and helping students excel?
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:I absolutely think that. I'm a big to-do list, big planner person. I feel like a lot of students sometimes have executive functioning issues, and that's what that is. Like, how do you plan your day? How do you stay on task? Yes, 17 friends might text you and say, “hey, do you want to go here? Do you want to go there? Do you want to do that?” But you kind of need a balance.
Student Ambassador:Okay, that makes sense. How do self-regulating learning and motivation work together?
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:So, I feel like motivation is a big part of self-regulated learning. So you need the cognitive strategies and somewhat social strategies to survive. But you need motivation too. I feel like it's all complexly kind of interwoven.
Student Ambassador:Okay, that goes along with what you were saying so that does make sense. What are some common misconceptions students have about effective study strategies?
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:So, I do an assignment for my undergrad that's called “all about me.” And, so, it basically says, “talk about your strategies that you use in high school and then talk about your strategies you needed to develop and use in college.” And I'm not exaggerating when I say that about 50% of my students say, “I was a good student in high school, or I barely cracked a book,” but the next sentence is always “and then I got to Auburn University and I got blown away.” It's different. It's much more rigorous. And, I feel like a lot of them come in with a one size fits all model. Like, “this got me through high school. This is going to be great at Auburn,” and that doesn't always work. And I always tell, I have two students at Auburn like my own kids that are at Auburn, and I always tell them the first test in every class is actually the hardest because you have to go in and see how does that teacher test? What strategies do you need to use? Like every, every professor tests differently and I feel like there's a learning curve. So, I think so many students have kind of a one size fits all approach and that doesn't necessarily work, especially from the jump from high school to college, where it gets a lot more difficult. I feel like the second answer to that is everyone has different strategies. So what works for you might not work for me at all. Like what are some of your favorite strategies if you have an exam, for example?
Student Ambassador:Usually - I'm math education, so like practice, practice, practice just over and over again, but then also making sure I'm having that conceptual understanding of the knowledge. So, going back through my textbook, making sure I'm understanding what I'm doing. But also, I was in that same boat like coming to college. Like I did not study much in high school, I got through it and then coming to college, I was like, okay, I got to figure something else out.
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:Yeah.
Student Ambassador:And so just each class I had just figuring out a different way to do things. But for math, it is mostly just practice over and over again.
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:And I loved your answer, that you really try to figure things out conceptually, and I feel like that's the next step that a lot of students don't get to. They do a lot of Quizlet, they do a lot of rote memorization. But that next step where you really have to figure it out conceptually, I feel like that's a challenging step for a lot of students.
Student Ambassador:I agree, because I feel like in school we're taught to just memorize, memorize. But understanding it conceptually is important.
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:Absolutely.
Student Ambassador:Are there differences in how first year students versus seniors approach self regulation?
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:I definitely think so. I think, you know, college is a learning curve. And again, if you come in using the strategies that you used in high school, I think you're only going to get so far. But also there's some research that the frontal lobe of our brain is not fully developed until about 23 to 25. And I actually just talked about this in my class yesterday, and most of my students are 19, 20, 21. And that is your reasoning, your problem-solving, your good decision-making. And the brain is developing through college. So there's absolutely some development. People think, “oh, we're not kids anymore,” but there's still a lot of development that occurs in college. There's also some research that when freshmen come to college, they're very black and white thinkers, like, what is the answer to this? And I have to look at my students in education and say, sometimes the best answer I can give you is, “it depends.” And there's some research on epistemological beliefs, and it talks about how freshmen are very black white thinkers. Like they think there's an answer, they want an answer and, developmentally as they go through college, they realize that there's a lot of gray area out there. And I teach, educational psychology, especially in education and psychology, it's a lot of gray area. So, you know, if they're like, “so how do I help Johnny in the classroom?” The answer is, “it depends.” Is it, is he, what grade is he? First? Second? Third? Fourth? Fifth? Is he in a language classroom or is he in a math classroom? That's going to affect your strategies. Does he have any learning challenges? That's going to affect your strategies. So, just asking how we can help Johnny to learn? It depends. What's his teacher like? Does he have any behavioral issues? What type of classroom does he perform best in? So I just feel like, thinking of college students progresses as they go from freshmen to seniors. And according to epistemological beliefs, they go from black and white, there is one right answer thinking to, okay, like this is a complex area, and I think that's really fun to witness.
Student Ambassador:What is that that opens their mind to the gray area? Is it just doing things over and over again and kind of finally seeing the gray area or what goes into that?
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:So I think that's a good question. And I definitely, after Covid, have seen students - where I’ll give an assignment in class and they just slam it out and they just want to get it done. And I think intrinsic motivation is part of that. Like we want them to become engaged in the task. It's not all about just checking a box and getting the assignment done. And, I think we really want them to kind of expand their mind and to see different perspectives. And there's just not always one right answer to questions, especially in education. Usually the answer is very complex.
Student Ambassador:What role do faculty and advisors play in supporting these skills?
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:Creating a learner centered environment I think is very helpful. So, you know, when I was in college, it was a very teacher-centered environment. The old professor stood at the podium and talked, and we took notes. But students today want to be more active, and I think that's really good. And I try to pose a lot of questions like, like yesterday we learned about Jean Piaget in my class. And so I did a PowerPoint, did a little overview, tried to have some discussion, but then we broke into groups and we walked through the tasks. And so many students have never actually done the Piagetian tasks. So I had them set up around the classroom. They got into groups and they poured water into beakers and graduated cylinders and rolled out clay and did all the things. So I think a hands on, learner-centered approaches where it's more of a discussion and students read ahead of time and we talk about the reading more than teacher-centered, lecture based instruction.
Student Ambassador:I agree with that. All my, like, discussion-based classrooms. I enjoy going to those like I look forward to, like seeing the people in my class and seeing what the teacher has to challenge me that day. But I totally agree. How can technology, like apps or online tools, support self regulating learning?
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:Well, it's that's an interesting question because I have a friend, for example, that teaches at a community college, and she says everyone assumes if they sign up for this online class of this community college, it's going to be really easy. And she's like, I try to tell students it's actually harder. And I think that's such a good point because I think, more technology kind of fosters self-regulated learning. But at the same time, I think it necessitates a lot of self-regulated learning. So if you are not a really self-regulated learner, I think it's actually going to be challenging.
Student Ambassador:So just kind of having that balance.
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:Yeah, it's very helpful. But it also - it's helpful in developing self-regulated learning. But it also necessitates a degree of self-regulated learning to use it well, if that makes sense.
Student Ambassador:What challenges do students face when trying to become more self-regulated learners?
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:I think what's interesting is this is something that we don't really teach K through 12, and we could teach more, and we also could teach it more in our college classes. So I haven't done this in a little while, but one time I taught a summer class and it was basic educational psychology, but we had five tests in there, and I made them use a different strategy for each test. So I had them write out all the notes from the class and all the notes that they thought were important from the textbook, and make a big study guide. I had them use notecards. I had them get in groups and learn concepts like I taught all different strategies throughout the class, and I feel like students need strategy, instruction and teachers at all levels. K through college need to kind of model that more, because I feel like sometimes we expect students to figure it out, but it's hard to just figure out. I think we could teach that a little more.
Student Ambassador:I completely agree, like learning how to learn. I would have loved to have known that before going to college. Is there any that you saw that worked well above the others, or?
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:I think it was interesting too. So I told my students, my goal is to kind of teach you a bunch of different strategies, and when you take subsequent courses, I want you to choose what works best for you. So I think different people learn differently. And, some students are very social learners. They like to learn in groups. I have other students - when I do a group project, they're like, “oh no, can I just do this alone?” And I say, no, because we need to learn collaboratively. But I do respect that. Some people like to learn more independently. I think we're going to see more research on time of day. Some people are morning people. Some people learn better at night. I think some sometimes it's about finding what works best for you. I can barely spell my name at 8:00 in the morning, and it's not a hard name, but like, I work really well at 10 p.m. til 2 a.m., like, that's when my brain is on fire. So creative, like research kind of work, that's when I need to do that.
Student Ambassador:Okay.
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:So, I think figuring that out about yourself is really helpful.
Student Ambassador:Okay. That makes sense. For students listening today, what’s one practical tip they can start using immediately?
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:Phil Winne had some research on this years ago, but self-regulated learning. He has a four step plan. So the first thing is planning, like actually start with your goals and then make a plan. How are you going to meet your goals? And then what strategies do you need to use to meet your goals? And so what I mean by that is maybe you're taking a math ed class, and it sounds like working problems and practicing problems over and over is a very effective strategy in there. But this semester, let's say you also have a language class. That's a lot of reading, a lot of highlighting, maybe taking notes, maybe summarizing. Two completely different strategy sets. So you start out with your goals for each class and then make a plan for each class. And then, you know, what strategies are you going to use? And then the last step, obviously, you implement your strategies and then you evaluate your strategies and this is why I tell my students, I think the first test of every class in some ways is the hardest because you go in, you're like, “okay, I did all of this and I ended up with a 74, and that was not my goal. I wanted to do better,” so try to figure out, “okay, well, I didn't realize the professor was going to focus mostly on the book,” or “I didn't realize the professor was going to draw the test mostly from the class.” You know, there's a learning curve in there. So then reevaluate your strategies and, you know, try to figure out what works best for each class.
Student Ambassador:Well, okay. This has been such an insightful Auburn ED Talk and so helpful for me as an Auburn student, Dr. Salisbury-Glennon. Before we wrap up, what's one key takeaway you hope listeners remember about self-regulated learning and motivation?
Dr. Salisbury-Glennon:So I think to be very intentional, and I know that's a very overused word, but I find that, telling students that if you make a goal for every single class, like just something like, what's your grade in this class? And then make a plan. And, you know, I tell students, take a big calendar for the semester and literally put down all of your tests, all of your assignments. There are a lot of students that don't even do that. There's kind of like, “oh, I have a test this Wednesday. It's Monday. I better figure that out.” So just a lot of planning. A lot of, you know, figuring out what strategy works better in each class because the one size fits all model doesn't necessarily work.
Student Ambassador:Thank you so much again Dr. Salisbury-Glennon for joining us on Auburn ED Talks where great minds keep the conversation rolling and thanks to everyone listening. Be sure to subscribe for more conversations that inspire, inform and ignite your passion for education and innovation. War Eagle!