Implementing a Simple, Scalable Self-Regulated Learning Intervention to Promote Graduate Learners’ Statistics Self-Efficacy and Concept Knowledge

Abstract

Abstract Learners’ efficacy beliefs are an important determinant of their performance and future study in an academic domain, and recent work has highlighted the complexities associated with promoting learners’ statistics efficacy. The current study tested the effectiveness of a course-embedded, activity-driven intervention, grounded in principles of self-regulated learning, in promoting graduate learners’ statistics efficacy and concept knowledge. The intervention was designed to elicit and scaffold students’ analysis-specific efficacy beliefs and facilitate their monitoring of and critical reflection on their statistics understanding across engagement in an intermediate, graduate-level statistics course. Students’ pre- and post-course statistics efficacy was assessed; students’ statistics concept knowledge was assessed at the completion of the course. Engagement in the intervention explained a moderate amount of variance in learners’ post-course statistics efficacy and concept knowledge; efficacy and concept knowledge scores were higher for students in the intervention condition compared with students in the comparison condition. The findings suggest the use of these activities as a method of prompting students to engage more strategically with learning material in statistics. Implications for future research and pedagogy are discussed.