Training in managing your own learning raised how well students did

The review

1. 01

   Who took part

   This review pooled 142 studies, most with undergraduate students. Some had graduate students, vocational learners, or people who learned at work.

2. 02

   What they did

   Students were taught, or prompted, to use ways of managing their learning: planning, checking progress and judging their own work. Each study compared them with another group. The papers rarely said how long the training lasted.

3. 03

   What happened

   In 61 studies the training raised results by a medium amount, and in 41 it raised use of these ways. Across 72 studies, students who used more of these ways tended to do better. Only a small part of the training's effect on results seemed to run through them.

What the review found

1. Helped

   Students who got this training did better in their studies than the other groups did.

   • Action: Learn better study strategiestested

   Pooled analysis of 61 studies · vs groups with no training · ⚠ mixes trials with other kinds of study

2. Helped

   Students who got this training used more ways of managing their own learning than the other groups did.

   • Action: Learn better study strategiestested

   Pooled analysis of 41 studies · vs groups with no training · ⚠ the studies disagreed a lot; mixes trials with other kinds of study

3. No comparison

   Students who used more ways of managing their own learning tended to do better in their studies.

   Pooled analysis of 72 studies · no comparison group · ⚠ the studies disagreed a lot; mixes trials with other kinds of study

Source