Learning from the Learners

Elizabeth Berry is professor emerita at California State University, Northridge (CSUN). She initiated and was director of the Center for Teaching and Learning, the faculty pedagogy support center at CSUN. She has served as codirector of the Learning Habits Project since 2007.Bettina J. Huber was CSUN’s director of Institutional Research (IR) until her retirement in 2017. She was also codirector of the Learning Habits Project from 2007 until 2017.Cynthia Z. Rawitch is professor and administrator emerita at CSUN. Prior to coming to CSUN as a part-time instructor in 1972, she was a reporter and editor at the Associated Press in Los Angeles and “professor-in-residence” for the Los Angeles Times’ Minority Editorial Training Program (METPRO).

• Foreword - Harrold HellenbrandPart I: Project ParametersChapter 1: The Evolution of the Learning Habits Project: Methods and Procedures - Bettina J. HuberChapter 2: Who Are the Learning Habits Students and Why Do They Persist? - Bettina J. HuberPart II: Differing Patterns of Engagement within Major Student SubgroupsIntroductionChapter 3: Being the First To Go to College - Steven GravesChapter 4: The Role of Gender in Fostering Persistence and Effective Learning Habits - Bettina J. Huber Chapter 5: Campus Diversity and College Learning Through the Eyes of Learning Habits Students - Bettina J. HuberPart III: Key Themes in Teaching and LearningIntroductionChapter 6: Reading with Understanding: What Do College Students Say? - Elizabeth Berry and Linda S. BowenChapter 7: Gains in Written Communication between the Freshman and Junior Years - Irene L. Clark and Bettina J. HuberChapter 8: PowerPoint Fatigue and the Rabbit Hole of Internet Stuff: Students and Technology - Donal O’SullivanChapter 9: Sliding Into Learning: The Power of Webnotes - Carrie Rothstein-Fisch and Sharon M. KleinPart IV: Fostering Student InitiativeIntroductionChapter 10: Factors Influencing Academic Help Seeking by College Students - Mark Stevens and Peter MoraChapter 11: Self-Regulated Learning Habits - Daisy Lemus, Mary-Pat Stein, and Whitney ScottChapter 12: Encouraging Students to Be Thoughtful about Their Learning - Bettina J. HuberPart V: Conclusions and RecommendationsChapter 13: What Did You Learn? What Are You Gonna Do About It? Appendix 1. Participants in the Learning Habits SeminarAppendix 2. Master List of Questions Posed During Face-to-Face Learning Habits InterviewsAppendix 3. Questions Posed at Project Registration and in All End-of-Term Assignments

The Learning Habits Project is an impressive ten-year study that addresses one of the key questions of higher education—how can students be successful and graduate from college? It has several advantages over other studies or projects addressing this issue: it comes from a strength-based rather than deficit perspective; it centers research on students’ voices and perspective; it engages the quality of learning, not just college completion; and it looks at student experience holistically—what happens in the classroom, outside the classroom, and in student lives outside campus. While providing important insight about specific issues, such as how students can best use technology or advice to improve their reading comprehension, it sheds light on important overarching issues, such as the importance of students’ metacognitive strategies in student success. This balance of big-picture issues as well as detailed advice around specific challenges and programs provides the type of systemic and multilevel recommendations needed to truly help students succeed.