Training College Students to Use Learning Strategies: A Framework and Pilot Course

The use of effective study strategies is important for academic achievement, yet research indicates that students often use relatively ineffective learning strategies. Though potent strategies to promote durable learning exist, there is a lack of theoretical and empirical work on how to train students to self-regulate use of these strategies successfully. We summarize a novel framework to do so: the knowledge, belief, commitment, and planning (KBCP) framework. The assumptions are that learners must develop knowledge about a strategy and how to use it, believe that the strategy is effective for the individual learner, commit to the strategy, and create an action plan for carrying it out. We then describe an example of the KBCP framework as applied to a college course on teaching students effective learning strategies and self-regulation of these strategies in their college coursework. Lectures on specific learning strategies conveyed knowledge about the strategies, in-class demonstrations illustrated their efficacy (to support belief), and assignments required students to develop a plan for applying them to their courses and to implement the plan (to ensure commitment). Discussion focuses on the implications of including training in how to use learning strategies in psychology courses and curricula, and on the possible extension of such training to the teaching of other psychology content.