The Effect of Tracking and Reflecting on Study Habits on Study Behavior and Grades

Abstract

Many college students struggle to adjust academically because they never learned how to study effectively. In our first study, we developed a web-based application that enabled students to record when and how long they were studying. 29 college undergraduates used this tracking application for two weeks, then reflected on how the app affected their self-awareness and/or behavior. Analyses of participant diaries and application logs indicate that tracking applications are far from accurate, but the act of tracking itself, paired with analysis of one’s own data through reflection, enables students to have stronger self-awareness of their studying habits. Our second study, a 13-week long field experiment with 162 first-year students participating in 5 groups with varying combinations of tracking and reflection, showed that the tracking+ self-reflection group scored significantly higher on their final exam than tracking with social reflection.