Since its establishment in 1998, the college’s Dennis Learning Center has been known for its services to help Ohio State students “study smarter.”
The one-to-one academic coaching, workshops and courses available to all Ohio State students help them improve their success. Specifically, the services help them develop the beliefs, attitudes and skills necessary for effective, self-regulated learning.
Self-regulated learning is the process whereby students take an active, purposeful role in managing their efforts.
Now, Jay Plasman, assistant professor of workforce development and education, has joined the center as director of research. He invites faculty from across the university to partner to enlarge the university’s research portfolio about student self-regulated learning and postsecondary success.
Plasman has major grants with school district partners studying how STEM education in high school career and technical education leads to successful entry into careers. In his new role, he will augment that interest.
“My overall goal is to build a multidisciplinary understanding of how the center’s instruction contributes not only to college students’ academic success,” he said, “but also to how strategies such as persistence and time management influence student success post-graduation. We want to understand how higher education is contributing to workforce preparation.”
Research Director Jay Plasman invites faculty and graduate students, both within the college and university-wide, to discuss research ideas with him.
The goal is to study how the skills taught by the Dennis Learning Center influence not only Ohio State students’ academic achievement, but also their workforce success after graduation.
Plasman has afternoon research office hours at the Dennis Learning Center, 250 Younkin Success Center, 1640 Neil Ave., Columbus Campus, every first Friday of the month, 1 to 4 p.m.
To discuss ideas with him or learn more, email him to schedule a time or call 614-247-1727.
Funding opportunities
- University grants. Plasman highlights Student Academic Success Research Grants from the university’s Office of Student Life as a possible support for faculty research. “Faculty members or their graduate students could research the effect of our center’s learning strategies on students in their field,” Plasman said.
- External grants. Plasman can discuss ideas for applying for external grants. He is working on a grant proposal with colleagues in his own Department of Educational Studies and with faculty in a university STEM program.
- College of Education and Human Ecology grants. Within the college, the Dean’s Undergraduate Research Initiative offers funding. Student teams are invited to form under a faculty mentor to apply on a competitive basis. The college’s Office of Research, Innovation and Collaboration manages selection of winning proposals.
Center resources to consider for research or inspiration
Faculty, staff and their students are invited to collaborate with the center on current research. Plasman encourages inquiries about involvement in studies underway or existing data, such as the following:
- Examine current research by the center’s graduate teaching assistants
- Many teaching assistants do their research on the center’s skills that they teach. Center staff are currently assessing all the research in process or recently completed. Discuss with us how to collaborate in studying or analyzing it or reviewing it to serve as inspiration for additional research.
- Study the center’s approximately 10 years of longitudinal data gathered on learning and motivational strategies
- Christopher Wolters, professor of educational psychology and previous center director, has surveys that were administered to students before, during and after taking center courses. Data address how student attitudes changed in terms of learning and motivational strategies.
- Study the impact of the center’s one-to-one academic coaching sessions and courses
- Consider studying the impact of the center’s free coaching sessions on students’ attitudes and achievements. Students in majors across the university visit the center for support and resources to help them succeed.
- Discuss with us the opportunity to study the impact on students of our many courses. A few examples of these courses are ESEPSY 1259: Learning and Motivation Strategies for College Success and ESEPSY 1359: Critical Thinking and Collaboration in Online Learning.
Examples of published research for inspiration
A study published in the 2023 journal Learning and Individual Differences was written by Wolters, alumni Ryan Iaconelli and Josh Peri, and Associate Professor Minjung Kim.
Based on data gathered for Iaconelli’s doctoral dissertation, the study compared students from a variety of majors who voluntarily took a Learning Center course to those who did not. The focus was on how the students used their self-regulated learning skills to impact their achievement.
The researchers found that taking the course was associated with improved motivational beliefs, reduced reports of procrastination and disengagement. They also found benefits to the students’ emotional engagement in the course content, among other findings.
Another article by Wolters and colleagues with the university’s Center for Life Science Education appeared in Life Sciences Education. The researchers compared students who took part in two co-curricular workshops. The first group spent an hour focused on effective learning strategies and self-awareness in the learning process.
The second group of students received the same workshop as the first, as well as another hour focused on time management and avoiding procrastination.
The students participated in self-report surveys both before and after the intervention. After the students took three subsequent biology exams, the researchers found those in the second group scored better on exams and had better degree commitment compared to the first group.
In addition, group status made a difference in terms of the effect of the intervention. Specifically, students from minority groups in the second intervention were especially effective at increasing their use of time management tools.
For undergraduate and graduate students
The Dennis Learning Center offers free, one-to-one coaching to support learning, as well as workshops on topics such as "Thriving in Science and Math" and "First-Generation Success."
Students also may enroll in courses such as ESEPSY 1259: Learning and Motivation Strategies for College Success and ESEPSY 2059: Becoming a Self-Regulated Learner.
The skills taught across the services offered include strategies for:
- avoiding procrastination
- concentration
- exam preparation and exam or test taking
- goal setting
- memory retention strategies
- motivation
- note taking
- planning
- persistence
- providing feedback
- self-control and self-regulation
- study strategies
- taking responsibility
- technology-enhanced learning strategies
- time management
- writing papers and speeches
