Student Withdrawals and Delayed Work Patterns in Self-Paced Psychology Courses

Two problems frequently associated with self-paced (SP) instructional systems such as Keller's Personalized System of Instruction (Keller, 1968) are: (a) a high incidence of student withdrawals; and (b) delayed student work patterns, commonly referred to as "procrastination." References to both problems recur throughout the literature (e.g., Born & Whelan, 1973; Glick & Semb, 1978; Keller, 1968; and Sheppard & MacDermot, 1970). Further several studies (Henneberry, 1976a; Lloyd & Knutzen, 1969; Schwartz, 1976; Sernb, Glick & Spencer, in press) suggest that delayed student work is correlated with both inferior academic performance and eventual course withdrawal.

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