ABSTRACT

Academic rigor has long been considered important for students’ learning and development in higher education. However, findings about students’ outcomes from previous studies of rigor are mixed, in part because of varying conceptions of what constitutes rigor. In quantitative research, rigor is often operationalized in one of two ways: through students’ workload in courses or through their instructors’ expectations for course learning in the form of cognitive challenge. This study employed data from a multi-institutional, longitudinal study of undergraduates in the United States to examine the relationship of both conceptions of rigor with students’ cognitive development, including their critical thinking skills and two measures of self-motivated learning (need for cognition and positive attitudes toward literacy). Workload was related to four-year growth in positive attitudes about reading and writing, while cognitive challenge was related to self-motivated learning in year one and all three aspects of cognitive development in year four. In particular, the amount of reading that students completed was the only measure of workload positively associated with outcomes, while both challenge in class and in exams and assignments played a role. These findings have implications for instructors, instructional developers, institutional leaders, and researchers in higher education.

摘要

长期以来，学术严谨一直被认为对学生在高等教育中的学习和发展很重要。然而，之前关于严格性研究的学生结果是混合的，部分原因是关于什么是严格性的不同概念。在定量研究中，严谨性通常以两种方式之一进行操作：通过学生在课程中的工作量或通过他们的教师以认知挑战的形式对课程学习的期望。本研究利用美国本科生的多机构纵向研究数据来检验严格概念与学生认知发展的关系，包括他们的批判性思维技能和自我激励学习的两个衡量标准（认知需求）。以及对识字的积极态度）。工作量与四年阅读和写作的积极态度增长有关，而认知挑战与第一年的自我激励学习和第四年认知发展的所有三个方面有关。尤其是，学生完成的阅读量是衡量与结果正相关的工作量的唯一指标，而课堂、考试和作业中的挑战都发挥了作用。这些发现对高等教育的教师、教学开发人员、机构领导和研究人员都有影响。学生完成的阅读量是衡量与结果正相关的工作量的唯一指标，而课堂上的挑战以及考试和作业中的挑战都发挥了作用。这些发现对高等教育的教师、教学开发人员、机构领导和研究人员都有影响。学生完成的阅读量是衡量与结果正相关的工作量的唯一指标，而课堂上的挑战以及考试和作业中的挑战都发挥了作用。这些发现对高等教育中的教师、教学开发人员、机构领导和研究人员都有影响。