Research exploring a student’s “path to purchase” when considering course selection has revealed a number of influential factors including course content, reputation, and professor style. To date, little is known about the direct (or indirect) influence that course titles and course descriptions have on student interest and enrollment in courses, or how easy-sounding (simple) versus difficult-sounding (complex) information is inferred and interpreted as it relates to various enrollment markers. Using ideas from metacognition research, this research explores the impact of subjective assessment of simple versus complex course titles and course descriptions on general interest in a course and enrollment intentions. Findings indicate that not only does an easy versus complex course description affect enrollment intention, but it also affects subjective interpretations of course interest, expected workload, and learning outcomes, whereas course title has few meaningful effects. Application of these ideas for specific students and future research opportunities are discussed.

在考虑课程选择时探索学生“购买途径”的研究揭示了许多影响因素，包括课程内容、声誉和教授风格。迄今为止，对于课程名称和课程描述对学生兴趣和课程注册的直接（或间接）影响，或如何推断和解释听起来容易（简单）与听起来困难（复杂）的信息知之甚少它涉及各种注册标记。本研究利用元认知研究的思想，探讨了简单与复杂课程名称和课程描述的主观评估对课程的普遍兴趣和入学意图的影响。调查结果表明，不仅简单与复杂的课程描述会影响入学意愿，但它也会影响对课程兴趣、预期工作量和学习成果的主观解释，而课程名称几乎没有有意义的影响。讨论了这些想法对特定学生和未来研究机会的应用。