What Are They Thinking? Students' Affective Reasoning and Attitudes about Course Withdrawal

In this mixed-methods study we identify situations that impact students' decisions to withdraw from a course and examine their affective reasoning and attitudes toward course withdrawal. Exploring students' decision-making processes through the lens of self-authorship, we show that student...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNACADA journal Vol. 32; no. 2; pp. 17 - 25
Main Authors Wheland, Ethel R, Butler, Kevin A, Qammar, Helen, Katz, Karyn Bobkoff, Harris, Rose
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published National Academic Advising Association 01.09.2012
Subjects
Academic Achievement
Academic Advising
College Students
Decision Making
Higher Education
Intellectual Development
Intervention
Interviews
Mixed Methods Research
Ohio
Student Attitudes
Surveys
Withdrawal (Education)
Ohio
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Summary:In this mixed-methods study we identify situations that impact students' decisions to withdraw from a course and examine their affective reasoning and attitudes toward course withdrawal. Exploring students' decision-making processes through the lens of self-authorship, we show that students frequently seek information from people with whom they have a personal rather than academic relationship, make decisions with little awareness of academic consequences, and often experience a feeling of dissonance when withdrawing from courses, even describing themselves as "quitters." Our results lead to recommendations that can assist academic advisors in developing meaningful interventions that advance students' decision-making abilities and intellectual development. (Contains 2 tables.)
ISSN:0271-9517
DOI:10.12930/0271-9517-32.2.17