File 1 pptx 319KB

3.8.10 Do Honors Students Study More? Exploring Patterns of Time Use for Honors College Students

Previous research suggests that there are some increases in engagement for honors college students, such as more frequent student-faculty interaction, reflective learning, collaborative learning, and higher quality of interactions (Miller & Dumford, 2018). Most honors colleges include more academically rigorous versions of general education courses, usually with smaller class sizes, and these are often prerequisites to more demanding courses (Sederberg, 2005). A recent review of honors curricula found that most have required independent research elements, but there is more variation in internships, service learning, and study abroad (Cognard-Black & Savage, 2016). Given these characteristics, one might expect honors college students to allot more time to studying, in turn sacrificing time for other types of (nonacademic) activities.

This study extends research on student engagement for honors college students in higher education, using data from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). Responses from 8,672 first-year and senior students at 27 different U.S. colleges and universities were analyzed to compare time use on a variety of activities for honors and non-honors students. The NSSE instrument includes items asking about time use in multiple areas: preparing for class, participating in co-curricular activities, working for pay on and off campus, doing community service/volunteer work, and relaxing/socializing.

A series of ordinary least squares regression models were conducted to determine whether honors college participation was a significant predictor of NSSE’s categories of time use, even when controlling for other demographic and institutional characteristics. The results suggest that honors college participation is a significant positive predictor of time spent on co-curricular activities, working on campus, and community service, even after controlling for sexual orientation, major, educational aspirations, gender identity, diagnosed disability, online courses, transfer status, first-generation status, age, international status, living situation, enrollment status, estimated GPA, institution size, control, and Carnegie classification. However, honors participation was not a significant predictor of time spent preparing for class, working off campus, or relaxing/socializing, suggesting that there is no difference in the amount of time that honors and non-honors students spend on these particular activities.

Potential reasons for these patterns of results will be discussed. These findings can help to inform and justify curricular and programming enhancements for honors college students. Additionally, the lack of differences for some categories of time use could be interpreted as a strength for honors colleges, in terms of their ability to recruit gifted students who are concerned about an excessive time commitment for studying.

Author(s):