The Strategic Resource Use Intervention

Improving learning is not just about working harder, but also about how effectively learners direct their efforts. Many learners fall short of achieving their potential, not necessarily because they are unable or unwilling to put in the effort but because they are not strategic in the way they use their learning resources to build mastery. We showed that an online, self-administered "strategic resource use" intervention, which guided learners to self-reflect on how they would effectively use their resources to study for their exams, significantly improved academic performance. The intervention guided them through the psychological process of strategizing what to use and why (for what purpose), and planning when, where, and how to learn effectively. Carrying out such reflection was related to more effective resource use reported during learning, and in turn, to better academic performance. Our research brings together principles from self-regulated learning theory, effective goal pursuit, and wise intervention methods to demonstrate the important causal relationship between strategic resource use and academic achievement. More consequentially, we show that this psychology can be changed in a scalable way to empower many learners.