The ABCs Approach to Goal Setting and Implementation

Copyright 2016 Harrington © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 1 | 1
The ABCS of Setting and
Implementing Effective Goals
Christine Harrington Ph.D.
November 10, 2014 Cengage Learning Webinar
© marekuliasz/shutterstock.com

Before we begin, let’s CHAT…
What are you hoping
to get out of
today’s webinar?

Agenda
Importance of Goals
Mixed Research on SMART goals
New Goal Framework: ABCS

IMPORTANCE
OF GOALS

Importance of Goals
Goals
Success
Locke & Latham (2002)

Exploring the Research
Morisano, Hirsh, Peterson, Pihl & Shore (2010)
Research Question:
Does a goal setting
intervention help
students stay in
college and perform
better academically? iQoncept/Shutterstock.com

The Study
85 college students
who were
struggling
academically
Goal setting
intervention
(2 ½ hours)
Generic
intervention
GPA, Survey
questions about
withdrawal rates
and emotions

The Results
2.91
2.25
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
Received Goal Setting Training Did not receive Goal Setting Training
GPA
GPA

The Results
Goal group less
likely to drop
classes
Goal group had
fewer negative
emotions

The So What Factor
Learning
about goals
is valuable!
© Filipe Frazao/shutterstock.com

But….
WHAT should we be
teaching students about
goals?

Poll Question:
Do you teach students the
SMART goal framework?
a) Yes always!
b) Sometimes
c) No

Poll Question:
Are you familiar with other goal
frameworks?
a) Yes (please write down the
framework in the chat box)
b) No

CHAT TIME:
What do you think is the
MOST IMPORTANT
characteristic of a goal?

SMART GOALS

SMART Goals
SMART
GOALS
Specific
Measureable
Achievable
Realistic/Relevant
Time-based/Trackable

Limited Research Support
“there is a dearth of recent reported
research on the conceptual robustness
or effectiveness of heuristic goal-
setting devices such as SMART”
(Day & Tosey, 2011, p. 530)

Do goals need to be realistic?
Maybe not!
•Unrealistic goals do
NOT appear to be
detrimental
• (Linde, Jeffrey, Finch, Ng, & Rothman, 2004)

Redundancy in SMART Goals?
Specific- Measurable
Achievable- Realistic

What’s Missing in
SMART Goals?
Challenge!

The MOST Important Goal
Characteristic!
Challenging
Goals, Better
Results
Locke and Latham (2002)
Wicker, Hamman, Reed, McCann, &
Turner (2005)

THE ABCS APPROACH
TO GOAL SETTING
AND MONITORING

ABCS Framework
Aim High
Believe in Yourself
Care and Commit
Specify and Self-Reflect

AIM HIGH:
Challenging Goals
“the highest or most difficult
goals produced the highest
levels of effort and
performance”
(Locke & Latham, 2002, p. 706)

Depression: Is there a Downside
to Challenging Goals?
Reynolds & Baird (2010)
1979
• Ages 14-22
• 12,686 participants
1992
Highest
Degree
© Jochen Schoenfeld/shutterstock.com

Goal Attainment?
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Fell Short of Goal Achieved Goal Exceeded Goal
Percentage
Percentage

Results…
Go Ahead Challenge Yourself
• No evidence of
“emotional cost”
(depression) for
unrealized goals
• Higher expectations
were associated with
lower levels of
depression
© Marilyn Volan/shutterstock.com

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF
Self-Efficacy

Self-Efficacy
More likely to
persevere when
faced with
setbacks or
difficulties
Komarraju & Nadler (2013)

To Build Self-Efficacy
Have courage to take risks
Identify action steps
Reflect on experiences
Expect mistakes to happen sometimes
Access help as needed

CARE AND COMMIT:
Motivation Matters!
© Phase4Studios/shutterstock.com

Intrinsic Motivation
“ intrinsic motivation is the
strongest predictor of academic
performance, followed by effort”
(Goodman et al., 2011, p.353)

High Commitment-
High Success
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Low Goal High Goal
Low Commitment
High Commitment
Seijts & Latham (2011)

SPECIFY
“Do Your Best”
Goals
DON’T
Work
Locke and Latham (2002)

Benefits of Specific Goals
Increased Effort
Easier Monitoring of
Progress
(Roney & Connor, 2008; Locke & Latham, 2006)

SELF REFLECT
How are you Doing?
• “Check up” on
yourself
• Monitor progress
made thus far
• Make adjustments
as needed
© Dragan Grkic/Shutterstock.com

The Academic
Self-Regulation Process

Research on Self-Reflection
Dietz-Uhler & Lanter (2009)
Will students who
complete a four question
self-reflection activity
before a quiz perform
better than students who
complete this activity
after the quiz?

The Study
107
undergraduate
students
Reflection
First
Self-enhancement
topic
Prisoner’s dilemma
topic
Quiz First
Self-enhancement
topic
Prisoner’s dilemma
topic

The 4 Questions
1. Identify one important concept, research
finding, theory or idea in psychology that
you learned while completing the activity.
2. Why do you believe that this concept,
research finding, or idea in psychology is
so important?
3. Apply what you have learned from this
activity to some aspect of your life.
4. What question(s) has the activity raised
for you? What are you still wondering
about?
Direct from Dietz-Uhler & Lanter (2009) p. 40

The Results!
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Reflection first Quiz first
Quiz Performance
Quiz Performance

A PROBLEM:
Illusions of Competence
Students who simply studied thought they did the best but they did not!
Direct from Karpicke & Blunt (2011)

The Problem with
Over-Confidence
Students
may
stop
studying
too soon!

Exploring the Research
Dunlosky & Rawson (2012)
Research Questions:
1. What happens
when students are
over-confident?
2. Does overconfidence
lead to lower levels
of achievement?

The First Study
48 students
No Standard
Idea-Unit- check
section of text
Task: Read a passage and learn key words;
Had to make judgment about their accuracy

The First Study: Results!
Students who were
over-confident
stopped practicing
and performed
more poorly.
Students who checked
their answers were
more accurate

The Second Study
158 college students read
passage to learn key words
All in Idea Unit- compared
their answer to information in
the text
Confidence level assessed

The Second Study: Results!
Over-confidence associated with poor performance

The So What Factor
• Accurate
judgments are
important
• Seek external
information to
increase accuracy

CHAT TIME…
How can YOU help students
increase accuracy when
making judgments about their
progress?

Understanding How Much
Assignments “Count”
Final Grade: 87 B +
Assignment Grade Percentage
Research
Paper
90 60
Quizzes 70
70
70
70
10
Final Exam 87 30
Final Grade: 79 C+
Assignment Grade Percentage
Research
Paper
90 15
Quizzes 70
70
70
70
45
Final Exam 87 40

ONLINE PUBLISHER SUPPORT

Poll Question:
Do you ask your students to use online
publisher tools?
a) Yes I require students to use the online
supports (it’s part of their final grade)
b) Yes I encourage students to use the online
supports (it’s extra credit)
c) Yes I encourage students to use the online
supports but it doesn’t “count”
d) No I don’t ask students to use the online
publisher tools

Let’s Review…
ABCS Framework
Aim High
Believe in Yourself
Care and Commit
Specify and Self-Reflect

Teaching Tips
• Creating Goals
• Jigsaw Classroom
• Evaluate Your Goals
• Social Media Campaign

Thank You!
Questions?
Contact Christine
Harrington at
charrington@middlesexcc.edu
732.690.2090
Join me at
Connect Yard

The ABCs Approach to Goal Setting and Implementation

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to The ABCs Approach to Goal Setting and Implementation

Similar to The ABCs Approach to Goal Setting and Implementation (20)

More from Cengage Learning

More from Cengage Learning (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

The ABCs Approach to Goal Setting and Implementation

Editor's Notes