Self-Monitoring of the On-Task Behavior of University Students

Abstract

On-task behavior contributes to better academic achievement of students with and without disabilities. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effect of a self-monitoring procedure to increase the on-task behavior of university students. During the intervention, sessions with and without self-monitoring were alternated. During the self-monitoring sessions, three students self-monitored their on-task behavior at 60-second intervals, no consequences for the on-task behavior were provided. In the sessions without self-monitoring, students continued working on their academic task without programed consequences. All sessions occurred during the time the students were working on their academic tasks. An independent observer collected data on the students’ on-task behavior using a momentary timesampling procedure with 60-second intervals. For two of the participants, the percentage of on-task intervals was slightly higher during self-monitoring sessions compared to sessions without self-monitoring. The results suggest that the main effect of the self-monitoring procedure was to maintained the stability of on-task behavior throughout the procedure.