Student academic learning failure and workload strategies: what does it mean for universities?

This paper investigated the relationship between students who received failure grades in one or more units in semester 1 of 2008 and its influence on students¿ decision making in regard to their unit workload strategies for the ensuing semester. It is shown that students who experienced semester 1 failure were less likely to experience further failure in semester 2, if they were to pursue either a hold workload steady (no change in the number of units) or increase their workload, whereas a unit workload reduction strategy led to a lower probability of eliminating failure. The implications of this research are twofold. Firstly, there is a benefit to students in understanding in greater detail the evidence around student strategies in the face of failure and possible ensuing dropout; and, the second implication concerns informing and empowering universities who wish to retain those students.