Abstract:

Background:
According to renowned author and behavioral economist Richard Thaler, a “nudge” is some small feature of the environment that attracts our attention and alters our behavior. In our daily lives, we are constantly surrounded by such nudges, some of which can prompt us to make positive choices and decisions. A classic example of nudges in action is the use of green arrows on the floor of a grocery store leading to the fruit and vegetable aisles. After this nudge was put into effect, 9 out of 10 shoppers followed the arrows and sales of fresh produce skyrocketed. And educators can use nudges too. As instructors, we are positioned to nudge our students to engage in activities that are beneficial for their learning and that counteract negative tendencies and beliefs. In particular, we can nudge them to review material regularly instead of trying to cram it all in right before it is needed. We can also nudge students in ways that encourage a positive or growth mindset. We can nudge them to believe in their ability to improve with effort and persevere in the face of setbacks. And, we can nudge students to push themselves beyond their comfort zones and take on things that they find challenging, rather than simply repeating the things that they have already mastered. The question, then, is what nudges will lead to these results and how we can implement them in our students’ experiences.

The nudges:
The Keep in School Shape (KiSS) intervention is a mobile, engaging, innovative and cost-effective program that was designed with nudge theory in mind. It delivers daily review opportunities for mathematical skills and concepts to students over academic breaks. Each day over an academic break, students receive a text message or email that contains the link to a daily review activity. In this way, students are nudged to regularly rehearse things that they have learned and need to maintain for their future studies – instead of waiting until the start of the semester and trying to cram in everything they have learned in the past. Then, as students participate in the daily review activity, inspirational feedback messages act as nudges to enact a growth mindset. For instance, if students get a problem incorrect, they don’t just get a red X mark; they are reminded that skills and achievement come through commitment and effort, and are nudged to get a hint and retry the problem or look at the solution and try a similar problem. If students get a problem correct, they are reminded that they are in charge of helping their minds grow, and are nudged to leave their comfort zone and take on a related problem that is slightly more challenging.

The results:
In this presentation, we will take the audience on a tour of the KiSS Program and present results from hundreds of students who participated in the program during Winter Break 2022 at a large southwestern university. In particular, we will use data analysis and visualization techniques to share what we have learned about how students respond to the nudges that are built into the KiSS Program design. We will conclude with a discussion of how such a program can be built to meet the specific goals of instructors who wish to nudge their students to regularly reviewing what they have learned over academic breaks so that students return to their studies feeling prepared and enabled.

Keywords:

Nudges, Growth mindset, Retrieval Practice, Review.