Relationship of Participation in a Residential Living and Learning Community to Goal Orientation, Self-Efficacy and Self-Regulation of Learning

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare levels of goal orientation, self-efficacy and self-regulation of learning between first-year students who participated in a residential living and learning community (LLC) and first-year students who lived on campus but not in the LLC. Participants were 111 first-year students in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State University. Participants completed the Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale-Short Form, Goals Inventory, Self-Efficacy for Self-Regulated Learning Scale, and a demographic form. Independent samples t-tests were used to analyze data. Participation in the LLC was found to have no significant impact on goal orientation, self-efficacy, or self-regulation or learning. Factors contributing to these results include the potential for LLCs to have an indirect effect on specified outcomes, systematic or meaningful differences between students who self-select to participate in LLCs and those who choose not to participate, and the non-response bias.