| In the past 20 years, a number of researchers have addressed the concept of strategic learning--the cognitive, motivational, self-regulatory processes, and behaviors that enhance learning effectiveness and efficiency. While strategic learning depends greatly on the learner's capabilities and preferences, it also depends on the context in which learning occurs. The context is defined by a number of variables, among which instructor characteristics play an important role.;Participants in this study were 154 freshman undergraduate students in the School of Business Administration of a Mexican private university. Measures of academic achievement, strategic learning, and students' views of instructor characteristics were collected in this ex-post-facto research work. Analyses of data were grouped into four studies.;Study 1 assessed the psychometric properties of two instruments designed to measure students' level of strategic learning and students' views of instructor characteristics. Study 2 assessed the correlations between students' level of strategic learning and academic achievement; and between students' views of instructor characteristics and academic achievement. Study 3 explored the ways in which students, with different levels of strategic learning, evaluate differently their instructors. Finally, Study 4 explored what high-strategic and low-strategic learners think, feel, and do when they are exposed to an unattractive form of instruction. |
