Examining the Effect of Academic Procrastination on Achievement Using LMS Data in e-Learning

Introduction Procrastination refers to the delay of initiation or timely completion of a task (Lay, 1986). Procrastination is a prevalent phenomenon especially among college students due to the relatively flexible learning environment compared to K-12 circumstances. Some studies (e.g., Ellis & Knaus, 1977; Schouwenburg, 2004) reported that approximately 70% of college students considered themselves procrastinators, and academic procrastination has been reported across the world (e.g., Ferrari, Diaz-Morales, O'Callaghan, Diaz, & Argumedo, 2007; Klassen et al., 2010; Seo, 2011). In addition, as e-learning is becoming popular, the likelihood of procrastination is also growing because of the self-directed nature of the e-learning environment. For example, an annual report (Allen & Seaman, 2013) that surveyed over 2,800 colleges and universities in the U.S. reported that a total of 6.7 million students had taken at least one online course, but many students expressed difficulties in planning and regulating their studies. Studies have shown that procrastinators delay or participate less in learning activities due to a failure in self-regulation (Dewitte & Lens, 2000; Steel, 2007), and procrastination leads to poor achievement (Akinsola, Tella, & Tella, 2007). Because procrastinators had a relatively short period of time for completing tasks or preparing for exams, they hurried to finish their work or crammed the study material. Furthermore, high procrastinators have reported that they feel a compulsion to dropout frequently throughout a course and experience difficulty in maintaining motivation (Michinov, Brunot, Le Bohec, Juhel, & Delaval, 2011). Therefore, procrastination has been considered a proxy for disengaged learning, and it negatively impacts achievement (Asarta & Schmidt, 2013; Melton, 1970). Delays in studying weekly learning materials, participating in activities, and completing tasks are typical procrastination in e-learning, and the consequence of procrastination in e-learning is considered more damaging on achievement than procrastination in traditional classrooms (Tuckman, 2005) and often results in withdrawals (Doherty, 2006). Therefore, special attention should be paid to procrastination in e-learning. However, there is not enough empirical research on academic procrastination in the e-learning environment. Furthermore, most procrastination studies have used self-reported questionnaires to measure the behavioral tendencies of procrastination either in academic tasks or in daily tasks. Although these instruments (e.g., Lay, 1986; Tuckman, 1991) have been validated and used in many studies, they are intrusive to students and limited in capturing actual procrastination behaviors displayed during a course. This issue can be resolved in an e-learning course because all student behaviors are recorded in a learning management system (LMS). The generated log data convey information regarding who did it, what was taken, and when it was taken (Hershkovitz & Nachmias, 2009). More than 80% of surveyed institutions in the U.S. (Abdous, He, & Yen, 2012) and Korea (Korea Education and Research Information Service, 2012) have reported using LMS as a medium for e-learning course delivery, and the majority of traditional universities have also used LMSs to support their regular classes. This trend indicates that it is not difficult to trace and identify students' learning patterns throughout a course in a field. Therefore, it would be valuable to clarify the effect of academic procrastination on achievement using LMS data. Several studies have explored the significant indicators from log data to e-learning achievement. Participation indices, including the number of pages to read, time spent reading materials, and the number of original postings, were commonly used in the research. However, recent studies (Asarta & Schmidt, 2013; Jo & Kim, 2013) have claimed that consistent learning behaviors, such as avoiding cramming or regularity of learning pace, are more critical than the frequency of access or amount of time spent viewing. …