Students' Habits, Strategies, and Decisive Factors Around Course Selection

Before the beginning of a new academic term, university students carry out a series of activities to decide which courses they will be attending. The specific combination of chosen courses and the academic load these courses impose have a direct impact on several aspects of a student's life, including their academic performance. In this paper, we report the results of a survey that inquired about the activities students engage in when making course enrollment decisions in planning an upcoming academic term. Our survey asked about how students use some of the resources provided by their institution to inform their enrollment decisions, particularly when it comes to selecting specific instructors. We discuss the implications of our observations both for the student population and other university stakeholders. Our findings can inform the development of better tools to assist students in term planning.