Personal OKRs: A Tool for Academic Goal Setting

This study aimed to implement the Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) framework as a Personal OKRs training program tailored for first-year students facing challenges in setting academic goals. The program involved a workshop and biweekly progress reviews. Sixteen participants, first-year undergraduate students who had previously taken preparatory courses in mathematics or physics, took part in the study. Six students received the Personal OKRs training program for sixteen weeks, while ten students comprised the control group without intervention. The impact of the Personal OKRs program on students' academic achievement and the three goal-setting components (meaningfulness, personal improvement, and data-based) were examined. Results indicated a marginally significant effect of the intervention on the data-based component (t(14) = -1.97, p=0.07) with a large effect size (d=1.05). Regularly tracking progress and engaging in self-reflection during the intervention appeared to play a significant role in enhancing academic goal setting.