future academic goals essay

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Career Goals Essay For Scholarships (With Examples)

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Scholarship programs often want you to write a career goals essay to see that you have a clear plan for how you’ll apply your education to a specific career path. This helps show a scholarship committee why you’re seeking funds for the next step on the path toward your success. Answering “what are your career goals” effectively can help increase your odds of impressing landing a scholarship opportunity. If you’re a prospective student applying for scholarships, this article will provide tips on how to write a career goals essay, along with essays on career goals examples to help you get an idea of what scholarship committees are looking for. Key Takeaways: When you’re writing a career goals essay, make sure to write about the goals that are relevant to the scholarship. Be honest and use your own voice to stand out in your scholarship essay. Go into detail about how the scholarship will help you achieve your goals. In This Article    Skip to section What is a career goals essay? Why scholarship essays ask about career goals Example career goals essay prompts Career goals essay examples Tips for writing a scholarship essay about career goals What to write in a career goals essay if your goals have changed Career goals essay for a scholarship FAQ References Sign Up For More Advice and Jobs Show More What is a career goals essay?

A career goals essay is a personal written explanation that discusses your background, why you’re interested in participating in the program, and what career you’d like this degree to lead into. A scholarship essay functions to explain why you want to achieve your professional goals and how you intend to get there.

In almost every application process, a portion asks the candidate to answer an essay question. When applying to an educational program, like an MBA, the essay prompt usually relates to your career goals .

Why scholarship essays ask about career goals

Scholarship essays ask about career goals to assess your enthusiasm for the program, learn more about how the scholarship will help you, and ensure that you’ve considered how the program will help you achieve your goals for the future:

Assess your enthusiasm. Passion is important for scholarship administrators, and if you’re able to articulate your enthusiasm for a specific career path , it will show that you’re determined to meet the requirements to reach that goal. The most specific and well-thought-out your essay is, the easier it will be for a reader to understand your devotion and commitment to the program and the field it will allow you to enter.

Learn how the scholarship will help you. Having a firm grasp of your career goals is great, but it’s equally important that you express exactly how the specific program relates to those goals. This shows that you’ve researched the merits of the program and understand exactly how it fits into your professional goals.

Show you’ve considered your future. This goes along with the first two points — show that you know how to set goals and consider the path toward achieving those goals, and you’ll have an easier time convincing the reader that you’ll know how to set goals while participating in the program. They’ll see that you know how to prioritize education because you have a clear vision for navigating your career path.

Example career goals essay prompts

While some scholarships might come right out and simply ask, “What are your career goals?” most will rework the question into something different that still accomplishes the same goal.

Below are some examples of career goals essay prompts that a scholarship program could pose to its applicants:

Discuss your career goals. Many scholarships prefer the most direct approach when giving an essay prompt to their applicants. This type of question gives the candidate a lot of wiggle room to discuss their passions, motivations, and career goals.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years ? This question is often used as a prompt for a career goals essay because it gives the applicant a timeline to describe their aspirations. It forces them to be realistic about where their career will be and how they will accomplish this within the next ten years.

How will this scholarship contribute to your professional success? A scholarship committee wants to be sure that the money they’re giving will contribute to a student’s overall professional success. This question asks about the applicant’s game plan in the long-term and evaluates how this program is going to assist in their future.

What is your dream job ? Since a dream job is often categorized as a person’s career goals, this is a common question phrasing in scholarship essays. Asking about a candidate’s dream job answers whether this program aligns with the student’s long-term career goals.

What matters most to you and why? Sometimes, a scholarship essay prompt won’t ask about your career or future at all. Instead, they’ll ask a question like this that assesses your motivations , values, and character.

Career goals essay examples

Use these examples of career goals essays for scholarships to help write your own. Pay special attention to how they’re organized, rather than the content, to inspire your own career goals essay:

Career goals essay example 1 – Discuss your career goals

When I was six years old, I was riding bikes with my older sister around our neighborhood. She had just taught me how to ride, and I was excited to have to freedom to explore with her. When she was rounding a particularly difficult bend to see around, a car happened to be coming along at the same time. It struck her. That bike ride changed our lives forever. Over the next year, I went with my sister every Tuesday and Thursday to her physical therapist ’s appointments to help her regain walking strength. Watching her physical therapist patiently assist my sister back to becoming herself awoken something in me. A passion for helping others in the same way eventually turned into a career goal of becoming a physical therapist myself. I decided to get my bachelor’s degree in exercise science. After graduating in 2019, I knew that the next step for me was to attend a graduate program in physical therapy. I was accepted to Lassell University Master of Science in Rehabilitation Services. This presented me with my latest goal along my career path, and I’m eagerly waiting to start. This scholarship would help me afford the wonderful opportunity to be a part of the Lassell University class of 2023, allowing me to continue working towards my ultimate career goal of becoming a physical therapist and helping others to become themselves again.

Career goals essay example 2 – Where do you see yourself in ten years?

In ten years, I will have been successfully running my own construction business for about five years. I’m currently a second-year student at the University of Texas, pursuing a master’s degree in business administration. I decided to get my MBA because I knew it would be a positive asset toward my long-term career goal of owning a construction business. In my high school years, I worked as a construction apprentice for a local business. I loved many aspects of the business, such as building something from nothing. I knew that I wanted to incorporate this work into my long-term career, but I didn’t want to work as an apprentice . This led me to pursue business. In ten years and with the help of this scholarship, I will have graduated with my MBA almost a decade prior . After graduation, I plan to take a business administration internship with a carpentry business to help myself get a footing in the field. After about two years of this, I will have started my own construction business.

Career goals essay example 3 – What matters most to you and why?

The people I surround myself with matter most to me. Whether it be my relatives, friends, or professional acquaintances, I always care the most about the happiness of the people around me. Making the people around me happy matters the most to me because I truly because we find our happiness through others. I believe that this drive to make a positive impression on the people around me is what drove me towards a career as a nurse . I always thought of hospitals as places where people need someone to support them and make their day a little happier. I wanted to be one of those who spend their careers positively impacting people in need. This scholarship will enable me to finally afford nursing school and go after my dream job full force.

Career goals essay example 4 – What are your short- and long-term career goals, and how will earning this degree contribute to achieving those goals? Please provide a minimum of 200 words.

My short-term career goals involve working directly with underprivileged young people to increase the literacy rate in my community. As a student of an underfunded and understaffed school, I’ve seen firsthand how much of an impact early literacy education makes on long-term achievement. It broke my heart to see my peers embarrassed at their struggle with reading at an advanced age, and this shame added another dimension to their lack of opportunity. Being a literacy educator for young people would allow me to serve this community directly to show them not only the necessity of strong written communication skills, but the joy of reading for pleasure. This program focuses specifically on early literacy, and would provide me a direct route to a career in serving the community I hope to serve. As for long-term career goals, I hope to one day create a program where socioeconomically parents can bring their children for literacy education, not only to increase their ability to navigate the world of language, but also to instill confidence and joy in the written word. What drew me to this program was that it also has administrative, legal, and business dimensions that would set me on the path toward achieving this goal.

Tips for writing a scholarship essay about career goals

Here are some tips to keep in mind for writing a career goals scholarship essay:

Write about goals relevant to the scholarship. Although you may have many different kinds of goals for your personal and professional future, a scholarship essay only discusses objectives that are relevant to the program you’re applying for.

Be honest. Applying for a scholarship is stressful because the applicant’s education is usually reliant on receiving these funds in one way or another. Even though it’s tempting to exaggerate your skills or pretend you’re more passionate about something than you are to make yourself a more competitive applicant, it’s a bad move.

Use your own, unique voice. The essay portion of a scholarship application is your chance to stand out by using your voice. Nobody else, regardless of their academic or professional achievements, is you. Make this clear in your career goals scholarship essay by keeping your unique written voice engrained in the words you produce.

Be specific. A big reason that scholarship committees ask applicants to write a career goals essay is to determine how prepared they are in planning their long-term professional goals. They aren’t interested in providing a scholarship to students who aren’t going to follow through with their career plans.

Explain long and short-term goals . Even if the essay prompt asks you to describe where you see yourself in ten years, you still need to tell them the steps leading towards this picture of success.

Include the short-term goals that add up to your larger career objectives in your essay response. Explain how accomplishing the smaller goals gives you an advantage when tackling long-term ones.

Explain how the program and scholarship will help you. Before writing your career goals essay, consider how this program and scholarship will help you in your career. The answer to this question is essential.

Follow the essay formatting guidelines. This may sound obvious, but it’s surprisingly easy to forget this step when your essay is finally flowing and when you’re scrambling to get it submitted on time.

Check, double-check , and triple-check the essay guidelines for content, word count, and formatting requirements. If you miss any of these steps, your essay may be immediately disqualified no matter how good it or the rest of your application is.

What to write in a career goals essay if your goals have changed

Many times career goals essays are written by students who have already completed at least some college or are applying to a post-graduate program and need more money to continue.

There’s a good chance that your career goals have changed since you started or graduated college. For example, say you wanted to be an engineer , so you got your undergraduate degree in engineering but realized you didn’t like it after working in the industry for a few years.

You decided that nursing would be more up your alley, and now you’re applying for a scholarship for a nursing program. While this isn’t unusual, it can make it more difficult to write a career goals essay since your past work doesn’t necessarily match your future goals.

In this case, you’ll simply need to explain why you changed your career path and why this next one is the best choice for you. Share your decision-making process to show that you haven’t taken the switch lightly, and talk about what you’ve already done to try to pursue this path.

Career goals essay for a scholarship FAQ

How do you write a career goal for a scholarship essay?

You write a career goal for a scholarship essay by sharing your passion, explaining both your long- and short-term goals, and relating your goals to the scholarship.

Explain why you want to pursue the career you’re pursuing, where you hope to be in the future and how you plan to get there, and how the scholarship will help you do this.

How do you describe your career goals in an essay?

You describe your career goals in an essay by explaining what you want to do in your career, why you decided on this career path, and what you’ve done so far to make that a reality.

You can usually work these factors into any prompt you receive, so think through them before you start writing so that you can use them as an outline of sorts.

What are career goals examples?

Examples of career goals include:

Working as a grant writer for a nonprofit organization.

Becoming a department manager and eventually an executive in your field.

Owning your own plumbing company.

Caring for underserved communities as a nurse practitioner .

What are some goals for success?

Some goals for success include growing in your role, building your network, and finding joy in the job. Most careers don’t just happen overnight and require you to set the right milestones that work best for you. Not everyone will have the same goals for success.

How do you start a career goals essay for a scholarship?

You can start a career goals essay for a scholarship by directly answering the prompt. Most scholarship prompts include a word count of between 200 and 500 words, so it’s essential that you immediately respond to the prompt. Attention-grabbing sentences and narratives can be helpful for setting the scene, but an efficient and direct answer will show a clarity of mind that helps enhance the quality of your answer.

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Sky Ariella is a professional freelance writer, originally from New York. She has been featured on websites and online magazines covering topics in career, travel, and lifestyle. She received her BA in psychology from Hunter College.

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How to Write a “How Will This Scholarship Help You Achieve Your Goals” Essay

Zach Skillings is the Scholarships360 Newsletter Editor. He specializes in college admissions and strives to answer important questions about higher education. When he’s not contributing to Scholarships360, Zach writes about travel, music, film, and culture. His work has been published in Our State Magazine, Ladygunn Magazine, The Nocturnal Times, and The Lexington Dispatch. Zach graduated from Elon University with a degree in Cinema and Television Arts.

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Maria Geiger is Director of Content at Scholarships360. She is a former online educational technology instructor and adjunct writing instructor. In addition to education reform, Maria’s interests include viewpoint diversity, blended/flipped learning, digital communication, and integrating media/web tools into the curriculum to better facilitate student engagement. Maria earned both a B.A. and an M.A. in English Literature from Monmouth University, an M. Ed. in Education from Monmouth University, and a Virtual Online Teaching Certificate (VOLT) from the University of Pennsylvania.

When applying for scholarships, you may be asked to write an essay describing why you’re the right candidate for the award. One of the most common prompts for this type of essay is “how will this scholarship help you achieve your goals?” In this guide, we’ll talk about how you can put together an outstanding essay and win the scholarship of your dreams. 

Also see: Top writing and essay scholarships

Tips for writing a scholarship essay

There’s more than one way to write an essay like this, but an effective response usually does the following things: 

• Clearly defines your goals and how you plan to achieve them
• Provides some background context on your goals 
• Explains why you are a quality candidate for the scholarship 
• Close your essay in an effective way 

As long as you touch on these three areas, feel free to structure your essay however you see fit. Let’s talk about how you can address each of these components and put together a stellar essay. 

1. Define your goals 

Scholarship providers want to hear about your vision for your future self and how you plan to get there. As such, you should write about what you want out of your college education and beyond. It’s totally okay if you’re undecided about your major or career path since most scholarship providers won’t expect your plan to be set in stone at this point. However, you should still point to the fields of study or professions you’re considering right now. When talking about your plan for the future, explain how the specific scholarship is a key part of your path forward. And don’t forget to let your passion shine through when writing about your goals!

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2. provide background context .

Your essay should not only outline your goals, but explain how you arrived at them as well. One of the best ways to do this is by sharing a personal story. You may even want to lead with a personal story to immediately grab the attention of your reader. For this type of essay, you should share an anecdote that’s relevant to the scholarship you’re applying for. 

If you’re applying for an engineering scholarship , for instance, you could describe how your love of engineering was sparked by your involvement in robotics club. Students pursuing art scholarships may talk about the most meaningful project they’ve ever created. Whatever the case may be, find a way to connect your background to your goals and the scholarship. You’re much more likely to stand out when you demonstrate who you are and what you care about. 

Don’t miss: What’s the best scholarship essay format?

3. Make a case for yourself

Now that you’ve outlined your goals and the inspiration behind them, it’s time to explain why you’re the perfect candidate for this scholarship. Tie everything together by describing how the scholarship is a crucial piece of the puzzle. The goal here is to sell yourself while avoiding coming across as boastful or arrogant. Try to strike a tone that’s self-assured but also appreciative. You want to convey your gratitude and respect for the scholarship, while also demonstrating why you’re the right candidate for the award. 

If the scholarship is specific to a certain college or university, it helps to weave in your excitement for the school. Talk about unique aspects of the school such as courses that interest you or faculty members you’d like to work with. Ultimately, you want to do everything you can to leave a lasting impression on your reader. 

4. Close your essay in a memorable way

It was important to grab your reader’s attention in the beginning of your essay response, now it’s time to close your essay in a memorable way! This can be done in different ways, including ending it the way you began it, asking a rhetorical question, or summarizing your previous points in one tidy paragraph. Ultimately, it is up to you to decide what format is the best to end your essay in order to leave a lasting mark on your reader. 

Closing your essay in a catchy and memorable way will allow your scholarship response to be well liked and remembered. This can help significantly increase your chances of being selected for a scholarship! Therefore, be sure to brainstorm before writing your essay in order to make sure it flows nicely and you finish your essay with a bang! Learn how to end your scholarship essay in five steps and leave a lasting impression on whoever reads it! 

Also see: How to write an essay about yourself

Remember, an effective scholarship essay answers three main questions:

Questions to consider.

• What are your goals for your college education and career? 
• What life experiences led you to arrive at these goals? 
• How will this scholarship help you unlock your goals, and why are you the right student for the award?

By answering those three questions, you can write a compelling “how will this scholarship help you achieve your goals” essay and put yourself in contention for the scholarship. Just make sure your essay is free of spelling and grammatical mistakes. It’s a good idea to have a teacher or mentor read over your essay before submitting. Good luck!

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Key Takeaways

• An effective essay response includes defining your goals, providing background context, making a case for yourself, and concluding your essay in a memorable way
• Leading with a personal story is a great way to immediately grab the attention of your reader
• It is important to highlight how the scholarship will help you personally reach your goals and succeed 
• Be sure to end your essay in a memorable way to help increase your chances of being selected for the scholarship

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Essay: How Will This Scholarship Help You Achieve Your Goals? (With Example) – 2023

Jennifer Finetti May 23, 2023

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Many scholarship applicants often have to write a “How will this scholarship help you achieve your goals” essay. This gives the scholarship committee an understanding of how the scholarship will help students pursue their goals.

Needless to say, the essay is very important for the scholarship application. This is where students can show off their personality. Students should make sure to write a unique composition which answers the essay question.

Think About Your Goals

It can be challenging to think about what your goals are after college. This is especially true if you haven’t decided on a major and have no idea what you want to study.

If you find yourself struggling to determine what your career goals are, try brainstorming before you start writing. Think of what your short-term and long-term goals are and write them down. What skills do you need to achieve these goals?

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Writing Tips – Getting Started

When starting to write your essay , make sure you open with a catchy introduction. This can be a question, an anecdote or a personal story. You want to grab your reader’s interest right away. Start with something unique, rather than using a generic sentence that any other student can use.

Explain the Inspiration Behind Your Goals

You’ll then want to explain the inspiration behind your goals. What led you to want to pursue these goals? What experiences have you had in life which have influenced you and your dreams?

Discuss Your Goals

After discussing your past experiences, talk about your education and career goals . Do you have a major? How will it help you achieve your goals?

Do you have long-term goals you can talk about? The scholarship provider doesn’t expect you to have long-term goals set in stone so don’t worry if you don’t. Instead, you can write about how you wish to impact others.

Make a Creative Conclusion

In your conclusion paragraph, you should summarize the major points in your essay.  Then finish with a closing thought. You should try to make it creative and unique. You want to leave a lasting impression on the reader.

After you finish writing your essay, make sure you proofread it several times. The last thing you’d want to do is turn in an essay with grammar mistakes.

Scholarship Goals Essay Example

It was November, 2016, a few days before Thanksgiving. My class took a field trip to a soup kitchen to serve lunch. I poured piping hot soup into bowls while people started to fill the room. It was a great way to warm up on the frigid November day. Their eyes seemed empty and sad. “Happy Thanksgiving” we said to one another, as our eyes locked.

A few days later, as I sat surrounded by family, turkey, gravy and pumpkin pie, I couldn’t help but feel like something wasn’t right. Why was I so fortunate to have access to all this food? I thought of the people from the soup kitchen and wondered where they were. I knew right then and there that my purpose in life was to help people.

I returned to the soup kitchen as a volunteer a week later, and a week after that.

I envisioned the realm of possibilities for these people. “I would connect him with a rehab program, her with daycare for her baby so she could find work,” I thought to myself while volunteering. I have dreams of one day being able to help people make changes in their lives.

For this reason, I will be starting my undergraduate degree in social work at Boston University in the fall. I am certain that my studies will instill within me the skills and knowledge I need to pursue a career as a social worker. I hope to be able to help those who are less privileged find hope in their lives.

This scholarship will help me achieve my educational and career goals. I have been working hard to save up for college, but with the exorbitant costs of tuition, my part-time jobs haven’t been enough. I am planning to work during my undergraduate degree, but I do wish to focus a lot of my time on my studies. This scholarship will help by lowering the costs of college and the amount of hours I’ll need to work throughout my studies. This way, I’ll be able to continue with my academic achievements. It will also give me time to find an internship. I am hoping to find an internship at a homeless shelter in the Boston area.

It has been two and a half years since I first walked into that soup kitchen. That day without a doubt has changed the course of my life. My experiences there, talking with people and hearing their stories, have instilled within me a passion to help people make positive changes in their lives. This scholarship will allow me to pursue the education I need to achieve my goals.

• Scholarship Essay

Jennifer Finetti

As a parent who recently helped her own kids embark on their college journeys, Jennifer approaches the transition from high school to college from a unique perspective. She truly enjoys engaging with students – helping them to build the confidence, knowledge, and insight needed to pursue their educational and career goals, while also empowering them with the strategies and skills needed to access scholarships and financial aid that can help limit college costs. She understands the importance of ensuring access to the edtech tools and resources that can make this process easier and more equitable - this drive to support underserved populations is what drew her to ScholarshipOwl. Jennifer has coached students from around the world, as well as in-person with local students in her own community. Her areas of focus include career exploration, major selection, college search and selection, college application assistance, financial aid and scholarship consultation, essay review and feedback, and more. She works with students who are at the top of their class, as well as those who are struggling. She firmly believes that all students, regardless of their circumstances, can succeed if they stay focused and work hard in school. Jennifer earned her MA in Counseling Psychology from National University, and her BA in Psychology from University of California, Santa Cruz.

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Goal Strategist

Educational Goals Essay Samples and Overcoming Challenges

Crafting an essay on your educational goals can be a turning point in your academic journey. It’s your chance to showcase your aspirations and the roadmap to achieving them. Whether you’re applying for a scholarship, a college, or simply setting personal milestones, articulating your educational objectives is key.

You’ll find that a well-thought-out educational goals essay not only impresses admissions committees but also clarifies your own vision. Let’s dive into examples that can illuminate your path and inspire a compelling narrative for your academic future.

The Importance of Setting Educational Goals

When you begin to articulate your educational goals, you’re carving out a clear path for your future. Setting these goals is not just about fulfilling a requirement; it’s about establishing a foundation for your educational journey. By defining what you want to achieve, you create a sense of purpose that guides your academic decisions and keeps you motivated during challenging times.

Think of your educational goals as a roadmap. Without this direction, you might find yourself wandering aimlessly through your academic career. With goals, you have destinations in mind and can plan your route accordingly. As you progress, every milestone you achieve brings a sense of accomplishment and steels your resolve to tackle the next challenge.

It’s no secret that education opens doors to opportunity. But it’s the specificity of your goals that allows you to unlock the right doors for your aspirations. Whether it’s gaining expertise in a particular field, enhancing your skills for a desired profession, or expanding your knowledge base, your goals help tailor your educational experience to align with your vision.

Furthermore, setting educational goals lets you measure your progress. This is crucial for staying on track and making adjustments as needed. It’s also a way to communicate your aspirations to others. When applying for scholarships or college admissions, clear educational goals show that you’re not just a dreamer – you’re a doer with a plan.

Ultimately, having a well-defined set of educational goals empowers you to take control of your learning. It’s about making informed choices that resonate with your personal and professional ambitions. Remember, the act of setting goals is a dynamic process. As you grow and learn, it’s perfectly fine to refine or even overhaul your goals to stay aligned with your evolving interests and the ever-changing job landscape.

Understanding Your Passions and Interests

Identifying your passions and interests is key to crafting educational goals that resonate with your core values. Knowing what excites you and what you’re curious about provides a compass that guides your educational journey. To start, reflect on classes, topics, or activities that spark your enthusiasm. Are there subjects that you find yourself drawn to or projects that energize you?

When drafting your educational goals essay, consider incorporating examples that demonstrate how your interests align with your long-term aspirations. Perhaps you have a fascination with renewable energy that has prompted you to pursue a degree in environmental science, or maybe your interest in languages is steering you toward international relations.

Assessing your strengths is also crucial in understanding what educational pathway to follow. If you’re naturally good with numbers, a career in finance might be right up your alley. On the other hand, if you’ve always excelled at writing and communicating, roles in journalism or public relations might be more fitting.

Here are some strategies to align your passions with your educational goals:

• Engage in self-reflection : Regularly take time to think about what activities make you feel most alive.
• Explore various fields : Don’t hesitate to enroll in different courses or attend workshops to broaden your perspective.
• Seek advice : Connect with mentors or professionals in areas you’re interested in to gain insight and guidance.

Remember, your educational objectives should be a reflection of what truly matters to you – they will be the ones propelling you forward through the rigorous demands of academic life. By intertwining your goals with your passions and interests, not only do you set the stage for a fulfilling education, but you also pave the way for a career that’s aligned with your personal definition of success.

Setting Short-Term Goals

When you’re mapping out your educational journey, it is essential to include short-term goals. These targets provide immediate motivation and serve as stepping stones toward your broader aspirations. Short-term goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant , and Time-bound (SMART). Here are some strategies to consider:

• Identify skills you need to develop within the next few months
• Enroll in workshops or courses that enhance your expertise
• Seek mentorship or guidance to strengthen your professional network
• Tackle smaller projects that contribute to larger assignments or objectives

Your educational goals essay should highlight how these short-term goals are not just checkboxes on your to-do list but crucial components of your educational strategy. For example, if one of your long-term goals is to become an engineer, a short-term goal might be to master a specific type of software used in the field.

Prioritizing Your Efforts

To avoid feeling overwhelmed, prioritize your goals. Consider which short-term goals will have the most significant impact on your long-term vision. Devise a Prioritization Matrix to determine which tasks to tackle first. Here’s a simple categorization:

• Urgent and Important : Tasks you must do immediately
• Important but Not Urgent : Tasks that contribute to long-term successes
• Urgent but Not Important : Tasks that require your attention but may not have considerable long-term benefits
• Neither Urgent nor Important : Tasks that you could potentially eliminate or delegate

Tracking Progress

Measure your progress consistently. Keep a journal, use an app, or maintain a spreadsheet where you can track your successes and areas for improvement. Feedback from peers and mentors can also be invaluable in refining your approach. Reflecting on your progress helps ensure that you’re on route to meeting your long-term educational goals. It’s not just about ticking off goals; it’s about personal growth and adapting your strategies as needed.

Your educational goals are unique to you. By setting concrete short-term goals and consistently assessing your progress, you’re building a solid foundation for not only meeting but exceeding your educational aspirations. Remember, every big achievement starts with the decision to try, and even the most ambitious dreams are realized one step at a time.

Setting Long-Term Goals

When plotting out your educational journey, long-term goals are your ultimate endgame. These are broad objectives that typically look beyond the upcoming year and sprawl across several years or even a decade. Imagine them as the pillars supporting your career trajectory, laying the groundwork for the professional you aspire to become.

Long-term goals in education aren’t just about the credentials or titles. They’re deeply personal ambitions that resonate with your values and passions. Whether this involves pursuing a PhD, becoming an industry expert, or launching a startup, these goals keep you anchored and motivated through the ups and downs of your educational endeavors. Here’s how to define your long-term goals:

• Reflect on what you’re passionate about and how you want to impact the world.
• Research the education and experience necessary to enter your desired field.
• Think about where you see yourself in 10 or 15 years.
• Break down these visions into attainable long-term goals.

Harnessing the Power of Visualization

Visualizing your long-term goals can be remarkably effective. By creating a vivid mental picture of where you want to be, your goals become more tangible. Visualization also acts as a practice run for your brain, gradually cementing the belief that these outcomes are not just possible but likely.

To leverage visualization:

• Find a quiet place to concentrate without interruptions.
• Imagine achieving your biggest educational and professional aspirations.
• Emotionally connect with this envisioned future, experiencing the satisfaction and pride that comes with accomplishment.

Remember, setting long-term goals isn’t a one-off task. You should revisit and refine these goals periodically to ensure they remain aligned with your evolving interests and the changing landscape of your chosen field. As life unfolds, your insights will deepen, and the goals you set today may evolve to reflect the person you’re growing into tomorrow.

Aligning Your Goals with Your Desired Career Path

Once you’ve set your long-term vision, it’s crucial that your educational goals align tightly with your desired career path. Doing this ensures that every academic effort you make is a stepping stone towards your ultimate professional aspirations. But how do you make that alignment as strong as possible?

Start with Research . Scour through job descriptions, connect with industry professionals, and gain deep insights into the skills and qualifications that your dream job requires. Armed with this knowledge, tailor your educational pursuits to cover these areas.

Break down your long-term career ambitions into more immediate objectives. If you’re aiming for a career in software development, for instance, your short-term goals might include mastering a specific programming language or completing relevant coursework.

Prioritize Relevant Experiences . Alongside classroom learning, seek internships, volunteer work, or part-time positions in your field. These practical experiences not only enhance your resume but also help to solidify your understanding of the industry.

Monitor Industry Trends. Stay up-to-date with movements within your chosen field. If you’re in digital marketing, for example, your education should keep pace with evolving SEO practices, social media algorithms, and content creation tools.

Don’t forget the role of Soft Skills . In almost every career path, communication, problem-solving, and leadership skills are paramount. Find ways through extracurricular activities or courses to develop these skills alongside your specialized knowledge.

As you move through your educational journey, remain flexible. Your career path might shift as you uncover new interests or as the industry evolves. Regularly assess and adjust your goals to maintain alignment with your career trajectory, ensuring that with each step, you’re inching closer to your professional dream.

Overcoming Challenges and Obstacles

When pursuing your educational goals, you’ll inevitably face challenges and obstacles that may seem daunting at first. But remember, overcoming these hurdles is a crucial part of your journey towards career success.

Identify potential barriers early in your path. These might include financial constraints, time management issues, or limited access to resources. Develop a proactive plan to tackle these issues head-on. For instance, you might explore scholarships, part-time work, or alternative funding options if finances are a concern.

Time management often becomes a critical skill when you’re juggling school with other responsibilities. Here’s what you can do:

• Prioritize tasks by urgency and importance
• Create a structured schedule
• Practice saying no to non-essential activities

Sometimes, obstacles are not external but rooted in personal doubts or a lack of confidence. Believe in your capabilities and remember that setbacks can be transformed into growth opportunities. Seek support systems: mentors, peers, or educational counselors who can offer guidance and perspective.

Keep abreast with technological advancements and learn how to leverage them in overcoming educational obstacles. Online courses, educational software, and virtual study groups can bridge the gap between you and your goals.

Staying informed of industry trends ensures you remain relevant and can pivot when faced with industry shifts. Frequently audit your skills and knowledge to close any gaps and take advantage of internships to gain hands-on experience.

Your educational goals essay should reflect resilience and adaptability. Showcasing challenges you’ve faced and how you’ve overcome them not only lays out a realistic roadmap but also demonstrates your determination and strategic thinking. Keep your narrative authentic and your solutions actionable to illustrate a forward-moving trajectory in the pursuit of your education and career.

Crafting an educational goals essay that reflects your aspirations and plans is a powerful step toward achieving success. Remember, it’s your resilience and adaptability that will shine through as you navigate potential barriers and leverage the latest industry trends. Your ability to manage time effectively, believe in yourself, and build a solid support system will not only enrich your essay but also your educational journey. Stay proactive, stay informed, and let your essay be the roadmap that guides you to your goals.

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9 10 Academic Goals Examples to Supercharge Your Student Success

Becoming a successful student involves more than just going to classes and remembering facts for the test. It is about establishing a mentality of learning and evolving continuously, and distinct academic goals are a key aspect of that. These are the lights that lead the way and help you stay on track as you navigate through the trials and tribulations of your studies, whether it’s the demands of testing or the stuff that life throws at you. But, just as importantly, by clearly defining and outlining your academic objectives, you give your study a sense of intention and purpose. Whether it’s achieving a particular GPA, mastering a challenging topic, or participating in enriching extracurricular, strong academic Goals are the foundation of both short- and long-term academic success.  

Establishing concrete goals and the quest of excellence are frequently linked in the academic sphere. Before delving into these Academic Goals Examples, it is important to recognize services like Scholarly Help that provide workable ways to handle several Tasks. With options like pay someone to do my online class , Scholarly Help ensures you stay on track without compromising other responsibilities. This comprehensive guide explores ten powerful academic goals examples designed to elevate your student success to unprecedented heights. Whether your academic goals are designed to improve your critical thinking habits, advance your time management skills, or explore interdisciplinary thinking to further your academic career, they should provide students with a path toward overall intellectual and personal development. Rounding up different students through carefully structured college academic goals. All must necessarily form the basis of individual reality and opportunities.

Mastering Time Management

One of the building blocks for academic achievement is the effective management of time. The ability allows students to combine studies with other activities, namely work, daily life, or personal life. To manage time effectively, learners are recommended to:

• Plan a Weekly Schedule: set certain hours and days to work, study, and engage in other activities; 
• Set Priorities: determine poses that are urgent and important, then focus on a solution; 
• Do not Get Distracted: if some activities or processes are distracting, generate disadvantages.

Enhancing Study Skills

Improving study abilities might result in better comprehension and recall of course material. Students should focus on:

• Active Learning Techniques: Engage with the material such as holding discussions, teaching others, and transforming what one learned to real-life application. 
• Effective Note-Taking: Employ methods like Cornell Note-taking System to organize and refresh notes. 
• Regular Review Sessions: Set regular study dates to refresh one’s memory and prepare for exams.

Setting Specific Academic Targets

Setting clear, specific targets helps students stay motivated and measure progress. Examples of specific academic goals include:

• Achieve Specific GPA:   Aim to reach or maintain a specific grade point average each semester.
• Improving Grades in Challenging Subjects: Identify subjects where improvement is needed and set goals accordingly.
• Completing Assignments Ahead of Deadlines: Plan to finish assignments before the due date to allow time for revisions.

Expanding Knowledge beyond the Classroom

Gaining knowledge outside the classroom can enhance academic performance and provide a broader perspective. Students can achieve this by:

• Reading Extensively: Explore Books, Journals, and articles related to their field of Study.
• Attending Seminars and Workshops: Participate in events offering additional insights and networking opportunities.
• Engaging in Research Projects: Collaborate with professors or peers on research projects to deepen understanding of specific topics.

Developing Critical Thinking Skills

Critical thinking is vital for problem-solving and making informed decisions. Students can cultivate these skills by:

• Questioning Assumptions: Always ask why and consider alternative viewpoints.
• Analyzing Arguments: Evaluate the evidence and logic in different arguments.
• Reflecting on Learning: Regularly review what has been learned and how it applies to real-world situations.

Building Effective Communication Skills

Strong communication skills are essential for academic and professional success. Students can enhance these skills by:

• Participating in Class Discussions: Engage actively in discussions to practice articulating thoughts clearly.
• Writing Regularly: Practice writing essays, reports, and articles to improve writing abilities.
• Presenting Projects: Take opportunities to present work in front of an audience to build confidence and clarity.

Fostering Collaboration and Teamwork

Collaboration with peers can lead to better understanding and innovative solutions. Students should focus on:

• Joining Study Groups: Collaborate with classmates to discuss topics and solve problems together.
• Participating in Group Projects: Develop teamwork and leadership skills by working on group assignments.
• Engaging in Extracurricular Activities: Join clubs and organizations that encourage teamwork and collective problem-solving.

Seeking Feedback and Continuous Improvement

Constructive feedback helps identify areas for improvement and guide academic growth. Students should:

• Ask for Feedback: Request feedback from professors and peers on assignments and presentations.
• Reflect on Criticism: Use feedback to identify strengths and weaknesses, developing action plans for improvement.
• Commit to Lifelong Learning: Embrace continuous learning and improvement in all aspects of life.

Utilizing Academic Resources

Taking full advantage of available academic resources can enhance learning and performance. Students should:

• Visit the Library Regularly: Utilize resources for research and study.
• Use Online Databases: Access academic journals and articles online to support studies.
• Seek Academic Support Services: Utilize tutoring, writing centers, and academic advising offered by the institution.

Preparing for Future Careers with Academic Goals

Setting academic goals with future careers in mind provides direction and motivation. Students should:

• Identify Career Goals: Determine career aspirations and align academic goals accordingly.
• Gain Relevant Experience: Pursue internships, part-time jobs, and volunteer opportunities related to the field of study.
• Develop Professional Skills: Focus on skills like resume writing, interviewing, and networking to prepare for the job market.

Setting and meeting academic goals necessitates dedication, strategic planning, and consistent effort. By focusing on these ten academic goal examples, students can improve their learning experience, and performance, and set themselves up for future success. Remember that the key to academic success is to set specific, attainable goals and work hard to meet them.

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How to Write an Awesome Essay About Your Career Goals

• Before you begin, ask yourself a few key questions like:
• What are my short-term and long-term career goals?
• Where do I see myself in ten years?
• What events in my life have led me to have these goals?
• What major will help me reach my goals?
• What skills do I need to reach my goals?
• What impact do I want to have on society?

Career Goals Essay Template

Need more inspiration.

After you brainstorm the responses to these questions, look for common themes, or pick out the most interesting stories. You can build your main essay “thesis” or idea around this.

Once you’ve got the main idea, create an outline to put your ideas into essay format. This will give you a general idea of structure.

You can use the career essays template below to give you some ideas. But remember that some rules are meant to be broken, so don’t be afraid to be innovative and think outside the box!

Also, when you’re done, head over to Going Merry to apply for the Career Goals scholarship essay bundle (one essay, one application, multiple scholarships!). You might as well make that essay count. Sign up for Going Merry to apply for scholarships more efficiently.

Here’s a paragraph-by-paragraph breakdown:

Paragraph 1 : Establish the main theme of what you’re going to talk about. It should also grab the reader’s attention. For example, instead of starting your essay with something generic (e.g. Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to be a zoologist), get creative with it! Try something like My greatest memory as a young girl was going to the zoo for the first time or While most kids play house or school, I always wanted to play zookeeper.

Paragraph 2 : Elaborate on what inspired your career goals. Perhaps it was a relative, a TV show, or simply an experience that you had. Remember that old writing adage, “Show, don’t tell.” In other words, try to demonstrate your interest with story or description. 

Paragraph 3 : Discuss your short-term career goals and your intended major. How will your intended major help you reach these goals? What skills do you need to learn to reach them? At the end of the paragraph, try discussing how your short-term goals can help you achieve your long-term goals.

Paragraph 4 : Focus on your long-term goals and the impact that you hope to have on society. If you’re not sure what your long-term goals are, don’t sweat it; they’ll probably change anyways. You can instead focus on the difference you’d like to make overall. And don’t worry too much about the size of the impact…remember that just doing what you’re truly passionate about has a massive impact on those around you.

The last paragraph is your conclusion. You can use this paragraph to summarize what you discussed in the previous few paragraphs. If you want to be even more creative, try ending your essay with a question for your readers or a new insight. Good luck!

And now that you’re ready with that essay, put it to good use! You can recycle that same essay, when applying for the Career Goals Scholarship Bundle. We’ve joined together multiple scholarships (all requesting essays on career goals), into just ONE simple application! See more info here , or just sign up to get going.

Check out examples from other students just like you. Here are links to some great career goal essay examples:

• Example 1  
• Example 2  
• Example 3  

Or maybe you’re looking for help with an academic goals essay — we’ve got you covered there too.

Also, check out this helpful list of the 10 most common scholarship essay topics !

Sign up for Going Merry today, and upload your career goal essay right to your profile. It’s that easy!

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Accepted Admissions Blog

Everything you need to know to get Accepted

February 29, 2024

• Writing Your Career Goals Essay

Check out all the blog posts in this series:

• Identifying the Ingredients of a Winning Essay
• Finding a Theme for Your Statement of Purpose
• Revise and Polish Your Application Essays

Your career goals essay demands a laser-like focus. A personal statement, by contrast, allows for some flexibility in its content, though you can – and often should – discuss your career goals. But a career goals essay has a particular and packed agenda. In fact, the prompt for a career goals essay could actually include multiple questions, and in such cases, you want to make sure you address each of them.

For example, in 2022, Kellogg asked applicants to its one-year program to respond to the following prompt: “Please discuss your post-MBA career goal, the current experience you will leverage to support the transition, and the Kellogg 1Y opportunities that will help you reach this goal.” 

This prompt has three parts: (1) What do you want to do post-MBA ? (2) Why is the 1Y program appropriate for you? And (3) what experience has so far prepared you to succeed in your target role? 

So, always pay close attention to your target school’s prompt to ensure that you answer all the questions within its “single” question. 

Three elements of a successful career goals essay

In addition to having a distinct theme , your career goals essay should achieve the following:

• Highlight specific career achievements. Choose from your most notable or defining experiences. These could be related to your work, community involvement, or extracurricular activities. The experiences you select should showcase your leadership skills , creative thinking, collaborative abilities, and personal reflections about what you learned or gained.
• Explain why your experiences and influences make your career goal a logical and wise choice.
• Demonstrate why you are suited to a particular field as a result of your education, experience, abilities, and enthusiasm. Ideally, the material you choose to include will also allow you to prove your knowledge about industry trends and suggest how your abilities and strengths can help you contribute to that field.

It’s a very tall order to achieve all this.

Putting these elements together to create your goals essay

Let’s take a look at a sample MBA Goals Essay and see how these three key elements are incorporated.  

You should be able to easily recognize why the writer’s opening is attention-getting for all the right reasons. The writer introduces herself as the supremely busy executive she visualizes becoming in the future. She trades large amounts of stock, rushes off to a Zoom conference, hurries downstairs, flags down a taxi, then hops on a plane. As she describes this whirlwind of activity, we can practically feel her heart pumping.

After establishing her voice and personality in this opening, she offers context for her MBA goal. Notice that in writing about her work as an accountant for a major firm, she provides relevant details, including how many years she has been in the field, her bilingualism, and her specialty area as an auditor. This information is her springboard to explain why she is pursuing an MBA: she’s bursting out of her limited role as an accountant. Her eyes and ambition are set on a larger playing field as an international investment manager.

Write an essay, not a list or CV

Outstanding career goals essays are not lists of an applicant’s roles and achievements. Instead, they have a narrative flow and arc that convey the candidate’s palpable excitement about their career choice. This writer’s enthusiastic, dreamy first paragraph achieves this, and she returns to that image at the end, where she paints her idealized (if frantically busy) future. She also proves her seriousness by noting that she registered for the CFA exam.

Connect your career goals to your reasons for choosing a particular program

Many essay questions, especially those for MBA programs , will ask why you have chosen the school you’re applying to. Be prepared to respond knowledgeably and enthusiastically. And the only way to become knowledgeable – and enthusiastic – is by visiting campus in-person or virtually, attending student recruitment meetings, participating in forums, reading student blogs, watching videos of students speaking about their experiences, communicating directly with students and/or recent alumni, and otherwise doing your homework. As part of your research, make sure you have familiarized yourself with the courses and specializations that are relevant to your goals.

Summary Tips

• Focus on answering each and every question asked in a career goals essay prompt. Often, there is more than one.
• Highlight specific achievements vividly and in a way that shows that your career choice is logical for you.
• Do the research so you can write about why the school is a good fit for you and do so with genuine enthusiasm.

In the next post in this series , we’ll explain how to take all this advice and apply it to create an exemplary first draft.

Work one-on-one with an expert who will walk you through the process of creating a slam-dunk application. Check out our full catalog of application services . Our admissions consultants have read thousands of essays and know the exact ingredients of an outstanding essay.

By Judy Gruen, former Accepted admissions consultant. Judy holds a master’s in journalism from Northwestern University. She is also the co-author of Accepted’s first full-length book, MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools . Want an admissions expert help you get accepted? Click here to get in touch!

Related resources:

• The Winning Ingredients of a Dynamic MBA Goals Essay , a free guide
• Grad School Personal Statement Examples
• Focus on Fit , podcast Episode 162

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Undergraduate Admissions

Deadline Update: We want to ensure anyone applying for federal financial aid has enough time to make an informed decision regarding their college choice! For this reason, we're extending our enrollment decision deadline to May 15.

Writing Prompts for First-Year Applicants

Following are our writing prompts for first-year students applying for fall 2025 admission. Writing prompts for fall 2024 will be announced in August.

Major-Specific Prompts

You'll answer two to three prompts as part of your application. The questions you'll answer will depend on whether you're applying to a major or to our undeclared program , and if you've selected a second choice . Each response should be approximately 150 words . If you're applying through Common App, you'll find our major-specific writing prompts in the "Writing" tab of our supplemental questions after adding us as one of your colleges.

If You're Applying to a Major :

• Explain, in detail, an experience you've had in the past 3 to 4 years related to your first-choice major. This can be an experience from an extracurricular activity, in a class you've taken, or through something else.
• Describe your personal and/or career goals after graduating from Illinois and how your selected first-choice major will help you achieve them.

If You're Applying to Our Undeclared Program in the Division of Exploratory Studies:

• What are your academic interests? Please include 2-3 majors you're considering at Illinois and why.
• What are your future career or academic goals? You may include courses you took in high school and how these impacted your goals.

If You've Selected a Second-Choice Major (Including Undeclared ):

• Please explain your interest in your second-choice major or your overall academic or career goals.

Essay Prompts

You'll also answer one essay prompt as part of your application. Prompts are the same whether you apply through myIllini or the Common App. Select and answer the prompt of your choice from the full list found on the Common App website . Your essay response can be anywhere from 250 to 650 words total.

Want more info?

Career Goals Essay Writing: How to Create It Like a Pro

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Any essay writing is a quite challenging task that requires attention, motivation, and effort. More than that, it is a time-consuming process that demands to have excellent writing skills. On the other hand, crafting a career goals essay allows demonstrating your aspirations and targets to the scholarship committee or add valuable data to your college application.

Here are the basics of writing this type of paper and professional tips on how to use educational and career goals essay examples to create your own outstanding document. Use the following expert advice and let yourself stand out.

What Should You Start With?

The first thing you need to do before you start planning your essay on career goals and aspirations is to ask yourself a few questions. Ask yourself what your long-term and short-term career targets are, and where you see yourself in five or ten years. Also, think about the major and relevant skills that will help you achieve your goals and how you want to improve society.

Once you brainstorm the ideas and prospective answers, you will find the most interesting and common topics. All of this will help you choose the main idea and craft an outline for your career goals essay examples, scholarship essay, or another paper.

Choosing the right format and relevant information to support your ideas is essential to make a well-structured document. You can stick to the rules, use career goals essay examples as a template, or let yourself be creative and innovative.

Why Do You Need Career Goals Essay Sample

Writing skills are essential for anybody entering college or university. Demonstrating your abilities on paper is the first thing people will get to know about you before they even see you in person. Thus, scholarship essay examples about career goals are so widespread among both students and job hunters.

Firstly, you are asked to craft such a paper to enter the college or university and explain why you’ve chosen this particular major. Later, you will also need this piece of writing to market yourself to potential recruiters. So, it’s important to craft a persuasive and impressive document.

If asking the above-mentioned questions doesn’t seem enough, you can ask your parents or tutors as almost everybody has completed this task at a certain point in their lives. Knowing what your career goals are, essay writing will be done much faster and with no hassle.

More than that, preparing your answers in advance and writing them on paper will facilitate the interviewing process in the future when you apply for your first job .

What Is Academic and Career Goals Essay?

The title of this piece of writing speaks for itself. This paper is meant to showcase what an applicant wants to achieve in the future and what career goals he or she has. The person needs to write about their greatest accomplishments and achievements so far as well as career aspirations.

Also, you should include the reasons why you think this particular role or education can help you become successful and reach your aims.

An educational and career goals essay is a significant document that can define whether you will accept the prospective recruiter or the admissions board. These people will carefully look at whether your career ambitions correspond with their company goals or whether you have the necessary skills for the field you want to study.

In other words, you need to craft this essay to outshine the competition and persuade the admissions board to let you enter their college or persuade the employer to hire you.

Proven Tips to Craft Your Essay

There are certain professional tips and advice from career experts that will help you turn your good future career goals essay examples into a great one. Here is what you should keep in mind and follow:

Think about the introduction as this part is the first one that other people will read. Explain your future targets and goals and how you’ve chosen them. Also, make a point about the possible ways to reach these career goals.

Remember that this is your own piece of writing so that you can be creative. There are a lot of education and career goals essay examples available on the Internet these days. You can look at them and think about what you can take or omit to make your own document shine. Don’t even think about copying someone’s work, as your paper will be checked for plagiarism. Instead, showcase your personality and create your own unique style.

It’s worth creating a few drafts of the paper if necessary. Make sure you include only the most relevant and interesting information and omit any details that don’t correspond with your career goals or things you want to achieve.

Structuring your document will help the reader to understand the main points better and find the necessary details. Although this piece of writing can be creative, there still should be a certain structure so that your thoughts are well-organized and easy to understand.

The Structure of Career Goals Essay

Any essay of your career aspirations as well as a nursing career goals essay should consist of the following 5 paragraphs:

• The thesis statement. This is the first paragraph where you should tell your main point of writing and what you will tell the reader . Try to grab the attention of the prospective employer or admissions board from the very beginning. Don’t use generic phrases. Try to be creative and have a personal touch.
• In the second paragraph, explain who or what has influenced you or inspired you to have such career goals . Let’s suggest you want to write a nurse practitioner career goals essay sample. Were you the oldest of several kids and had to learn responsibility from an early age? Are you now willing to take care of and help others? Don’t hesitate to tell your own story.
• In the third paragraph, you can talk about your short-term career goals . If you are writing an essay for the college or university, explain how the chosen major will help you achieve your targets and what skills you should acquire to reach them.
• In the fourth paragraph, explain your long-term career goals . Don’t worry if these goals change in the future. Focus on what you can achieve or how you can help society. What difference can you make if you are given a chance?
• The last paragraph is used to make a short summary of the main points. Make an impressive conclusion so that the readers believe you.

Nurse Career Goals Essay Sample #1

This is a great example of an impressive career goals essay for a future nurse. It has a persuasive introduction, and thesis statement demonstrating why the writer is willing to continue her college education and find a part-time job.

More than that, the author explains her achievements and work experience. She understands that she needs to improve her skills and pursue a college degree in nursing to outshine the competition in the future and land a decent job.

She is sure that she is a relevant candidate to enter the college and receive a part-time position as she has 10 years of work experience and has already worked as a Certified Nurse Assistant and Home Health Aide.

If you need more inspiration to craft your own paper, here is another example of a well-written essay.

Career Goals Essay Sample #2

This nursing career goals essay sample from one of the best essay writing services is well-structured and contains all the necessary and relevant information to grab the reader’s attention. A strong thesis statement is eye-catching and tells about the writer’s aim to find a position in healthcare. She tells about her vast work experience starting from being a unit clerk and becoming a Preventive Nurse at the moment.

The writer has already had numerous jobs accepting new challenges and acquiring new skills to move up the career ladder. She clearly states the short-term goal of getting a Bachelor of Science in nursing, as well as a long-term goal of opening a care facility specializing in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

The writer is sure she is a relevant candidate as she is a determined and skilled person who wants to grow and develop her abilities and help society.

Hopefully, these tips and samples will help you write your own unique career goals essay and pursue your dream!

Exploring the Importance of Aspirations and Strategies for Achieving Academic Success

Education is a lifelong process that begins at birth and continues until death. It is the foundation upon which one builds their future, and it is crucial to have a clear understanding of one’s educational goals to achieve success in life. This essay, written by a custom essay writing company , can show you different goals of education, and then, maybe, you can find your own. Also, there you can find what your educational goals essay examples are.

An Essay on Educational Goals and the Strategies for Achieving them

Education plays a critical role in shaping one’s future, providing the foundation for personal and professional growth. Having a clear understanding of one’s educational goals for college is essential for achieving success in life. Educational goals are the aspirations that individuals seek to achieve during their academic journey, guiding them towards personal and professional fulfillment.

Short-term Educational Goals

As an individual, I have set specific educational goals that will enable me to achieve success and contribute positively to society. These goals are divided into short-term and long-term goals, which will help me navigate through the various stages of my academic journey.

Long-term Educational Goals

My short-term educational goals include attending all my classes, actively participating in class discussions, and completing all my assignments on time. Additionally, I aim to build strong relationships with my professors and peers, as they play a crucial role in my academic success. By achieving these goals, I will develop a strong academic foundation and the skills and knowledge necessary to excel in my chosen field.

Resources for Achieving Educational Goals

My long-term educational goals are to obtain a graduate degree in my area of interest, gain practical experience through internships and research opportunities, and develop strong leadership skills. These goals will enable me to build a solid foundation for my career and make significant contributions to society.

To achieve these goals, I have developed specific strategies and plans. Firstly, I will take advantage of all available resources, including academic advisors, career services, and professional organizations. Additionally, I will attend workshops, conferences, and seminars to enhance my skills and knowledge and network with professionals in my field.

Time Management and Prioritization

Secondly, I will prioritize my studies and manage my time effectively, ensuring that I meet all my academic obligations. This involves setting realistic goals and developing a study plan to achieve them.

Practical Experience

Thirdly, I will seek out practical experience through internships and research opportunities, which will provide me with hands-on experience and exposure to real-world problems.

Leadership Development

Lastly, I will develop my leadership skills through participation in extracurricular activities such as clubs and organizations. This will enable me to develop strong communication skills, build relationships, and develop a strong work ethic.

Educational goals are essential for personal and professional growth, providing individuals with a clear path towards academic success and personal fulfillment. Strategies such as time management, prioritization, practical experience, and leadership development can help individuals reach their goals.

By following these strategies and utilizing available resources, individuals can achieve their educational goals and make meaningful contributions to society. The process of setting and achieving educational goals is a lifelong journey that requires patience, perseverance, and a commitment to personal growth.

Tips for Writing a What are Your Educational Goals Essay

There are a lot of What are Your Educational Goals Essay Examples, because it is a popular type of essay that requires the writer to reflect on their academic aspirations and articulate their goals for pursuing higher education. In the same time writing this essay can be a daunting task, especially if you are unsure about your future plans. If you need a boost, look at examples of personal statements before you start writing your own essay. However, with the right approach, you can write a compelling essay that effectively communicates your educational goals. Here are some tips for writing a successful what are your educational goals essay:

Start with a Clear Introduction

Begin your essay about educational goals with a clear introduction that defines the purpose of the essay and provides an overview of what you will be discussing. Clearly state your educational goals and explain why they are important to you.

Be Specific

When discussing your educational goals, be as specific as possible. Avoid vague statements and generalizations. Provide concrete examples of the goals you hope to achieve, such as pursuing a particular degree, gaining specific skills or knowledge, or obtaining a specific job.

Highlight your Strengths

When discussing your educational goals, highlight your strengths and achievements. Discuss any relevant experiences, such as academic awards, extracurricular activities, or volunteer work. This will help demonstrate to the reader that you are committed to your goals and have the necessary skills to achieve them.

Explain your Plan

In order to achieve your educational goals, you need a plan. Explain your plan for achieving your goals, including any steps you have already taken towards achieving them. Discuss any resources you plan to use, such as academic advisors, career services, or professional organizations.

Be Realistic

While it is important to be ambitious, it is also important to be realistic. Don’t set goals that are unattainable or unrealistic. Make sure your goals are achievable and that you have a plan in place to achieve them.

Edit and Revise

Once you have written your educational goal essay, take the time to edit and revise it. Make sure your essay is well-organized, easy to read, and free from grammatical errors. Ask someone else to read it and provide feedback. By following these tips, you can write a compelling essay that effectively communicates your educational goals and demonstrates your commitment to academic success. Remember to be specific, highlight your strengths, explain your plan, be realistic, and edit and revise your essay to ensure it is the best it can be.

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Writing a Personal Statement

Preparing to Write

Brainstorming, don't forget, sample prompts.

A personal statement is a narrative essay that connects your background, experiences, and goals to the mission, requirements, and desired outcomes of the specific opportunity you are seeking. It is a critical component in the selection process, whether the essay is for a competitive internship, a graduate fellowship, or admittance to a graduate school program. It gives the selection committee the best opportunity to get to know you, how you think and make decisions, ways in which past experiences have been significant or formative, and how you envision your future. Personal statements can be varied in form; some are given a specific prompt, while others are less structured. However, in general a personal statement should answer the following questions:

• Who are you?
• What are your goals?
• How does this specific program/opportunity help you achieve your goals?
• What is in the future?

A personal statement is not:

• A variation of your college admissions essay
• An academic/research paper
• A narrative version of your resume
• A creative writing piece (it can be creative, though)
• An essay about somebody else

Keep in mind that your statement is only a portion of the application and should be written with this in mind. Your entire application package will include some, possibly all, of the materials listed below. You will want to consider what these pieces of the application communicate about you. Your personal statement should aim to tie everything together and fill in or address any gaps. There will likely be some overlap but be sure not to be too repetitive.

• Personal Statement(s)
• Transcripts
• Letters of recommendations
• Sample of written work
• Research proposal

For a quick overview of personal statements, you might begin by watching this "5 Minute Fellowships" video!

If you are writing your first personal statement or working to improve upon an existing personal statement, the video below is a helpful, in-depth resource.

A large portion of your work towards completing a personal statement begins well before your first draft or even an outline. It is incredibly important to be sure you understand all of the rules and regulations around the statement. Things to consider before you begin writing:

• How many prompts? And what are they? It is important to know the basics so you can get your ideas in order. Some programs will require a general statement of interest and a focused supplementary or secondary statement closely aligned with the institution's goals.
• Are there formatting guidelines? Single or double spaced, margins, fonts, text sizes, etc. Our general guideline is to keep it simple.
• How do I submit my statement(s)? If uploading a document we highly suggest using a PDF as it will minimize the chances of accidental changes to formatting. Some programs may event ask you to copy and paste into a text box.
• When do I have to submit my statement(s)? Most are due at the time of application but some programs, especially medical schools, will ask for secondary statements a few months after you apply. In these instances be sure to complete them within two weeks, any longer is an indication that you aren't that interested in the institution.

Below is a second 5 Minute Fellowships video that can help you get started!

Before you start writing, take some time to reflect on your experiences and motivations as they relate to the programs to which you are applying. This will offer you a chance to organize your thoughts which will make the writing process much easier. Below are a list of questions to help you get started:

• What individuals, experiences or events have shaped your interest in this particular field?
• What has influenced your decision to apply to graduate school?
• How does this field align with your interests, strengths, and values?
• What distinguishes you from other applicants?
• What would you bring to this program/profession?
• What has prepared you for graduate study in this field? Consider your classes at Wellesley, research and work experience, including internships, summer jobs and volunteer work.
• Why are you interested in this particular institution or degree program?
• How is this program distinct from others?
• What do you hope to gain?
• What is motivating you to seek an advanced degree now?
• Where do you see yourself headed and how will this degree program help you get there?

For those applying to Medical School, if you need a committee letter for your application and are using the Medical Professions Advisory Committee you have already done a lot of heavy lifting through the 2017-2018 Applicant Information Form . Even if you aren't using MPAC the applicant information form is a great place to start.

Another great place to start is through talking out your ideas. You have a number of options both on and off campus, such as: Career Education advisors and mentors ( you can set up an appointment here ), major advisor, family, friends. If you are applying to a graduate program it is especially important to talk with a faculty member in the field. Remember to take good notes so you can refer to them later.

When you begin writing keep in mind that your essay is one of many in the application pool. This is not to say you should exaggerate your experiences to “stand out” but that you should focus on clear, concise writing. Also keep in mind that the readers are considering you not just as a potential student but a future colleague. Be sure to show them examples and experiences which demonstrate you are ready to begin their program.

It is important to remember that your personal statement will take time and energy to complete, so plan accordingly. Every application and statement should be seen as different from one another, even if they are all the same type of program. Each institution may teach you the same material but their delivery or focus will be slightly different.

In addition, remember:

• Be yourself: You aren’t good at being someone else
• Tragedy is not a requirement, reflection and depth are
• Research the institution or organization
• Proofread, proofread, proofread
• How to have your personal statement reviewed

The prompts below are from actual applications to a several types of programs. As you will notice many of them are VERY general in nature. This is why it is so important to do your research and reflect on your motivations. Although the prompts are similar in nature the resulting statements would be very different depending on the discipline and type of program, as well as your particular background and reasons for wanting to pursue this graduate degree.

• This statement should illustrate your academic background and experiences and explain why you would excel in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (UMass Amherst - M.S. in Civil Engineering).
• Describe your academic and career objectives and how the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies can help you achieve them. Include other considerations that explain why you seek admissions to the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and your interests in the environmental field (Yale - Master of Environmental Management).  
• Please discuss your academic interests and goals. Include your current professional and research interests, as well as your long-range professional objectives. Please be as specific as possible about how your objectives can be met at Clark and do not exceed 800 words (Clark University - M.A. in International Development and Social Change).
• Write a 500- to 700-word statement that describes your work or research. Discuss how you came to focus on the medium, body of work, or academic area you wish to pursue at the graduate level. Also discuss future directions or goals for your work, and describe how the Master of Fine Arts in Studio (Printmedia) is particularly suited to your professional goals (School of the Art Institute of Chicago - MFA in Studio, Printmaking).
• Your statement should explain why you want to study economics at the graduate level. The statement is particularly important if there is something unusual about your background and preparation that you would like us to know about you (University of Texas at Austin - Ph.D in Economics).
• Your personal goal statement is an important part of the review process for our faculty members as they consider your application. They want to know about your background, work experience, plans for graduate study and professional career, qualifications that make you a strong candidate for the program, and any other relevant information (Indiana University Bloomington - M.S.Ed. in Secondary Education).
• Your autobiographical essay/personal statement is a narrative that outlines significant experiences in your life, including childhood experiences, study and work, your strengths and aspirations in the field of architecture, and why you want to come to the University of Oregon (University of Oregon - Master of Architecture).
• Personal history and diversity statement, in which you describe how your personal background informs your decision to pursue a graduate degree. You may refer to any educational, familial, cultural, economic or social experiences, challenges, community service, outreach activities, residency and citizenship, first-generation college status, or opportunities relevant to your academic journey; how your life experiences contribute to the social, intellectual or cultural diversity within a campus community and your chosen field; or how you might serve educationally underrepresented and underserved segments of society with your graduate education (U.C. Davis - M.A. in Linguistics).
• A Personal Statement specifying your past experiences, reasons for applying, and your areas of interest. It should explain your intellectual and personal goals, why you are interested in pursuing an interdisciplinary degree rather than a more traditional disciplinary one, and how this degree fits into your intellectual and personal future (Rutgers University - Ph.D in Women’s and Gender Studies).
• Your application requires a written statement to uploaded into your application and is a critical component of your application for admission. This is your opportunity to tell us what excites you about the field of library and information science, and what problems you want to help solve in this field. Please also tell us how your prior experiences have prepared you for this next step toward your career goals and how this program will help you achieve them (University of North Carolina Chapel Hill - Master of Science in Library Science).
• After watching the video, please describe what strengths and preferences as a learner you have that will facilitate your success in this innovative curriculum. What challenges in our curriculum do you anticipate and what strategies might you use to address these challenges? (MGH Institute of Health Professions PT - They recently redesigned their curriculum)
• Your personal goal statement should briefly describe how you view the future of the field, what your goals are to be part of that future, and what brought you to pursue an advanced education degree in your chosen field. You may include any other information that you feel might be useful. (Northeastern PT)
• Personal Statement: In 500 words or less, describe a meaningful educational experience that affected your professional goals and growth and explain how it impacted you. The educational experience does not need to be related to this degree. Focus on the educational experience and not why you think you would be a good professional in this field. (Simmons PT)
• Personal Statement (500 word minimum): State your reasons for seeking admission to this program at this institution. Include your professional goals, why you want to pursue a career in this field and how admission to this program will assist you in accomplishing those goals. (Regis College Nursing)
• “Use the space provided to explain why you want to go to this type of program.” (AMCAS)
• Address the following three questions(Though there is no set limit, most statements are 1–2 pages, single-spaced.): What are your reasons for pursuing this degree? Why do you wish to pursue your degree at this institution? How do you intend to leverage your degree in a career of this field? (Boston University MPH)
• Please submit a personal statement/statement of purpose of no more than 500 words for the department/degree of choice. Professional degree essays require a clear understanding of the _______ field and how you hope to work within the field. Be sure to proofread your personal statement carefully for spelling and grammar. In your statement, be sure to address the following: what interests you in the field of _____ what interests you in a specific degree program and department at this institution and what interests you in a particular certificate (if applicable). Please also describe how you hope to use your ________ training to help you achieve your career goals. (Columbia PhD in Public Health - Epidemiology)
• Because each Home Program requires significant original research activities in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree, we are interested in obtaining as much information as possible about your previous research experiences. Those who already have such experience are in a better position to know whether they are truly interested in performing ______ research as part of a graduate program. Please include specific information about your research experience in your Statement of Purpose. You may also use the Statement to amplify your comments about your choice of Home Program(s), and how your past experiences and current interests are related to your choice. Personal Statements should not exceed two pages in length (single spaced). Make sure to set your computer to Western European or other English-language setting. We cannot guarantee the ability to access your statement if it is submitted in other fonts. (Stanford Biosciences PhD)
• Your statement of purpose should describe succinctly your reasons for applying to the Department of ____ at ___ University. It would be helpful to include what you have done to prepare for this degree program. Please describe your research interests, past research experience, future career plans and other details of your background and interests that will allow us to evaluate your ability to thrive in our program. If you have interests that align with a specific faculty member, you may state this in your application. Your statement of purpose should not exceed two pages in length (single spaced). (Stanford Bioengineering PhD)
• Statement of purpose (Up to one page or 1,000 words): Rather than a research proposal, you should provide a statement of purpose. Your statement should be written in English and explain your motivation for applying for the course at this institution and your relevant experience and education. Please provide an indication of the area of your proposed research and supervisor(s) in your statement. This will be assessed for the coherence of the statement; evidence of motivation for and understanding of the proposed area of study; the ability to present a reasoned case in English; and commitment to the subject. (Oxford Inorganic Chemistry - DPhil)

Related resources

Scholarship Essays

Future Career Goals Scholarship Essay Example

What are your career goals, and how will this scholarship help.

My name is XX. I am a student at X College completing an associate’s degree in science and planning on transferring to a four-year college or university. My educational aspirations consist of acquiring a bachelor’s degree in any biological or health science that would assist me in pursuing a medical career as a doctor. On the other hand, my career vision is to one day be able to provide affordable health care to marginalized communities in the United States. However, I am certain that if I do not complete my college degree I could never have the opportunity to achieve my career goals.

I decided that I will attain a career as a doctor since my passion has always been assisting others and trying to improve their quality of life. Therefore, I think that pursuing such a career will provide me the opportunity to help improve the community's health quality conditions and learn about their medical needs. After becoming a certified doctor, I want to specialize in oncology, the study of cancer, and add my knowledge to the cancer research field.

Furthermore, I want to contribute back to underserved populations in the U.S. that struggle every day to sustain a family, and who do not have as much access to medical assistance as other privileged groups. The first health project I want to accomplish throughout my career as a doctor is to establish a free clinic where affordable medical regardless of the patient's immigration status. The diverse health services would include free doctor consultations, low-price or free medication, and nutritional classes to prevent the presence of diabetes or heart disease. I also intend to provide an interpreter for patients in case they do not speak English and establish a financial assistance program to help patients who are not able to pay for any type of surgery that needs to be performed.

The second biggest career goal that I want to accomplish is to establish a non-profit organization where I can create internships for medical school students around the U.S., and allow them to travel to isolated communities around the world to provide free medical services. I also want to provide nutrition education to support these marginalized communities, especially indigenous groups from Latin American countries. This will help contribute to the physical development of kids and offer a solution to malnutrition.

I know that all of my goals will remain dreams if I do not complete my medical degree. Therefore, I am committed to working hard in school and looking for opportunities that could help me make my goals a reality.

Original Source: Scholarship AZ

• Essay Editor

How to Write an Essay About My Goal: A Comprehensive Guide

In the ever-evolving journey of life, setting clear objectives and ambitions is crucial. Whether these goals are short-term or stretch into the far reaches of our future, they act as guiding lights in our journey. This guide will assist you in articulating and expressing these ambitions effectively, especially when it comes to writing them down.

Understanding the Importance of Goal Setting

Setting life goals is a combination of introspection and foresight. It demands an understanding of one's current standing and a clear vision for the future. By penning down your goals, you not only provide yourself a clear road map but also make a commitment to yourself to achieve them.

How To Write An Essay About My Life Goals

• Introduction : Initiate with an engaging hook—be it a quote, question, or anecdote—that aligns with your goal.
• State your main goal : Elucidate on what your primary life objective is. Be it professional success, personal achievement, or societal contribution, clarify your aim.
• The 'Why' behind the goal : Delve into your motivations. Discuss the driving forces behind this ambition.
• Steps to achieve : Provide a roadmap. Enumerate the steps you'd undertake to transform this goal into a reality.
• Potential Challenges : Highlight potential obstacles and your strategies to navigate them.
• Conclusion : Summarize and re-emphasize your dedication towards your objective.

Career Goal Essay Definition

It's essential to differentiate between life goals and career goals. While the former encompasses broader objectives, a career goal essay underscores your professional aspirations, detailing why they matter and how you plan to attain them.

How Long is a Professional Goal Statement?

A professional goal statement's length can vary but should be concise. Ranging typically from 500 to 1000 words, it should capture your aspirations succinctly. Always adhere to specific guidelines if provided.

What to Avoid While Writing Your Career Goal Essay

• Ambiguity: Always be specific. • Unsubstantiated lofty goals: Your ambitions should be grounded in reality. • Neglecting personal growth: Showcase how your past has shaped your future. • Reiteration: Stay succinct and steer clear of repetition.

My Future Goals Essay: 12 Models

• Entrepreneurial Aspirations : Launching a sustainable fashion startup by 2030.
• Technological Goals : Developing an AI-driven community healthcare system.
• Educational Objectives : Attaining a Ph.D. in Quantum Physics.
• Artistic Pursuits : Holding a solo art exhibition in a renowned gallery.
• Societal Contributions : Establishing a foundation for underprivileged children's education.
• Scientific Aspirations : Contributing to renewable energy research.
• Medical Goals : Becoming a pediatric surgeon and researching rare childhood diseases.
• Travel Objectives : Visiting every UNESCO World Heritage site.
• Sports Ambitions : Completing an Ironman Triathlon.
• Literary Goals : Publishing a trilogy of fantasy novels.
• Environmental Aims : Pioneering a city-wide recycling initiative.
• Leadership Aspirations : Becoming the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

Articulating one's life and career goals requires introspection, clarity, and foresight. This guide offers a structured blueprint to ensure your essay not only adheres to academic standards but genuinely resonates with your aspirations and dreams. Whether you're grappling with questions like "what should I write in my college essay?" or "how to draft a goal statement?", this guide is here to light the way.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is the ideal structure for a future career essay? Start with an engaging introduction about your aspirations. In the body, detail the steps you plan to take, experiences that have guided you, and why you chose this career. End with a conclusion summarizing your determination and future vision.
• How do I ensure my career goals essay stands out? Incorporate personal stories or experiences that shaped your goals. Be specific about your aspirations and how you plan to achieve them.
• How can I relate my past experiences to my future career in the essay? Highlight skills, lessons, or challenges from your past and demonstrate how they have directed or prepared you for your future career.
• What should I avoid when writing an essay about my career goals? Avoid being too vague about your goals. Steer clear of clichés, and ensure your goals are realistic and grounded.
• How long should my essay about my goal be? This depends on the requirement. Usually, personal statements are between 500-700 words. Always adhere to the specified word limit.
• Can I include short-term and long-term goals in my essay? Absolutely! Detailing both shows planning and vision. Highlight how short-term goals will pave the way for long-term objectives.
• How do I conclude my essay about my goals effectively? Reiterate your dedication to these goals, reflect on the journey ahead, and end with a note of optimism and determination.

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How educational chatbots support self-regulated learning? A systematic review of the literature

• Open access
• Published: 30 August 2024

Cite this article

You have full access to this open access article

• Rui Guan   ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0006-4789-3741 1 ,
• Mladen Raković   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1413-1103 1 ,
• Guanliang Chen   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8236-3133 1 &
• Dragan Gašević   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9265-1908 1 , 2  

Engagement in self-regulated learning (SRL) may improve academic achievements and support development of lifelong learning skills. Despite its educational potential, many students find SRL challenging. Educational chatbots have a potential to scaffold or externally regulate SRL processes by interacting with students in an adaptive way. However, to our knowledge, researchers have yet to learn whether and how educational chatbots developed so far have (1) promoted learning processes pertaining to SRL and (2) improved student learning performance in different tasks. To contribute this new knowledge to the field, we conducted a systematic literature review of the studies on educational chatbots that can be linked to processes of SRL. In doing so, we followed the PRISMA guidelines. We collected and reviewed publications published between 2012 and 2023, and identified 27 publications for analysis. We found that educational chatbots so far have mainly supported learners to identify learning resources, enact appropriate learning strategies, and metacognitively monitor their studying. Limited guidance has been provided to students to set learning goals, create learning plans, reflect on their prior studying, and adapt to their future studying. Most of the chatbots in the reviewed corpus of studies appeared to promote productive SRL processes and boost learning performance of students across different domains, confirming the potential of this technology to support SRL. However, in some studies the chatbot interventions showed non-significant and mixed effects. In this paper, we also discuss the findings and provide recommendations for future research.

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• Artificial Intelligence
• Digital Education and Educational Technology

Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

1 Introduction

Self-regulated learning (SRL) is considered a complex set of recursive and goal-oriented learning processes (Panadero, 2017 ). Self-regulated learners set their learning goals and actively select, monitor and modify their learning strategies to accomplish these goals and succeed in different learning tasks (Zimmerman, 2013 ; Winne & Hadwin, 1998 ; Winne, 2022 ; Cleary et al., 2022 ). Self-regulated learners are thus in control over their learning processes and learning goals (Winne, 2018 ). As engagement in SRL processes has a potential to improve academic achievements and, more broadly, to support lifelong learning (Cleary & Chen, 2009 ; Klug et al., 2011 ; Recommendation, 2018 ; Theobald, 2021 ), it is critical for students to master their command of SRL and become productive learners in different domains of knowledge.

To advance understanding of SRL and identify the relationships among different learning processes involved, researchers have proposed several SRL theoretical frameworks, such as Winne and Hadwin ( 1998 ); Winne ( 2018 ); Zimmerman ( 2000 ); Pintrich ( 2000 ). Although differences among these theoretical models are noticeable, these models broadly agree that SRL is a cyclic process that involves a repertoire of learning goals and learning strategies (Panadero, 2017 ). For example, according to Zimmerman ( 2000 ), self-regulated learners selectively use specific processes to work on learning tasks, over three cyclical phases: forethought, performance and self-refection. Winne and Hadwin ( 1998 )’s theoretical model describes SRL as a dynamic set of skills where learning unfolds over five facets (conditions, operations, products, evaluations, and standards - COPES) and four phases (defining task requirements, setting goals and devising plans, enacting study tactics, and adapting future studying).

Even though researchers have made a substantial progress over the past several decades towards deeper understanding and more effective support for learning processes involved in SRL, development of SRL skills is still considered challenging for many students (Bjork et al., 2013 ). For example, students struggle to gather appropriate resources for a learning task (List & Du, 2021 ); set relevant, specific and attainable goals to guide their engagement with the task(McCardle et al., 2017 ); select appropriate learning strategies and effectively use them (Azevedo, 2018 ; List & Lin, 2023 ); and accurately monitor and evaluate their own progress (Zimmerman, 2002 ; Gutierrez de Blume, 2022 ; Lim et al., 2023 ). Students often need guidance to successfully enact these learning processes. Educational researchers and practitioners proposed different types of external support to students as they are developing SRL skills (Jivet et al., 2020 , 2021 ; Perez-Alvarez et al., 2022 ). Broadly, the SRL support has so far been provided in a more traditional way, e.g., via a classroom-style coaching on goal setting (McCardle et al., 2017 ; Morisano et al., 2010 ; Alessandri et al., 2020 ) and metacognitive strategies (Cleary et al., 2022 ; Dignath & Veenman, 2021 ), and, more recently, using technology-enhanced learning platforms, e.g., computer-based scaffolding environments that support task orientation, strategy use and metacognitive monitoring (Baker et al., 2020 ; Azevedo et al., 2017 ; Azevedo & Aleven, 2013 ; Pérez et al., 2020 ; Jivet et al., 2020 , 2021 ; Dever et al., 2023 ; Srivastava et al., 2022 ; Lim et al., 2023 ).

In recent years, researchers have become increasingly interested in using chatbots to address educational problems (Wollny et al., 2021 ; Li et al., 2023 ; Dai et al., 2023 ). One of the main reasons for such increased interest is that chatbots have a potential to scaffold or externally regulate learning processes in dynamically changing learning contexts like SRL (Azevedo & Hadwin, 2005 ), because chatbots use artificial intelligence and natural language processing to simulate and adapt to conversation with humans. Following the growing interest in educational chatbots, researchers have recently published several literature reviews on the topic (Winkler & Söllner, 2018 ; Pérez et al., 2020 ; Smutny & Schreiberova, 2020 ). All these reviews have contributed a significant knowledge to this field, providing valuable findings about the currently available educational chatbots across disciplines and the benefits of using chatbot technologies in education to, e.g., supplement teaching or recommend learning content to students. However, to our knowledge, researchers have yet to learn how educational chatbots developed so far have supported processes theorised in SRL. These new findings may add to the current educational research and practice given the documented benefits of SRL skills for academic performance and life-long learning. To contribute new research knowledge to the fields of educational technology and learning sciences, we conducted the present systematic review of the literature explicitly focusing on how educational chatbots have been used to support SRL processes and learning achievements. Our analysis was based on Winne and Hadwin ( 1998 )’s theoretical framework that defined facets and phases of SRL. Our findings may inform future research related to development and implementation of educational chatbots that provide a more comprehensive SRL support to learners.

2 Background

2.1 srl theoretical framework to guide this systematic review.

Different theoretical frameworks have been proposed to date to define SRL processes and to understand the relationships among them, and, in this way, help researchers to measure and support learners’ engagement in SRL. For an overview of major SRL theoretical frameworks, see Panadero ( 2017 ). To theoretically ground our systematic literature review, we utilized the SRL theoretical model proposed by Winne and Hadwin ( 1998 ). According to this framework, students’ SRL processes unfold over four general phases: task definition, goal setting and planning, enacting study tactics, and adaptation to future studying, and five facets: conditions, operations, products, evaluations and standards. We opted to use this framework because (1) it is one of the six most cited frameworks in the literature, signifying its robustness and widespread acceptance among researchers, and it is particularly welcomed in research involving computer assisted learning (Panadero et al., 2016 ; 2) it provides a comprehensive account of cognitive, metacognitive and motivational processes that interweave in SRL offering a holistic view of the learning process; and (3) the model is distinguished by its detailed depiction of how different phases interact with each other over time as learning unfolds, affording researchers and educators ways to design specific and time-sensitive SRL support to learners (Greene & Azevedo, 2007 ).

The first phase in Winne and Hadwin’s model of SRL is task definition where learners make inferences and develop perceptions about the features of the task, and survey available resources for studying. The next phase is goal setting and planning where learners set their learning goals, devise plans and determine learning strategies which will be used to accomplish goals for learning. In the following phase, students enact their learning strategies and oversee (i.e., metacognitively monitor) the effectiveness of those strategies in addressing the task. For example, learners might highlight key concepts and construct a vocabulary list during a reading task, and, if they deem this strategy to be ineffective, they may decide to modify (i.e., metacognitively control) it, e.g., engage in note-taking instead of highlighting. In the adaptation phase, learners reflect on their studying during the previous stages and make forward-reaching adaptations for similar tasks in the future, e.g., a learner may decide to include note-taking in a repository of preferable learning strategies for the upcoming reading comprehension tasks, as note-taking worked well for the learner in the present task. In this way, learners reach beyond the present task and change their cognitive conditions for future learning (Greene & Azevedo, 2007 ).

Learning activities that unfold over the four general phases of SRL can be characterised relative to five common dimensions, i.e., facets: conditions, operations, products, evaluations and standards (COPES). Conditions encompass different internal and external factors that affect how a learner will engage with a task. For example, internal conditions include the learner’s prior knowledge of a domain, knowledge of learning strategies, experience with a task, and motivation and interest in a task; whereas external conditions include available learning resources, task instructions, scoring rubrics and time constraints. Operations are the processes by which learners manipulate information at hand and, in that way, induce actual learning (Winne, 2022 ). Winne ( 2018 ) defined five fundamental operations including searching, monitoring, assembling, rehearsing and translating (SMART). As learners engage in operations, they create products of learning, e.g., a note, essay draft or program code. Self-regulated learners actively evaluate their learning products against standards , e.g., a scoring rubric or instructional objectives. Upon evaluating their learning products, self-regulated learners may engage in metacognitive control, i.e., they may decide to modify their learning goals and strategies, and revise the products (Greene & Azevedo, 2007 ; Raković et al., 2022a ).

2.2 Educational chatbots

A chatbot is an interactive computer program enhanced by artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) to simulate conversation with humans through text and voice. Since the development of the earliest chatbot Eliza (Weizenbaum, 1966 ) in 1966, various chatbots have evolved providing interactive interface for users to engage with different services, resources, and data in a natural conversational style (McTear, 2020 ). As well, chatbots have been used as tools to understand and model human behavior (McTear, 2020 ). The use of chatbots has seen a significant increase over the past several years (Zawacki-Richter et al., 2019 ), offering support to users in different contexts, e.g., customer services, online shopping and banking (Illescas-Manzano et al., 2021 ).

Due to its characteristics to dynamically and adaptively interact with users, educational chatbots have been considered a viable option to support learning in different settings (Smutny & Schreiberova, 2020 ), including SRL. For example, as metacognitive processes of monitoring and control are considered central in SRL (Winne, 2022 ), learners need to continuously engage those processes to succeed in a learning task. Many learners, however, struggle to sustain these metacognitive processes throughout a learning session (Azevedo & Aleven, 2013 ), which further prevents them from productively engaging in SRL and performing well in a task. Educational chatbot may provide external regulation to learners by performing a part of metacognitive monitoring instead of students having to conduct these processes by themselves (Molenaar, 2022 ), e.g, a bot may identify two learning strategies that a learner had used previously in the task and ask a learner to compare the effectiveness of these two strategies relative to task requirements. In this way, a chatbot may help the learner preserve cognitive resources for other aspects of the task, e.g., constructing deeper understanding of concepts studied. As well, by providing SRL guidance to students, chatbot may help learners increase their engagement across phases and facets of SRL, which may further benefit their development of SRL skills and boost their academic achievements.

Recent literature reviews (Winkler & Söllner, 2018 ; Pérez et al., 2020 ; Smutny & Schreiberova, 2020 ; Wollny et al., 2021 ) have reported that chatbots have been used for the two main purposes in educational settings, including (1) service support and (2) teaching support. Building on the success of chatbots in the area of customer service, chatbots have been used at many educational institutions to provide service support to students, e.g., support with enrolment, library and campus resources (Sweidan et al., 2021 ; Allison, 2012 ). For example, an interactive bot SIAAA-C (Sweidan et al., 2021 ) is designed to provide students with important campus resources, e.g., campus map and notifications during COVID-19. On the other hand, teaching-oriented chatbots have been commonly used in formal education to supplement traditional teaching in different domains, e.g., languages, math and science. Harnessing their conversational features, those chatbots typically play the role of human tutor and provide learners with content knowledge and practice questions. For instance, Wu et al. ( 2020 ) developed a multi-module chatbot that supported students studying mathematics and Chinese history, whereas Mageira et al. ( 2022 ) and Vázquez-Cano et al. ( 2021 ) created the chatbots to help students learn English and Spanish, respectively, e.g., through prompting and recommending additional learning resources. The literature reviews published so far (Winkler & Söllner, 2018 ; Pérez et al., 2020 ; Smutny & Schreiberova, 2020 ; Wollny et al., 2021 ) identifed different types of educational chatbots and technologies used to implement those bots. These reviews have also revealed the potential of using chatbots to facilitate teaching and learning processes, to recommend learning content and to provide service support to students. While there have been several studies investigating the use of chatbots for SRL, there has been insufficient understanding about the extent to which different aspects of SRL have been supported by chatbots. To address this gap, we conducted a systematic literature review to learn (1) how educational chatbots have provided support for learners’ SRL and (2) how that support has affected learners’ SRL skills and performance. This inquiry is critical because by identifying and synthesizing the ways in which educational chatbots contribute to or hinder SRL, our study could potentially offer valuable insights into the design of more effective educational technologies that are aligned with pedagogical goals. Second, understanding the impact of chatbots on learners’ SRL skills and performance can inform educators and policymakers about the potential benefits and limitations of integrating these technologies into the learning environments. More formally, the following Research Questions guided our systematic review:

RQ1: How have educational chatbots been used to support students’ SRL processes relative to (i) phases and (ii) facets theorised in Winne and Hadwin ( 1998 ) and Winne ( 2018 )?

RQ2: To what extent has the use of educational chatbots improved learners’ SRL processing and learning performance?

3 Methodology

We conducted a systematic review of the literature to answer our research questions. To ensure a thorough and transparent systematic literature review process, we carried this review using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) framework as a guideline (Page et al., 2021 ; Moher et al., 2009 ). The systematic literature review involved three major phases (1) search for relevant publications in multiple bibliographical databases, (2) select relevant publications following the PRISMA framework, (3) extract and analyse relevant information in selected publications to answer research questions.

3.1 Literature search

We utilized the SPIDER framework (Cooke et al., 2012 ) to define parameters for the literature search. The SPIDER framework proposes five general groups of search criteria, including sample, phenomenon of interest, design, evaluation and research type. As per our inclusion criteria (detailed in the next section) our Sample (S) involved students studying in formal educational settings at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. The Phenomena of our Interest (PI) were self-regulated learning and educational chatbots. We searched for research studies that have been Designed to empirically evaluate the effects of chatbots on SRL (D) and that have reported outcome measures based on these Evaluations (E). We included qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods studies (R) in our search.

We used the following search query: (“chatbot” OR “educational chatbot” OR “conversational agent”) AND “self-regulated learning” AND “formal education” AND (“student” OR “learner”) AND “research article” to search for titles, abstracts and keywords of publications in bibliographical databases. We included studies published between 2012 and 2023, inclusively, as we deemed this time range to be sufficient to capture the state-of-the-art in the emerging field of educational chatbots. We searched the following bibliographical databases: Scopus, Elsevier, ACM, IEEE Xplore, Web of Science, ERIC, PsychInfo, Wiley library, Google Scholar, ResearchGate and the library database at our university. The search was conducted in October 2023. At this stage, we retrieved 598 publications. After removing 72 duplicates, 526 publications remained in our dataset for further analysis.

3.2 Abstract screening and full paper review

To identify relevant publications for our review we performed two reviewing steps, following the PRISMA guidelines (1) abstract screening and (2) full paper review. In other words, publications selected in the abstract screening step were reviewed in full for their relevance at the full paper review step. For these two reviewing steps, we followed our inclusion and exclusion criteria. Specifically, we included research studies that:

Reported on the use of chatbots in formal educational settings

Reported on the use of chatbots to support students to engage in SRL processing (e.g., goal setting, strategy use, and monitoring)

Described characteristics of educational chatbots (e.g., chatbot architecture and types of utterances exchanged between student and bot)

Reported on the effectiveness of educational chatbots in supporting SRL skills and/or learning outcomes

Were published in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings in English between Jan 2012 and Oct 2023

We excluded:

Publications that reported on using chatbots outside of formal educational settings (e.g., school administration and customer service)

Publications from which it could not be clearly inferred what SRL processes have been supported by the chatbot (e.g., studies applying a third-party chatbot as a black box intervention or using a chatbot to conduct a quiz)

Publications that did not provide a clear description of chatbot characteristics

Publications that did not provide the evaluation of chatbot effectiveness

Technical reports, conceptual and design papers

Non-peer reviewed publications and publications without available full-text

At the screening step, two reviewers screened the titles and abstracts of 526 publications, i.e., those publications that remained from the previous phase in this review. Each reviewer had an opportunity to vote “Yes”, “Maybe” or “No” for the study, relative to whether the study should be included in the next stage of the review. The reviewers had the agreement on 456 papers ( 86.7%, Fleiss kappa = 0.734, p <0.001). The remaining 70 conflicts were resolved through discussion between the reviewers. The main reasons for conflicts came from abstracts that did not explicitly state whether the chatbot evaluation was performed in the study. The reviewers agreed to keep such articles in the dataset and fully assess those in the next stage. A total of 101 publications remained in the dataset after this stage.

At the full paper review step, the reviewers randomly selected 15 out of 101 publications (nearly 15%), separately reviewed those and voted whether the paper should be included in the study or not, following the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The reviewers agreed on 12 out of 15 publications (80%, Fleiss kappa = 0.52, p =0.04). The common disagreement between the reviewers at this stage was about whether the study provided a sufficiently clear description of the bot characteristics. This disagreement was resolved through discussion between the reviewers and the decision was made to include in the final review only those publications that described types of utterances exchanged between a student and a bot. The reviewers evenly split the remaining publications in the dataset (i.e., 86 publications were randomly assigned to each reviewer) and reviewed those separately. A total of 27 papers were extracted for the review. We summarized our review process in Fig. 1 (Page et al., 2021 ).

PRISMA flow diagram

Number of publications by year color-coded with chatbot architectures

3.3 Analysis of extracted publications

The first author of this review extracted data from each publication as per following categories: general information (publication title, authors, year, sample size, level of education, domain of education and learning task), chatbot type, SRL facet (conditions, operations, products, evaluations, and standards), SRL phase (task understanding, goal setting and planning, enactment, and adaptation), and reported effects (on SRL processes and learning achievements). To categorise publications into suitable SRL facets and phases, the first author closely followed definitions of constructs provided in Winne and Hadwin ( 1998 ). See the section SRL Theoretical Framework to Guide This Review for details. The analysis of SRL facets and phases in selected publications was used to address RQ1, while the analysis of the reported effects of chatbots on SRL processes and learning achievements was used to address RQ2.

4.1 General information

We summarised the studies included in our systematic literature review in Fig. 2 . Out of the 526 studies that we assessed in this review, 27 studies fit the inclusion criteria for full review. Over 92% of these studies were published in 2020 onward, i.e, six in 2020, 11 in 2021, two studies in 2022 and six studies in 2023, whereas only two studies were published before 2020. We observed that 13 studies utilized a natural language processing (NLP)-driven approach in their chatbot design to interpret and respond to user inputs in a conversational manner. On the other hand, 13 studies employed rule-based architectures in their chatbot design, i.e., following predefined pathways or rules to respond to specific commands or keywords, offering predictable and consistent interactions within a structured framework (Fig. 2 ). Additional architectures in the reviewed studies include an NLP-driven architecture with contextual bandit algorithm (Cai et al., 2021 ) and knowledge-based system accessing a vast domain-specific database to deliver accurate information (Chang et al., 2022b ).

Further, the chatbots we reviewed provided SRL support to students in different domains of education, including language learning, math, science, computer programming, accounting and educational psychology, with language learning being slightly more prominent than the other domains (Fig. 3 ). Moreover, the chatbots included in this review have been mainly utilised in higher education, i.e., researchers provided chatbots to university students in 21 studies. Two studies were conducted in primary schools, three studies were conducted in secondary school and one study involved a diverse student population recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk (Fig. 3 ).

Domain of education supported by chatbot color-coded with participants’ level of education

4.2 RQ1: How have educational chatbots been used to support students’ SRL processes relative to (1) phases and (2) facets theorised in Winne and Hadwin ( 1998 ) and Winne ( 2018 )?

Of 27 articles included in this review, 15 reported on using chatbots to support student SRL processing in a single SRL phase, 11 articles reported on support across two and 1 article reported on support across three SRL phases. None of the reviewed studies appeared to utilise educational chatbots to provide comprehensive SRL support across all four phases of SRL defined in Winne and Hadwin ( 1998 ). More specifically, in 25 articles researchers used chatbots to facilitate SRL during the strategy enactment phase, i.e., the phase in which students are to select and use learning tactics and strategies. In these studies, chatbots were mainly utilised to guide students to enact learning tactics/strategies to accomplish a particular learning task, such as writing a thesis statement (Lin & Chang, 2020 ) or an essay (Neumann et al., 2021 ), learning a programming language (Ait et al., 2023 ; Tian et al., 2021 ) and developing a project report (Kumar, 2021 ). Six chatbots supported students at the task definition stage, e.g., “Make sure to re-read the question!” (Cai et al., 2021 ). Five chatbots supported students to set goals and devise plans for learning, e.g., by scaffolding students to specify their achievement goals (Hew et al., 2021 , 2023 ) and by guiding goal setting with questions (Du et al., 2021 ; Al-Abdullatif et al., 2023 ). Four chatbots supported students to adapt to their future studying, e.g., by providing students with the opportunity to monitor their learning progress (Harati et al., 2021 ; Oliveira et al., 2021 ) (Fig. 4 ).

Venn diagram showing the number of studies over SRL phases

In all the studies we reviewed authors have reported on using chatbots to promote SRL processes at conditions, operations, and products, the three cognitive facets of SRL. For instance, researchers have used chatbots to promote students’ internal conditions for a task that include activation of domain knowledge (Cai et al., 2021 ; Neumann et al., 2021 ), task interest and motivation (Fryer et al., 2017 , 2020 ; Yin et al., 2021 ), self-efficacy (Chang et al., 2022a ), and outcome expectation (Hew et al., 2021 )). Researchers have also utilised chatbots to support students to leverage external conditions for a task. For example, chatbots recommended learning resources to students (Bailey et al., 2021 ; Chang et al., 2022b ), and guided students to manage their studying time (Harati et al., 2021 ) and to understand task requirements Du et al. ( 2021 ); Mellado-Silva et al. ( 2020 ); Chen et al. ( 2020 )). We also found that in 17 studies chatbots supported students to engage in cognitive operations of assembling. These include integrating and consolidating conceptual knowledge in math (Cai et al., 2021 ), English language learning (Fryer et al., 2017 ; Xia et al., 2023 ), physical sciences (Deveci Topal et al., 2021 ) and accounting (Mellado-Silva et al., 2020 ). Nine chatbots provided support for cognitive operations of translating. These include guiding students to transform knowledge from readings into a written narrative (Bailey et al., 2021 ) and to apply knowledge in a practical project (Kumar, 2021 ). 13 chatbots provided support for metacognitive operations of monitoring. These include guiding students to monitor for domain knowledge acquisition (Harati et al., 2021 ), for learning goals and responses to questions (Hew et al., 2021 ), for learning strategy employment (Song & Kim, 2021 ) and for progress and performance (Cai et al., 2021 ; Neumann et al., 2021 ; Oliveira et al., 2021 ; Zhang et al., 2023a , b ). Five chatbots provided support for searching operations. These include guiding students to search for course materials and learning content (Chang et al., 2022a , b ; Oliveira et al., 2021 ), for specific learning strategies (Du et al., 2021 ) and for learning tools (Jones & Castellano, 2018 ). And one chatbot included support for a cognitive operation of rehearsing by guiding students to formulate acquired knowledge in their own words (Jeon, 2021 ). Next, we found that the most common learning products that students created while studying with chatbots were answers to questions on tests/quizzes (Cai et al., 2021 ; Chang et al., 2022b ; Jeon, 2021 ), and only a few chatbots have supported students to produce essays (Neumann et al., 2021 ), thesis statements (Lin & Chang, 2020 ), project reports (Kumar, 2021 ) and learning goals (Du et al., 2021 ).

Further, 16 chatbots in the corpus we reviewed have appeared to provide support for learning processes theorised to occur at the evaluations facet of SRL. For instance, chatbots utilised in Cai et al. ( 2021 ), Oliveira et al. ( 2021 ), Zhang et al. ( 2023a ) and Lin and Chang ( 2020 ) assisted students to engage in judgment of learning, whereas chatbots in Jones and Castellano ( 2018 ), Hew et al. ( 2021 ), Song and Kim ( 2021 ) and Yin et al. ( 2021 ) promoted student engagement in self-reflection. Last, 14 chatbots provided a guidance to students to better comprehend task standards. Specifically, these chatbots provided students with initial explanations of task requirements and other task features (Bailey et al., 2021 ; Lin & Chang, 2020 ; Jones & Castellano, 2018 ; Chen et al., 2020 ), task-related tips (Tian et al., 2021 ), opportunities for progress check relative to task topics (Harati et al., 2021 ), and questions for goal setting (Du et al., 2021 ; Hew et al., 2023 ). We provide the summary table of the SRL phases and facets supported by the educational chatbots included in this review in the appendix (Figs. 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , and 9 ).

4.3 RQ2: To what extent the use of educational chatbots improved students’ SRL processing and learning performance?

Among the publications reviewed, we found mixed effects of educational chatbots on students’ SRL processes and learning performance. In terms of promoting SRL processing, researchers have reported that students who studied with chatbots tended to: use more effective learning strategies (Bailey et al., 2021 ; Chang et al., 2022b ; Mellado-Silva et al., 2020 ), increase their awareness of the importance of setting learning goals (Du et al., 2021 ; Hew et al., 2023 ), control the learning process over their study pace (Yin et al., 2021 ; Tian et al., 2021 ), enhance their learning engagement and self-efficacy (Chang et al., 2022a ; Hew et al., 2021 ; Oliveira et al., 2021 ), and transfer some of their SRL skills to a new learning activity (Jones & Castellano, 2018 ). Researchers have also found that students who studied with a chatbot did not sustain well their interest in task, attributed to the novelty effect (Fryer et al., 2017 ), and did not increase their SRL processing (Harati et al., 2021 ). Moreover, the use of chatbot in one of the studies did not appear to statistically significantly boost student internal conditions, i.e., need for cognition, perception of learning, creativity, self-efficacy and motivational beliefs – conditions critical for productive SRL (Kumar, 2021 ). The systematic review also shows that chatbots were used to improve students’ learning performance in tasks spanning different subjects, including English as a second language (Bailey et al., 2021 ), obstetrics (Chang et al., 2022a ), physical education (Chang et al., 2022b ), science (Deveci Topal et al., 2021 ), accounting (Mellado-Silva et al., 2020 ), geography (Jones & Castellano, 2018 ) and educational psychology (Lin & Chang, 2020 ; Kumar, 2021 ). We also note that the use of chatbot had limited effects on learning performance of students working on a chemistry task (Harati et al., 2021 ), and statistically non-significant effects on performance of students working on tasks in math (Cai et al., 2021 ), computer science (Oliveira et al., 2021 ) and geography (Jones & Castellano, 2018 ). We summarised descriptive and inferential statistics on SRL processes and learning performance across the reviewed studies in the appendix (Figs. 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , and 9 ).

5 Discussion

Even though chatbot is not a new technology, our results indicate that the application of chatbots for promoting SRL has only recently attracted attention from educational researchers and practitioners, i.e., over 90% of the papers in the reviewed corpus were published after 2020. Unlike some other educational technologies that have been widely researched as support for student SRL over the past decade – e.g., intelligent tutoring systems (Duffy & Azevedo, 2015 ; Dever et al., 2023 ; Taub et al., 2021 ) and computer-based scaffolding environments (Molenaar et al., 2012 ; Srivastava et al., 2022 ; Lim et al., 2023 ) – the use of chatbots to this purpose appears yet to be more deeply explored.

The two most prominent chatbot architectures in the reviewed corpus were NLP-driven and rule-based chatbots. NLP-driven chatbots utilize NLP and machine learning methods to derive the meaning from user input and understand user intents. Even though the NLP-driven models often require extensive training before they can be applied, chatbots based on this architecture typically offer more robustness in interpreting insufficiently clear and grammatically incorrect student inputs. We found DialogFlow to be a commonly used NLP platform powering NLP-driven chatbots for SRL (Deveci Topal et al., 2021 ; Bailey et al., 2021 ). On the other hand, rule-based chatbots use a set of predefined rules, e.g., a tree-like decision flow, to map student input to appropriate chatbot response. These rules are created after anticipating users’ input and pre-scripted during the bot design. Rule-based chatbot provides better behavior control and may be a particularly applicable architecture for researchers aiming to explicitly map user inputs to SRL processes, e.g., “What should I do first?” can be mapped to goal setting, and, based on that, chatbot may provide a series of prompts to guide a learner to set their goals. In this review, researchers utilised chatbots to support learning in a very diverse set of educational domains (i.e., 15 different domains identified in our corpus) and this finding aligns with findings from the previously conducted literature reviews (Winkler & Söllner, 2018 ; Pérez et al., 2020 ; Smutny & Schreiberova, 2020 ) that also reported that researchers tended to apply educational chatbots in diverse domains. The main reason for this cross-domain popularity of chatbots may be because this technology was designed to adapt to conversation with different users and on different topics.

Educational chatbots for self-regulated learning have mainly supported learners’ processes at one or two phases of the Winne and Hadwin model of SRL. Our findings suggest that the current design and implementation of educational chatbots lack the ability to aid the whole SRL cycle and thus provide students with comprehensive SRL support addressing all the four phases of SRL defined in Winne and Hadwin ( 1998 ) and Winne ( 2018 ). Commonly, almost all of the reviewed chatbots were designed to promote the enactment of learning tactics and strategies that educators deemed to be important for success in different learning tasks. For example, in the writing thesis statement task (Lin & Chang, 2020 ), educators may guide students to strategically engage the following learning activities “identify relevant passage” \(\rightarrow \) “identify claims” \(\rightarrow \) “compose thesis statement” \(\rightarrow \) “evaluate your conceptual understanding” \(\rightarrow \) “revise thesis statement”. The bot was designed to provide guidance to students on these activities, in any order they prefer. For this reason, utterances between learners and chatbots have been often mapped to specific learning tactics to reinforce the learning of students, taking into account required learning activities. In this way, chatbots have served as a potentially effective supplement to traditional classroom teaching, the trend also identified in the previous literature (Pérez et al., 2020 ). This finding ties with another finding from our review showing that chatbots mainly supported operations of rehearsing, assembling and translating, i.e., cognitive operations that are typically contingent upon task conditions (Winne, 1995 ), such as integrate information from several readings in an essay or recap a math formula in a quiz. Together, these findings may suggest that design of SRL chatbots was primarily informed by the nature of specific learning tasks, e.g., persuasive writing, numerical conversion and software programming, and, as such, dependent upon expected sequences of actions that learners should take to address those tasks.

To a lesser extent, chatbots supported students to metacognitively evaluate their immediate and past studying, and to adapt their studying accordingly. For instance, by using interactive and personalised feedback from chatbots the students were afforded the opportunity to engage in judgement of learning (Cai et al., 2021 ; Chang et al., 2022b ; Lin & Chang, 2020 ; Oliveira et al., 2021 ), and evaluate and adapt learning strategies they used during the task. In two of the studies, engagement in metacognitive judgement of learning was reported to be associated with increased student engagement in critical thinking (Chang et al., 2022b ) and writing performance (Lin & Chang, 2020 ), further confirming the potential of educational chatbots to support student metacognition, which is considered to be one of the central processes for productive SRL (Winne, 2018 ). Students’ internal conditions such as motivation, self-efficacy, and interest in a task, are often measured using self-report questionnaires, interviews and self-reflection prompts administered before or after the learning session. Data that dynamically capture student internal conditions as they evolve during the session is rarely collected, making it hard for educational technologies to provide immediate support adaptive to learning conditions. Even though some chatbots we reviewed have demonstrated ability to promote internal conditions, e.g., learning motivation (Yin et al., 2021 ), perception of learning (Neumann et al., 2021 ) and self-efficacy (Chang et al., 2022a ), the capability of educational chatbots to provide responses sensitive to evolving internal conditions remains limited. We also note that many chatbots in the reviewed corpus supported students to search for, gather and access learning resources for their tasks. As chatbots have been traditionally used in dialogue systems for customer service and information acquisition (Serban et al., 2017 ; Winkler & Söllner, 2018 ), we speculate the popularity of this feature in educational chatbots may have been naturally inherited from the field of customer service and adapted to support students as they gather learning content. Moreover, the recent explosion of advanced generative language models that generate sophisticated human-like responses and engage in natural language conversations, such as ChatGPT, has opened up new possibilities to improve educational chatbots from being tools mainly used for information acquisition to a powerful pedagogical tools that can revolutionize how students learn by offering personalized learning experiences and real-time guidance adapted to the student’s learning skills and knowledge of content.

We found that chatbots in the reviewed studies generally promoted increase in productive SRL processes and learning performance of students across different domains, confirming the potential of this technology to support SRL. Non-significant effects were identified in a group of studies and we attribute this finding to several possible reasons. Student motivation and engagement in learning sessions facilitated with chatbot may have dropped as many students may feel isolated in such learning context and may prefer direct support from teachers instead (Zhang et al., 2020 ). This may further lead to challenges in sustaining students’ learning interest in a task, as indicated in one of the reviewed studies (Fryer et al., 2017 ). As the reviewed chatbots have mainly supported university students, it may be expected that many students in this population already possessed a preferred catalogue of learning strategies and that one-time session with chatbot may not be sufficient to help those students alter their approaches to learning. Another reason for non-significant effects may be related to chatbot’s challenges to always provide satisfactory and accurate responses, that clearly target particular learning processes (Deveci Topal et al., 2021 ).

6 Conclusion and implications for further studies

The findings of this systematic literature review indicate the increasing interest of researchers in using educational chatbots to support self-regulated learning. The reviewed studies predominantly employed NLP-driven and rule-based chatbot architectures. Both architectures have shown potential in promoting various processes in SRL, particularly in the enactment of learning strategies and cognitive operations such as assembling, translating, and monitoring. Despite these advancements, the review identifies significant gaps in the comprehensive support of SRL. None of the chatbots have provided SRL support across all the four phases of SRL, as proposed by Winne and Hadwin Winne and Hadwin ( 1998 ). The support often involved guiding students through the steps within specific learning tasks rather than offering a holistic support to student SRL processing. The effects of chatbots on students’ SRL processes and learning performance appeared to be mixed. While many studies reported improvements in the use of learning strategies, student engagement, and self-efficacy, others found limited or non-significant effects on learning performance.

Based on the findings from this systematic literature review, we propose the following areas of investigation towards advancing research on chatbots and SRL.

1. Create chatbots that provide a comprehensive SRL support across all the phases

Our results suggest that, to date, there has been no chatbot designed to provide a comprehensive support across all the four phases of SRL defined in the Winne and Hadwin model. For instance, even though student engagement in goal settings, planning, and adaptation has been widely documented to benefit student learning experiences and performance (Alessandri et al., 2020 ; Raković et al., 2022a ; Rakovic et al., 2022b ), SRL processes at these stages have been rarely supported in the reviewed corpus, which may partially explain small, insignificant and limited effects of several chatbots on student achievements in this review. Within the SRL framework, each phase builds upon the previous one creating a cyclical process that allows students to continuously improve their learning strategies and accomplish their learning goals. Supporting studying in each phase of SRL may provide students with better control over their learning and may lead to greater academic success, increased confidence and motivation in one’s ability to learn.

2. Identify specific learning tasks in which chatbots can provide most effective support

While it is important to apply chatbots in different subject domains, it is equally important to identify specific tasks within those domains where chatbots can be most effective. By doing so, researchers and educators can ensure that chatbots are used in a targeted and effective manner, maximizing the impact of this technology on students’ learning experience. In this way, chatbots may help learners develop a catalogue of task-specific learning skills and transfer these skills to similar tasks in the future.

3. Evaluate the effectiveness of SRL chatbots in longitudinal studies

Most of the educational chatbots in this review have been evaluated in small scale studies, e.g., a one-time intervention administered in one class. Such a lack of longitudinal data might impede researchers from gaining a deeper understanding of the long term benefits of SRL chatbots. Therefore, it may benefit future research in educational technology and learning sciences if researchers conduct a longitudinal study, e.g., a study spanning over one or several semesters, to examine the effects of chatbot on the development of students’ SRL skills over time.

4. Use chatbot to elicit students’ internal conditions

Student internal conditions including prior knowledge, motivation, interest, self-efficacy, achievement goals, utility value and outcome expectations can have a significant impact on how learners approach and engage with the learning process (Meece, 2023 ). However, there are very limited existing efforts in learning analytics focusing on understanding and eliciting internal conditions (Matcha et al., 2019 ). These constructs have been typically measured at the beginning of a learning task. Since SRL is a dynamic and cyclic process (Panadero, 2017 ), student internal conditions may often change during the learning session, also affecting other processes that learners enact. For example, use of effective learning strategies and accomplishment of some learning goals early in a learning session may increase students’ self-efficacy and motivation later in the session, compared to what learners reported at the outset of the session. Given the conversational and interactive nature of chatbots, researchers may consider using this technology as an instrument that dynamically captures changes in internal conditions and helps learners to reflect on their own learning process, e.g., by engaging in dialogues with learners, asking questions that gauge students’ understanding, their learning goals and confidence levels, analyzing the content and frequency of student interactions, providing feedback on their progress, and offering suggestions for improvement.

5. Record and analyse what students did, not only what they say they did

Digital trace-data, e.g., navigation logs, text annotations and keystrokes, that students generate in digital learning environments have been increasingly harnessed to unobtrusively measure SRL (Fan et al., 2022 ; Rakovic et al., 2022b ; Lim et al., 2023 ). For instance, trace-data are often mapped to theorised SRL processes and dynamically analysed (e.g., by using process mining and natural language processing approaches) to obtain a more complete picture of student learning behaviors. To our knowledge, educational chatbots developed to date have mainly gathered information about student learning in two ways (1) via self-reports, e.g., based on what students said to the bot they did, and (2) via student performance data, e.g., correct/incorrect answers on a test. Researchers, however, have identified several challenges related to those methods. For example, students self-reports may often be insufficiently accurate and biased towards student beliefs or social desirability (Winne, 2022 ), whereas performance data often cannot directly inform the intervention (Arizmendi et al., 2022 ). Researchers may consider introducing trace-data as an additional input to SRL chatbots to ensure bots more accurately monitor student SRL processes as they dynamically unfold and, based on that, provide students with a more accurate and timely SRL support.

6. Support students at all educational levels

The chatbots in the reviewed corpus have mainly supported university students. More research is needed to adapt chatbots to cater to the needs of students at other levels of education, e.g., primary and secondary. Students at different levels of education may have different learning needs and preferences (Ambrose et al., 2010 ). By conducting research and adapting chatbots to cater these specific needs from different levels of students, we can ensure that the benefits of educational chatbots are accessible to students of all developmental stages, potentially creating more effective, engaging and inclusive learning environment for them. Also, university students have become more experienced learners and have often formed certain learning habits. This may make it challenging for the educational chatbot to induce some changes to learning. An early intervention at a primary or secondary education level could help in preparing students to better self-regulate their learning at a tertiary education level and throughout life.

7. Improve the effectiveness and accuracy of chatbot responses by harnessing the potential of large language models and generative AI

In our review, a notable limitation of current educational chatbots is their often unsatisfactory responses (Deveci Topal et al., 2021 ), highlighting a gap in understanding users’ intentions and providing relevant support. This indicates that the current chatbots may have limited ability to interpret users’ intentions and provide adequate support, which further may hamper student engagement and motivation. Researchers may utilise the rapidly emerging technologies of generative AI specifically large language models like ChatGPT, that can handle complex language problems, e.g., large language models such as ChatGPT, to enhance the chatbots’ ability to understand learners’ intentions and provide appropriate responses in the context of SRL. In this way, the volume of productive interactions between students and SRL chatbots may improve student learning experiences and interest in studying with a bot, marking a step forward in AI-driven education.

Data availability statement

Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study. This systematic literature review is based entirely on data from publicly available sources. The analysis synthesizes findings from a wide range of publications, including journal articles and conference papers, all of which are cited in the references section of this paper. These sources can be accessed through academic libraries and online databases. Supplementary materials created during this review, including summary tables (Figs. 5 - 9 ) and figures (Figs. 1 - 4 ), are available upon request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was in part supported by funding from the Australian Research Council (DP220101209, DP240100069) and Jacobs Foundation.

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Centre for Learning Analytics at Monash, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University, 25 Exhibition walk, Clayton, VIC, 3800, Australia

Rui Guan, Mladen Raković, Guanliang Chen & Dragan Gašević

School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

Dragan Gašević

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Rui Guan: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing - Original Draft, Data Curation.Mladen Raković: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing - Original Draft, Data Curation, Supervision.Guanliang Chen: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing - Original Draft, Supervision.Dragan Gašević: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing - Original Draft, Supervision

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Correspondence to Mladen Raković .

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This systematic review has been conducted in accordance with the principles of academic integrity and honesty. All sources have been properly cited, and no copyrighted material has been used without permission. The review does not involve any original data collection from human or animal subjects, and therefore, ethical approval was not sought.

Appendix A: Summary of the reviewed studies

Summary table of reviewed chatbot articles including supported SRL stages and facets

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Guan, R., Raković, M., Chen, G. et al. How educational chatbots support self-regulated learning? A systematic review of the literature. Educ Inf Technol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-024-12881-y

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Received : 18 March 2024

Accepted : 21 June 2024

Published : 30 August 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-024-12881-y

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