StudyTracker Self-Tracking App and its Relationship to University Student Procrastination - Academic Paper

Oct 15, 2026

Procrastination is a common challenge for university students, harming long-term academic outcomes and negatively affecting mental health and overall quality of life. This paper examines StudyTracker, a self-tracking digital application designed for students to log study sessions and receive feedback through text and charts. The study evaluates whether StudyTracker changes procrastination habits and how students interpret the app’s feedback data. Results show significant reductions in procrastination scores in both control and experimental groups, without a significant between-group difference.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages23

Reading Time58 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Procrastination in higher education

Persuasive design and persuasive technology

Technology-based interventions for procrastination

StudyTracker app and research focus

| Volume 50 (2) | Summer / été 2024 | | --- | --- | StudyTracker Self-Tracking App and its Relationship to University Student Procrastination L'application d’autosuivi StudyTracker et sa relation avec la procrastination des personnes étudiantes universitaires Maya Murad, Carleton University, Canada KC Collins, Carleton University, Canada Abstract Procrastination is a prevalent issue among university students and leads to long-term negative impacts on academic performance as well as mental health and quality of life. This paper investigated StudyTracker, a self-tracking digital application (app) that we developed for university students to use to track their study sessions. The app provided feedback to the student in the form of text and charts. We investigated the impact that StudyTracker had on procrastination habits, and explored how students interpreted their feedback data from the app. Results indicated that both the control group (N=9) and the experimental group (N=8) experienced a significant decrease in procrastination scores, however there was no significant difference between the two groups. The design implications of our findings are discussed. Keywords: personal informatics, procrastination intervention, self-tracking, time management, university students Résumé La procrastination est un problème répandu chez les personnes étudiantes universitaires etentraîne des répercussions négatives à long terme sur les résultats académiques ainsi que sur la santé mentale et la qualité de vie. Cet article porte sur StudyTracker, une application numérique d’autosuivi que nous avons développée à l’intention des personnes étudiantes universitaires pour qu’elles puissentl’utiliser pour suivre leurs séances d’étude. L’application fournit une rétroaction à la personne étudiante sous forme de texte et de graphiques. Nous avons étudié l’impact de StudyTracker sur les habitudes de procrastination et exploré la manière dont les personnes étudiantes interprétaient les données derétroaction fournies par l’application. Les résultats indiquent que le groupe de contrôle (N=9) et le CJLT/RCAT Vol. 50 (2) groupe expérimental (N=8) ont connu une diminution significative des scores de procrastination, mais il n’y avait pas de différence significative entre les deux groupes. Les implications de nos résultats sur le plan de la conception sont discutées. Mots-clés: informatique personnelle, intervention sur la procrastination, autosuivi, gestion du temps, personnes étudiantes universitaires Introduction Procrastination, the voluntarily postponing of an intended course of action on a task, is a widespread problem in higher education (Schraw et al., 2007) . Studies vary as to the percentage of students who procrastinate. Steel (2007) estimated that between 70–95% of undergraduate students procrastinate to some degree. A study by Rahimi and Hall (2021) estimated that 46% of undergraduate and 60% of graduate students problematically procrastinate, where the procrastination resulted in negative outcomes. Several studies link academic procrastination to lower grades and lower academic performance (Balkis, 2013 ; Kim & Seo, 2015 ; Qaisar et al., 2017; Saplavaska & Jerunkova, 2018; Tice & Baumeister, 1997) . Studies exploring the correlation between completion times and assignment grades showed that the earlier assignments were completed, the higher the grades (Cerezo et al., 2016; Yilmaz, 2017). In addition to academic performance, procrastination has significant negative consequences for emotional wellbeing, including shame, depression, stress, and anxiety (Rahimi & Hall, 2021) . Our research began with the question of whether technology could be leveraged to help reduce academic procrastination in university students. Persuasive design applies a variety of theories from areas of social psychology to alter attitudesand behaviours. Persuasive technology has been developed for this purpose (Fogg, 2003) . Digital designs of these te

FAQs

What is StudyTracker and how does it support students?

StudyTracker is a self-tracking study app that lets university students track their study sessions. It provides feedback through text and charts.

What were the study results about procrastination scores?

Both the control group and the experimental group experienced a significant decrease in procrastination scores. However, no significant difference was found between the two groups.

How did the research explore students’ use of the app feedback?

The study investigated how students interpreted the feedback data generated by StudyTracker. It also considered the app’s impact on procrastination habits.

Oct 15, 2026

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