Designing new learning experiences? : exploring corporate E-learners’ self-regulated learning

The context of this study is corporate e-learning, with an explicit focus on how digital learning design can facilitate self-regulated learning (SRL). The field of e-learning is growing rapidly. An increasing number of corporations use digital technology and elearning for training their work force and customers. E-learning may offer economic benefits, as well as opportunities for interaction and communication that traditional teaching cannot provide. However, the evolving variety of digital learning contexts makes new demands on learners, requiring them to develop strategies to adapt and cope with novel learning tools. This study derives from the need to learn more about learning experiences in digital contexts in order to be able to design these properly for learning. The research question targets how the design of an e-learning course influences participants’ self-regulated learning actions and intentions. SRL involves learners’ ability to exercise agency in their learning. Micro-level SRL processes were targeted by exploring behaviour, cognition, and affect/motivation in relation to the design of the digital context. Two iterations of an e-learning course were tested on two groups of participants (N=17). However, the exploration of SRL extends beyond the educational design research perspective of comparing the effects of the changes to the course designs. The study was conducted in a laboratory with each participant individually. Multiple types of data were collected. However, the results presented in this thesis are based on screen observations (including eye tracking) and video-stimulated recall interviews. These data were integrated in order to achieve a broad perspective on SRL. The most essential change evident in the second course iteration was the addition of feedback during practice and the final test. Without feedback on actions there was an observable difference between those who were instruction-directed and those who were self-directed in manipulating the context and, thus, persisted whenever faced with problems. In the second course iteration, including the feedback, this kind of difference was not found. Feedback provided the tipping point for participants to regulate their learning by identifying their knowledge gaps and to explore the learning context in a targeted manner. Furthermore, the course content was consistently seen from a pragmatic perspective, which influenced the participants’ choice of actions, showing that real life relevance is an important need of corporate learners. This also relates to assessment and the consideration of its purpose in relation to participants’ work situation. The rigidity of the multiple choice questions, focusing on the memorisation of details, influenced the participants to adapt to an approach for surface learning. It also caused frustration in cases where the participants’ epistemic beliefs were incompatible with this kind of assessment style. Triggers of positive and negative emotions could be categorized into four levels: personal factors, instructional design of content, interface design of context, and technical solution. In summary, the key design choices for creating a positive learning experience involve feedback, flexibility, functionality, fun, and freedom. The design of the context impacts regulation of behaviour, cognition, as well as affect and motivation. The learners’ awareness of these areas of regulation in relation to learning in a specific context is their ability for design-based epistemic metareflection. I describe this metareflection as knowing how to manipulate the context behaviourally for maximum learning, being metacognitively aware of one’s learning process, and being aware of how emotions can be regulated to maintain volitional control of the learning situation. Attention needs to be paid to how the design of a digital learning context supports learners’ metareflective development as digital learners. Every digital context has its own affordances and constraints, which influence the possibilities for micro-level SRL processes. Empowering learners in developing their ability for design-based epistemic metareflection is, therefore, essential for building their digital literacy in relation to these affordances and constraints. It was evident that the implementation of e-learning in the workplace is not unproblematic and needs new ways of thinking about learning and how we create learning spaces. Digital contexts bring a new culture of learning that demands attitude change in how we value knowledge, measure it, define who owns it, and who creates it. Based on the results, I argue that digital solutions for corporate learning ought to be built as an integrated system that facilitates socio-cultural connectivism within the corporation. The focus needs to shift from designing static e-learning material to managing networks of social meaning negotiation as part of a holistic corporate learning ecology.

Self-Regulated Learning and Children At-Risk for Learning Disabilities: Using Motivational Tactics to Support "Reading Rocks!"

This project explored self-regulation among children impacted by leaming disabilities. More specifically, this thesis examined whether a remedial literacy program called Reading Rocks! offered by the Leaming Disabilities Association of Niagara Region, provided participating children opportunities to set goals, develop strategies to meet these goals, and provide intemal and extemal feedback- all processes associated with a model of self-regulated leaming as pioneered by Butler and Winne (1995) and Winne and Hadwin (1999). In this thesis, I triangulate the data through the combination of three different methodologies. Firstly, I describe the various elements of the Reading Rocks! program. Secondly, I analyze the data gathered through three semi-structured interviews with three parents of children that participated in the Reading Rocks! program to demonstrate whether the program provides opportunities for children to self-regulate their learning. Thirdly, I also analyze photographic evidence of the motivational workstation boards created by the tutors and children to further illustrate how Reading Rocks! promotes self-regulatory processes among children.

Implementation of training programs in self-regulated learning strategies in Moodle format : Results of a experience in higher education

Resumen tomado de la publicaci??n

Assessing self-regulated learning in early childhood education : Difficulties, needs, and prospects

Resumen tomado de la publicaci??n

New media for the promotion of self-regulated learning in higher education

Resumen tomado de la publicaci??n

Selecting valuable information to remember: age-related differences and similarities in self-regulated learning

It is often necessary to selectively attend to important information, at the expense of less important information, especially if you know you cannot remember large amounts of information. The present study examined how younger and older adults select valuable information to study, when given unrestricted choices about how to allocate study time. Participants were shown a display of point values ranging from 1–30. Participants could choose which values to study, and the associated word was then shown. Study time, and the choice to restudy words, was under the participant's control during the 2-minute study session. Overall, both age groups selected high value words to study and studied these more than the lower value words. However, older adults allocated a disproportionately greater amount of study time to the higher-value words, and age-differences in recall were reduced or eliminated for the highest value words. In addition, older adults capitalized on recency effects in a strategic manner, by studying high-value items often but also immediately before the test. A multilevel mediation analysis indicated that participants strategically remembered items with higher point value, and older adults showed similar or even stronger strategic process that may help to compensate for poorer memory. These results demonstrate efficient (and different) metacognitive control operations in younger and older adults, which can allow for strategic regulation of study choices and allocation of study time when remembering important information. The findings are interpreted in terms of life span models of agenda-based regulation and discussed in terms of practical applications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)(journal abstract)

The Impact of Gender and Pedagogy on the Development of Self-Regulated Learning Strategies in Undergraduate Engineering Classrooms

The purpose of this paper is to examine ways in which pedagogy and gender of instructor impact the development of self-regulated learning strategies as assessed by the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) in male and female undergraduate engineering students. Pedagogy was operationalized as two general formats: lecture plus active learning techniques or problem-base/project-based learning. One hundred seventy-six students from four universities participated in the study. Within-group analyses found significant differences with regard to pedagogy, instructors’ gender, and student gender on the learning strategies and motivation subscales as operationalized by the MSLQ. Male and females students reported significant post-test differences with regard to the gender of instructor and the style of pedagogy. The results of this study showed a pattern where more positive responses for students of both genders were found with the same-gendered instructor. The results also suggested that male students responded more positively to project and problem-based courses with changes evidenced in motivation strategies and resource management. Female students showed decreases in resource management in these two types of courses. Further, female students reported increases in the lecture with active learning courses.

Effect of Classroom Gender Composition on Students' Development of Self-Regulated Learning Competencies

Success in any field depends on a complex interplay among environmental and personal factors. A key set of personal factors for success in academic settings are those associated with self-regulated learners (SRL). Self-regulated learners choose their own goals, select and organize their learning strategies, and self-monitor their effectiveness. Behaviors and attitudes consistent with self-regulated learning also contribute to self-confidence, which may be important for members of underrepresented groups such as women in engineering. This exploratory study, drawing on the concept of "critical mass", examines the relationship between the personal factors that identify a self-regulated learner and the environmental factors related to gender composition of engineering classrooms. Results indicate that a relatively student gender-balanced classroom and gender match between students and their instructors provide for the development of many adaptive SRL behaviors and attitudes.

Study of the Self-Assessment as а Component of the Model of Self-Regulated Learning for Engineering Students

Report published in the Proceedings of the National Conference on "Education and Research in the Information Society", Plovdiv, May, 2015

Self -regulated learning: The role of a journal in the learning process for students and teachers

A fundamental goal of education is to equip students with self-regulatory capabilities that enable them to educate themselves. Self directedness not only contributes to success in formal instruction but also promotes lifelong learning (Bandura, 1997). The area of research on self-regulated learning is well grounded within the framework of psychological literature attributed to motivation, metacognition, strategy use and learning. This study explored past research and established the purpose of teaching students to self-regulate their learning and highlighted the fact that teachers are expected to assume a major role in the learning process. A student reflective writing journal activity was sustained for a period of two semesters in two fourth-grade mathematics classrooms. The reflective writing journal was analyzed in search of identifying strategies reported by students. Research questions were analyzed using descriptive statistics, frequency counts, cross-tabs and chi-square analyses. ^ Results based on student-use of the journals and teacher interviews indicated that the use of a reflective writing journal does promote self-regulated learning strategies to the extent which the student is engaged in the journaling process. Those students identified as highly self-regulated learners on the basis of their strategy use, were shown to consistently claim to learn math “as well or better than planned” on a weekly basis. Furthermore, good self-regulators were able to recognize specific strategies that helped them do well and change their strategies across time based on the planned learning objectives. The perspectives of the participating teachers were examined in order to establish the context in which the students were working. The effect of “planned change” and/or the resistance to change as established in previous research, from the teachers point of view, was also explored. The analysis of the journal data did establish a significant difference between students who utilized homework as a strategy. ^ Based on the journals and interviews, this study finds that the systematic use of metacognitive, motivational and/or learning strategies can have a positive effect on student's responsiveness to their learning environment. Furthermore, it reflects that teaching students “how to learn” can be a vital part of the effectiveness of any curriculum. ^

Social media integration for the purpose of self-regulated learning

In this study, design based research in a teacher design team is performed. Teachers who intend to use social media to extend their school class teaching, are confronted with a lack of clear guidelines that inform them how to utilize them effectively. In this study, we aim at formulating such guidelines and testing their usefulness. First, opportunities to facilitate self-regulated learning (SRL) in higher education through the use of social media are elaborated in a literature study. Second, these opportunities are translated into teacher education to search for stimulating and limiting factors within the design, resulting in guidelines for effective social media integration.

Self-regulated learning in computer programming : strategies students adopted during an assignment

The SimProgramming teaching approach has the goal to help students overcome their learning difficulties in the transition from entry-level to advanced computer programming and prepare them for real-world labour environments, adopting learning strategies. It immerses learners in a businesslike learning environment, where students develop a problem-based learning activity with a specific set of tasks, one of which is filling weekly individual forms. We conducted thematic analysis of 401 weekly forms, to identify the students’ strategies for self-regulation of learning during assignment. The students are adopting different strategies in each phase of the approach. The early phases are devoted to organization and planning, later phases focus on applying theoretical knowledge and hands-on programming. Based on the results, we recommend the development of educational practices to help students conduct self-reflection of their performance during tasks.

Self-regulated learning in higher education : strategies adopted by computer programming students

Trabalho apresentado em PAEE/ALE’2016, 8th International Symposium on Project Approaches in Engineering Education (PAEE) and 14th Active Learning in Engineering Education Workshop (ALE)

Validation of the self-regulated online learning questionnaire

Abstract The number of students engaged in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is increasing rapidly. Due to the autonomy of students in this type of education, students in MOOCs are required to regulate their learning to a greater extent than students in traditional, face-to-face education. However, there is no questionnaire available suited for this online context that measures all aspects of self-regulated learning (SRL). In this study, such a questionnaire is developed based on existing SRL questionnaires. This is the self-regulated online learning ques- tionnaire. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on the first dataset led to a set of scales differing from those theoretically defined beforehand. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted on a second dataset to compare the fit of the theoretical model and the exploratively obtained model. The exploratively obtained model provided much better fit to the data than the theoretical model. All models under investigation provided better fit when excluding the task strategies scale and when merging the scales measuring metacognitive activities. From the results of the EFA and the CFA it can be concluded that further development of the questionnaire is necessary.

An Analysis of Individual Differences for a Computer Self-Regulated Reading Comprehension Task

Recent developments in brain imagery have made it possible to explore links between brain functions and psychological phenomena, opening a window between mind, brain and behavior. However, behavior cannot be understood solely by looking at the brain alone; the roles of the context, task, and practice are potent forces in shaping behavior. According to these ideas, we present a work experience to reflect on: 1) the variations of how people learn, 2) the learning potential of students with learning disabilities, and 3) computers as a tool to learn and to analyze student’s reading comprehension processes. In this vein, we present and discuss an example of how different types of readers (average, dyslexia, and hemispherectomy) undertake a computer self-regulated reading comprehension task. This is not an experimental research study and results cannot be generalized. Theoretical and educational implications are discussed in line with the proposed aims.