Strategies for Helping
Students Become More Effective
Self-Regulated Learners
Bruce Harris
Director, Center for Teaching
and Learning Excellence
Introduction
To be discussed in session.
Objectives of Workshop
• Recognize the importance of
helping students go beyond
basic study skills to help
students become more
effective self-regulated
learners.
• Recall five self-regulated
learning strategies that we
can teach our students.
Workshop Agenda
• Background and Nature
of Self-regulated
Learning
• Five Self-regulated
Learning (SRL)
Strategies
What is a Self-regulated Learner?
• Students who are academically
successful tend to be self-regulated.
• The term self-regulated can be used
to describe learning that is guided by
executive processing (metacognition,
conditional awareness, selfmonitoring, etc.), cognitive
processing (planning, declarative
knowledge, procedural knowledge,
etc.), and motivation (self-efficacy,
goal orientation, attributional
orientation, etc.) to learn.
What is a Self-regulated Learner?
Self-regulated learners
systematically direct their thoughts,
feelings, and actions toward the
attainment of their goals. They are
cognizant of their academic
strengths and weaknesses, they
have a repertoire of strategies they
appropriately apply to tackle the
day-to-day challenges of academic
tasks, and they are self-motivated.
Basic Model of Self-Regulated Learning
Dual System Model of
Cognition/Learning
Contemporary cognitive psychologists distinguish
between two levels of cognition*:
Level1 (S1): Implicit cognition – largely intuitive,
hard-wired, effortless; focused on typical, stable
problems and skills.
Level2 (S2): Explicit cognition - conscious,
effortful; focused on novel problems and skills.
* L1 processing is the default mode.
Example of two systems interacting
To be discussed in session.
Academic Cognition/Learning
To be discussed in session.
Five SRL Strategies
1. Conditional
Awareness
2. Self-monitoring
3. Self-evaluation
4. Self-motivation
5. Self-explanation
Conditional Awareness
Defined a student’s
ability to identify and
execute appropriate
learning strategies by
recognizing contextual
clues in a particular
learning situation and
context.
Conditional Awareness
Instructional Strategies
• Encourage students to set goals and
develop a strategic plan based on
contextual clues.
• Sources of contextual clues:
– Syllabus
– Instructor’s lessons
– Help seeking resources
Conditional Awareness
Self-monitoring
Defined as a student’s
awareness of their
comprehension or
performance during or
shortly after completing an
academic task.
Self-monitoring
Instructional Strategies
• Encourage students to review their work to
determine whether it meets all the criteria specified
by the instructor.
• Encourage students to ask themselves:
– “Have I identified all of the key points in this article?”
– “I didn’t do as well as I thought I would on the last test.
What learning strategies do I need to use to prepare for
the next exam so I get an A on the exam?”
– “My attention is beginning to drift. I need to stay focused
for the next 45 minutes and then I will take a 10 break.”
Self-monitoring
Self-evaluation
Defined as a
student’s selfjudgment on their
performance by
comparing it to their
goal.
Self-evaluation
Instructional Strategies
• Encourage students to review their strategic plan
and determine what adjustments, if any, they need
to make.
• Encourage students to ask themselves:
– “If I were to take a quiz on this topic right now, what grade would I
expect?”
– “Now that I have finished reviewing my notes, I need to ask myself
how well am I understanding this topic.”
– “Now that I know my score on this exam, what would I do differently
for the next exam to do better?”
– “To what degree am I following the plan I made for achieving my
goal?
Self-evaluation
Self-motivation
Defined as a
student’s awareness
of his/her motivation
level in regards to
achieving his/her
goal.
Self-motivation
Instructional Strategies
• Encourage students to assess their motivation level
and to increase their motivation if necessary.
• Encourage students to say to themselves:
– “I feel like my motivation is low. I need to remind myself
that I have been a successful student in the past and that
I have overcome difficult challenges on other occasions.”
– “As soon as I complete the self-test, I am going to reward
myself.”
– “Even though this article is taking much more time than I
anticipated, I am not going to give up until I complete it.”
Self-motivation
Self-explanation
Defined as a type of
metacognitive activity
wherein students attempt
to analyze, clarify, amplify,
draw inferences, interpret,
and then explicate to
themselves the subject
matter of the course.
Self-explanation
Instructional Strategies
• Encourage students to attempt to generate selfexplanations as they study.
• Encourage students to ask themselves:
– “How would I describe the situation, problem, concept,
activity, etc.?”
– “What possible implications or predictions can I draw
from the information thus far?”
– “How would I sum up, interpret, or explain the situation,
problem, concept, activity, etc. thus far to someone else?
Self-explanation
Review
• We can help our students to become more
effective self-regulated learners in both F2F
classes and online courses; however, it will not
happen overnight.
• Five self-regulated learning strategies we can
teach our students:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Conditional Awareness
Self-monitoring
Self-evaluation
Self-motivation
Self-explanation