3. SRL – Self-Regulating Learning
3.1 Abstract
The term self-regulated can be used to describe learning that is guided by
metacognition, strategic action (planning, monitoring, and evaluating personal
progress against a standard), and motivation to learn (Butler & Winne, 1995;
Winne & Perry, 2000; Perry, Phillips, & Hutchinson, 2006; Zimmerman, 1990).
In particular, self-regulated learners are cognizant of their academic strengths
and weaknesses, and they have a repertoire of strategies they appropriately
apply to tackle the day-to-day challenges of academic tasks. These learners
hold incremental beliefs about intelligence (as opposed to fixed views of
intelligence) and attribute their successes or failures to factors (e.g., effort
expended on a task, effective use of strategies) within their control (Dweck &
Leggett, 1988; Dweck, 2002). Finally, students who are self-regulated learners
believe that opportunities to take on challenging tasks, practice their learning,
develop a deep understanding of subject matter, and exert effort will give rise
to academic success (Perry et al., 2006). In part, these characteristics may help
to explain why self-regulated learners usually exhibit a high sense of selfefficacy (Pintrich & Schunk, 2002). In the educational psychology literature,
researchers have linked these characteristics to success in and beyond school
(Pintrich, 2000; Winne & Perry, 2000).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-regulated_learning
3.2 Academic
A learning process that is managed at least to some extent by the learner,
relying on a plan and monitored for following the plan’s aims.
There are five basic assumptions about learning and regulating that are
shared by all SRL models (Pintrich, 2000; Zimmerman, 2001; Azevedo 2005):
1.
Learners are active, constructive participants in the learning process. They
construct their own meanings, goals, and strategies from the information
available from their internal environment (cognitive system) and the
external environment (task conditions, learning context).
2.
Learners are capable of monitoring, controlling, and regulating aspects of
their own cognition, motivation, behavior and context.
3.
Biological, developmental, contextual and individual constraints can
inhibit the learner's ability to monitor his/her cognition, motivation,
behavior or context.
4.
A learning process is one in which the learner sets goals or standards to
strive for, monitors the progress towards them and adapt (regulate)
cognition, motivation, behavior and context in order to achieve these
goals. Therefore, there is a goal, criterion, or standards against which the
learner makes comparisons to assess whether a change is needed (in the
process, evaluation of task demands, etc.) or not.
5.
Self-regulatory activities are mediators between personal characteristics
and contextual features and actual performance, in the learning process.
Achievements and learning are influenced by the learner's self regulation
of his cognition and behavior, which mediates between his/her personal
and the contextual (learning environment) characteristics.
According to Butler (2000; see also Zimmerman, 1994), self regulated learners
engage in a cycle of cognitive activities as they work through a task:
1.
Analyze task demands. As part of this process the learner might draw on
prior knowledge about a similar task – meta-cognitive knowledge about
the task. This stage is critical because it is the base on which learners make
further strategic decisions.
2.
Based on task requirement, a self regulated learner selects, adapts or
invents strategic procedures to achieve the task goal, some of which are
based on prior knowledge about a similar task (i.e., meta-cognitive
knowledge).
3.
Self Monitoring. Once the learner has implemented the chosen strategies,
she monitors outcomes associated with the use of the strategies – self
evaluation by comparing progress against task demands and interpreting
external feedback (comments, marks, etc.). Adjustments of learning
strategies are made according to the perceived gap between actual and
desired performance.
A key element in supporting the development of a self regulated learner is
positive self perception:
1.
self efficacy: belief in one’s abilities, competence and motivation —
influences the goals learners set, their commitment to those goals, and the
learning strategies employed.
2.
attributional beliefs: learners’ attributions — their causal explanation for
success and failure, whether internal or external, positive or negative —
inhibit or support the successful strategic performance. Productive
attributional beliefs relate outcomes to controllable factors. Unproductive
attributional beliefs reflect low perceptions of self-control over outcomes.
Developing self regulating abilities can be assisted by encouraging
individuals to organize, monitor, evaluate, and regulate their own thinking
process. Such self-regulation enhances self knowledge and self-efficacy.
When comparing and evaluating the different SRL processes, consideration
was given mainly to simplicity, flexibility and the model's seamlessly
integration with operational psychological oriented approaches to regulation.
Boekaerts' (1997) detailed analysis describes SRL as a set of various types of
prior knowledge, and the availability and relevance of this knowledge in
different learning circumstances as fundamental for independent learning.
This model distinguishes cognitive SRL from motivational SRL but even
though it presents an elaborate mapping of SRL components it fails to
prescribe a systematic SRL learning process. It is summarized in the following
diagram (Boekaerts, 1997):
Butler & Winne (1995) describe SRL as a recursive flow of information, which
again was found less operational for iClass needs:
The survey of SRL models led us to choose Zimmerman’s operational and
concise cyclical model of SRL phases (Zimmerman 2002; Zimmerman &
Tsikalas 2005) as a basis for SRL in iClass. It is comprised of the following
phases, which epitomize the operational aspects common among models, and
at the same time it is simple enough to be understood by teachers and
learners alike, and can thus lend itself more easily to mindful and
autonomous use:
Forethought: processes aimed at enhancing performance, which are
done before learning. Include meta-cognitive processes such as task
analysis, goal setting, and strategic planning, as well as self-motivation
from sources such as task interest or values, self-efficacy beliefs and
intrinsic motivation.
Performance: strategies aimed at enhancing the quality and
quantity of the learner’s performance. Include the use of meta-cognitive
and behavioral self-control strategies that were selected during the
forethought phase such as strategies of imagery, self-instruction, attention
focusing and task strategies, and self-observation strategies such as metacognitive monitoring and behavioral recording.
Self-reflection: beliefs and processes that influence forethought
concerning subsequent learning efforts. Involves meta-cognitive selfevaluation of the performance (comparison of self-observed performance
against some standard, such as prior performance, others’ performance, or
a standard of performance), as well as affective and motivational reactions
to the self-regulatory efforts, such as causal attributions to personal
control, feelings of self-satisfaction/affect, and adaptive rather than
defensive self-reactions.
The phases derived from this model for iClass are:
Forethought or planning
Practicing, monitoring and controlling
Task-reflection
Teachers
Self-regulated learning involves the active, goal-directed, self-control of
behavior, motivation and cognition for academic tasks by an individual
student. Self-regulated learning is a way of approaching tasks that students
learn through experience and self-reflection. It is not a characteristic that is
genetically based or formed early in life so that students are "stuck" with it for
the rest of their lives (Pintrich 1995). Self-regulated learning is an active
constructive process whereby learners set goals for their learning and then
attempt to monitor, regulate, and control their cognition, motivation, and
behavior in the service of these goals (Pintrich & Zusho 2002). Thus, selfregulated learning promotes the development of autonomous and responsible
selves with the capacity and motivation for life long learning.
Three cyclical phases emerging in SRL:
http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/siegle/SelfRegulation/se
ction6.html
Teaching tips and activities fostering self-regulating learning:
http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/siegle/SelfRegulation/section8.html
Your role in helping students to gain self-regulation will be challenging and it
is clear that your first attempt to teach a student a self-regulation strategy may
not be successful. Why? It takes time and practice to gain effective habits.
Initial efforts must be refined based on student's feedback, performance, and
personal reflection.
Five common instructional practices that have been cited as effective in
helping students learn self-regulation are:
1. Guide learners' self-beliefs, goal setting, and expectations
 help students frame new information or feedback in a positive
rather than a negative manner (e.g., "keeping track of your
homework assignments will help you manage this course
successfully," rather than "if you don't keep track you will fail")
 provide specific cues for using self-regulatory strategies
2. Promote reflective dialogue
 teacher modeling of reflective practices (think aloud)
 student practice with reflective dialogue
 group
discussions to think through problems/cases
(collaborative learning)
3. Provide corrective feedback
 performance standards must be clear and perceived as
attainable
 phrase feedback (positive or negative) as a statement about the
task of learning, not about the learner
4. Help learners make connections between abstract concepts
 use case-based instructions or examples that students come up
with themselves
 use hands-on learning activities
 help students learn to separate relevant from irrelevant
information (i.e., help them know where and how to focus their
attention; guide their reference standards)
5. Help learners link new experiences to prior learning
 use experiential learning activities
 focus on application of knowledge in broader contexts
 integrate real-life examples with classroom information
For 6 lesson plans see:
http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/siegle/SelfRegulation/section10.html
A triadic analysis of self-regulated functioning: In Zimmeran (1989)
References
P. R. Pintrich and A. Zusho, (2002) “The Development of Academic SelfRegulation: The Role of Cognitive and Motivational Factors,” in Development
of Achievement Motivation, eds. A. Wigfield and J. Eccles, San Diego, Calif.:
Academic Press
Pintrich, P. R. (2000). Multiple goals, multiple pathways: The role of goal
orientation in learning and achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 92,
544-555.
Schunk & B. J. Zimmerman, (Eds.), Self-regulation of learning and performance:
Issues and educational applications (pp. 127-154). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Zimmerman, B. J. (1989). A social cognitive view of self-regulated academic
learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 81, 329-339.
Zimmerman, B. J., Bonner, S., & Kovach, R. (1996). Developing self-regulated
learners: Beyond achievement to self-efficacy. Washington, DC: American
Psychological Association
Narciss, S., Proske, A., Koerndle, H. (2007), "Promoting Self-Regulated
Learning in Web-based Learning Environments", Computers in Human
Behavior, Vol. 23, pp. 1127–1144
Abstract: This article deals with the support of self-regulated learning in webbased environment. Its specific focus is on specific and general meta-cognitive
strategies which are necessary to promote students' self-regulated learning.
Self-regulated learning is defined as a "learning situation in which learniners,
in addition to setting their learning objectives, plan, conduct, regulate and
evaluate the learning process independently" (p. 1128). In a literature review,
the authors identify a number of problems of web-based learning
environments, in particular of hypertext or hypermedia environments. For
instance, the amount of information accessible over the world wide web can
lead to information overflow, inconsistency of some material (also due to the
non-linear structure) as well as incoherence of the functionalities of different
environments. Thus, students are busy processing irrelevant information.
However, learning can only be effective if learners actively process the
information available. Additionally, the computer seems to induce a trial-anderror-like behaviour from students instead of problem- or goal-orientation. It
seems important that students are guided in their process of material
processing and that they develop certain strategies to avoid the pitfalls of selfregulated learning. See more…
http://www.elearning-reviews.org/topics/pedagogy/learning-design/2007web-based-learning-self-regulated-learning/