Bruce HarrisDirector, Center for Teaching

and Learning Excellence

Strategies for Helping Students Become More Effective

Self-Regulated Learners

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

• 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, self-monitoring, 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.

What is a Self-regulated Learner?

Basic Model of Self-Regulated 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.

Dual System Model of Cognition/Learning

To be discussed in session.

Example of two systems interacting

To be discussed in session.

Academic Cognition/Learning

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 self-judgment 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 self-

explanations 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. Conditional Awareness

2. Self-monitoring

3. Self-evaluation

4. Self-motivation

5. Self-explanation