Self-Regulated E-Learning Design Principles

Concepts of Self-Regulated Learning

Since Barry Zimmerman and Dale Schunk’s publication of Self-Regulated Learning and Academic Achievement: Theory, Research, and Practice in 1989, three main theories and models have explored the concept of SRL through investigating its components and processes. The most well-known SRL models developed by Zimmerman focus on the four main components of SRL: cognition, metacognition, motivation/affect, and behavior, which are also the four psychological attribute domains of self-regulated students. Cognition regulates cognitive strategies while learning and performing a task. Metacognition governs various metacognitive strategies to monitor and control cognitive processes. Motivation and affect include students’ motivational beliefs such as self-efficacy and academic emotions about a learning task. Lastly, behavior involves monitoring one’s own learning progress and actions, managing time and the learning environment, and requesting help and support. These four essential components of self-regulated learning can help students be more successful in their academic and professional endeavors.

Zimmerman continued to explore the process of SRL and suggested a cyclical model of SRL, which is composed of three phases in which certain SRL activities are performed, that is, the forethought phase (e.g., goal setting, planning, self-efficacy, outcome expectation, intrinsic interest/value, learning-goal orientation), the performance phase (e.g., imagery, self-instruction, attention focusing, task strategies, self-recording, self-experimentation), and the self-reflection phase (e.g., self-evaluation, causal attribution, self-satisfaction/affect, adaptive/defensive self-reaction). It allows us to define SRL as the degree to which learners are metacognitively, motivationally, and behaviorally active participants in their own learning.

Paul Pintrich’s model, another leading model of SRL, proposes regulatory processes organized according to four phases: planning, self-monitoring, control, and evaluation. Within each of these phases, self- regulation activities are structured into four components: cognitive, motivational/affective, behavioral, and contextual.

In recent years, Zimmerman, Schunk, Pintrich, and other researchers have developed and applied their theories of self-regulation in learning contexts. Researchers analyze SRL as a combination of self-regulation, metacognition, and self-directed learning. SRL can be defined as a learning situation or process in which learners set their learning objectives, plan, conduct, regulate, and evaluate their learning activities independently to attain their goals.

Self-Regulated Learning in E-Learning Environments

The Web and developing technology have not only transformed learning and teaching activities and processes but also led to the rapid growth of the e-learning market worldwide. Studies have pointed out that isolated e-learning environments require self-regulation [Page 632]for effective learning. Reviewing SRL studies regarding online learning environments from 2003 to 2012, Chia-Wen Tsai, Pei-Di Shen, and Ya-Ting Fan indicated that many researchers have developed systems for implementing SRL in online learning and have explored the effects of SRL in online learning performance. SRL plays a critical role in improving learners’ willingness to continue studying and in learning effects in e-learning environments.

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