Design and evaluation of a learning environment for self-regulation strategies: An intervention study in higher education.

Abstract

The literature shows convincingly that metacognitive knowledge and a large variety of cognitive as well as affective and motivational self-regulation skills have a substantial effect on students' learning processes and outcomes (Masui 2002), and, thus, constitute important components of competence in a content domain. Taking this into account we designed a learning environment aiming at improving university freshmen's competence and learning proficiency by acquiring integratively eight self-regulation skills. As a whole the learning environment embodies major components of the CLIA-model (Competence, Learning, Intervention, Assessment), a framework for the design of powerful learning environments (De Corte, Verschaffel & Masui 2004). The intervention in this environment focused on teaching to an experimental group (E) of 47 first-year students in business economics four cognitive (orienting, planning, self-testing, reflecting) and four complementary affective (respectively self-judging, valuing, coping, attributing) skills. The study also involved two control groups of 47 students. In the CLIA-model productive learning is considered as an active/constructive, cummulative, self-regulated, goal-directed, situated, collaborative and indiviually different process of meaning construction and knowledge building (De Corte 2007). Taking this view of learning as a starting point, the design of the intervention was based on an integrated set of seven interconnected instructional principles: 1. embed the acquisition of knowledge and skills in the study context of the students; 2. take into account students' learning orientation and their need to experience the usefulness of the learning tasks; 3. sequence teaching methods and learning tasks and relate them to a time perspective; 4. use a variety of forms of organisation and social interaction; 5. take into account prior knowledge and large differences between students; 6. stimulate articulation of and reflection on learning and thinking processes; 7. create opportunities to practice and transfer learned activities to new content domains. The effects of the learning environment were investigated in a pre-test - post-test quasi experimental design with control groups, thereby using a variety of assessment instruments (tests and questionnaires) and study results (exam scores, pass rates and students' study career). The major positive effects of the intervention on the learning proficiency and academic performance of the students in the experimental group are reported and illustrated mainly for two of the eight self-regulation skills, namely orienting (preparing one's learning process by examining the characteristics of a learning task) and self-judging (evaluating one's competences in view of an accurate appraisal of the efforts needed to accomplish a learning task).