I do not think many of us spend much time thinking about the obvious question of “what is learning?”. At least I hadn’t, until I attended the seminars at Oxford University on “learners and learning” during my PGCE and I was fascinated by the view of Barbara MacGilchrist that :
“learning is not only an intellectual process, it crucially involves the development of personal, social and emotional skills and its success depends on the feelings, motivation and confidence of the learner” (MacGilchrist, Myers, Reed (2004)The Intelligent School).
This complex but encouraging view of learning sparked my interest for further understanding of how learning happens, and this is how I came to know the immensely exciting concept of self-regulated learning (SRL).
Self-regulated learning evolved over the last two decades from the theories and research on learning - at its heart is a belief that I passionately share, that one is capable of learning and that ability is not fixed but incremental. Self-regulated learning is based on the view that learning is not something that happens to students, it is something that happens by students. The one single most important element in the learning process is what the learners bring to the table.
Self-regulation integrates the cognitive, motivational, social and behavioural strands of theory and research in learning. It considers the cognitive, motivational and social aspects of learning not in isolation from one another, but together in a multidimensional framework for understanding learning.
Self-regulated learning refers to learners’ thoughts, feelings and actions planned and cyclically adapted to the attainment of personal goals under environmental conditions and pressures. It is described as cyclical, because during the course of learning personal, environmental and behavioural factors are constantly changing and therefore adjustments are necessary.
Considering that learning is a transformational journey itself, the famous journey tale of the Greek hero Odysseus, is identified as a particularly clear example. Odysseus, renowned for his inquiring mind in Greek mythology, sets his goal for returning home to Ithaca, after the Trojan War and commits himself to the achievement of this goal. His journey lasted 10 difficult years during which he fought and escaped divinities, monsters and natural elements, taking advantage of available resources from magical herbs to advice from the dead, using newly acquired knowledge to adapt his strategies to the task each time, and achieving at the end his goal of homecoming.
In this well-known story, Odysseus goes through all the identified processes of self-regulated learning, managing his cognition, motivation, behaviour and constraints of the journey situation.
There are a number of self-regulated learning theories in existing literature that differ on some of their views but they have all been developed based on assumptions, descriptions and constructs for a common set of issues which involve the learners’
- motivation to self-regulate
- self-awareness
- self-regulation processes used to achieve their goals
- social and physical environment and
- capacity to self-regulate
They all view the learner at the centre of the learning process shifting the focus of education from the role of educators to the proactive role of learners who cognitively, motivationally and behaviourally promote their own learning and therefore academic achievement.
Self-regulated learning is about approaching learning with confidence and purpose, it is intentional and resourceful. It is the combination of positive expectations, motivation and diverse strategies for problem solving. It refers to the process of active, goal-directed, self-control of behaviour, motivation and cognition by the learner.
The significance of self-regulated learning is its potential usefulness in enhancing academic achievement - the shared view among educational psychologists is that the learners’ perceptions of themselves and their use of strategies to regulate their learning are critical factors of academic achievement.
It is proven by research and is widely accepted that students who are self-regulated learners, who believe that the material they are learning is interesting and important, who have high self-efficacy beliefs for accomplishing academic tasks and who rate themselves as in control of their learning are more likely to do well in terms of their grades.
It should be stressed however that self-regulated learning is a difficult and time consuming process. Becoming a self-regulated learner is not a task to be accomplished overnight, in a week or even a term. Students need time and opportunity to develop their self-regulatory strategies and teachers to teach in ways that help them become self-regulated learners in any type of classroom context. It certainly takes more time and cognitive effort than simply reading and memorising course material. Students are not likely to engage in self-regulated learning if they are focused on just completing their work to “get it done”.
Self-regulated learning assumes the students’ shift towards the sophisticated belief that knowledge neither is simple, absolute and certain and nor can be quickly obtained; instead it is complex, tentative and evolving and can be obtained gradually over time.
There is no doubt in my mind that many answers for raising standards and academic success can be found within promoting self-regulated learning among our students - every single student should be aware that ability is not fixed and they can learn how to learn!
Ms Glypti
Ms Glypti