Educational behaviour and student agency in personalised digital learning

Abstract

Introduction. Digital educational practices with the opportunities for personalisation cause attention to the issues of students' educational behaviour peculiarities in the new conditions. In the modern situation of uncertainty, the changes in students’ position toward increasing agency, independence, and reflexion are relevant. It is advisable to analyse the promising vectors for changing the strategies of educational behaviour in terms of interaction, cooperation and orientation of students' agency. Materials and methods. The methodological basis of the study was a psychodidactic approach to designing a digital educational environment, the concept of agency and personalisation of education. We conducted the study in the Herzen University among the undergraduate students with the experience of studying e-courses with personalisation capabilities (N=50). The authors’ questionnaire was developed, aimed at students’ educational behaviour self-assessment in the conditions of e-learning at the beginning and at the end of studying a new e-course in the following areas: personal learning goals, knowledge acquisition strategies, knowledge application strategies, learning interaction strategies, and self-regulation strategies. Research results. The analysis of the results showed that in the process of personalised e-learning, there is a critical awareness of personal educational goals; the acquisition of new knowledge relies on an expanded source base. Strategies for applying knowledge set by the teacher are more acceptable. The priority of instrumentalisation of interaction over the use of new opportunities for cooperation is detected. Self-regulation is predominantly associated with pragmatism and planning. Conclusion. The experience of personalised digital learning affects the change in the strategies of students’ educational behaviour. There is an awareness of new opportunities for digital interaction and cooperation, and several types of agency – individual, proxy and collective. Problematic aspects are associated with an insufficient experience of cooperation in the digital environment and the prevailing stereotypes of behaviour according to a model and algorithm.