Fostering Self-Regulated Learning Among Students by Means of an Electronic Learning Diary: A Training Experiment

Abstract

Learning in higher education provides students with a high degree of autonomy and therefore requires them to self-regulate their learning. However, not every student copes effectively with this autonomy. Particularly, self-monitoring plays a pivotal role. With this study, we investigated the effect of a standardized electronic learning diary on self-regulation competence in the context of an academic teacher training program. The diary was used (a) as an online assessment tool to register self-regulation, motivational, and volitional states over time and (b) as an instrument for implicit intervention aimed at improving self-monitoring. In a pretest–posttest control group design, we compared two courses (N= 65) over one study term, one course serving as the experimental group (EG) with learning diaries. The EG showed higher gains in metacognitive attitude scores; additional process analyses revealed a positive trend for estimated learning efficacy. Results suggest that the intervention could benefit from explicit training to strengthen the effects.