Strategies to Promote Self-Regulated Learning in Online Environments

Abstract

The primary purpose of this chapter is to present techniques and strategies that can be incorporated in online courses to promote students’ use of self-regulated learning strategies. In addition, the authors discuss why self-regulated learning skills are particularly critical in online learning environments, present a model of self-regulated learning, discuss issues related to measuring self-regulated learning, address the issue of whether or not self-regulated learning can be taught, and discuss why online learning environments are ideal environments to scaffold self-regulation. The authors present several strategies and techniques they have found successful for promoting self-regulated learning that can be readily incorporated and implemented in online courses. These strategies are organized by the three main components of the Self-Regulated Learning Model: Executive Processing, Cognitive Processing, and Motivation. The chapter concludes with a scenario that represents an idealized model of how to promote self-regulated learning in an online learning environment by employing an intelligent tutoring component as a tool to support students’ use and development of self-regulated learning tactics and strategies.