Using Process Mining to examine the sustainability of instructional support: How stable are the effects of metacognitive prompting on self-regulatory behavior?

Abstract

The current study investigates the sustainability of metacognitive prompting on self-regulatory behavior using a Process Mining approach. Previous studies confirmed beneficial short-term effects of metacognitive prompts on the learning process and on learning outcomes. However, the question of how stable these effects are for similar tasks in the future so far remains unanswered. Also, the use of online trace methods and the emergence of new analytical approaches allow deeper insights into the sequential structure of learning behavior. Therefore, we examined long-term effects of instructional support on sub-processes of self-regulated learning using Process Mining. Think-aloud protocols from 69 university students were measured during two hypermedia learning sessions about Educational Psychology. Metacognitive prompts supported the experimental group (n = 35) only during the first session. Based on a process model generated by using the data of the first learning task, we analysed the sustainability of effects during the second learning session. Results showed significant differences between the experimental and control group regarding the frequency of metacognitive strategies, which remain stable over time. Additionally, the application of Process Mining indicated which sequences of learning events were transferred to the second session. Our findings demonstrate the benefits of evaluating instructional support using analysis techniques that take into account the sequential structure of learning processes. While the results provide initial evidence for sustainable long-term effects on self-regulatory behavior, they have to be replicated in future research.