The Impacts of Advancements in Digital Technologies on Students’ Self-Regulated Learning

This study examined student digital technology usage and student self-regulated learning in 2012 and 2020. Digital technologies have become a staple in both our learning environment, as well as our personal environment. In order to promote and enhance student self-regulated learning, two domains were examined in this study: the student’s personal environment and the educational provider’s learning environment. This holistic examination led to the development a Dual Model of Self-Regulated Learning for supporting student learning

Evaluation of Clinical Growth and Nursing Student Motivation in the Traditional Clinical Learning Environment

Evaluation of students in the traditional clinical learning environment is difficult. There remains a lack of standard guidelines to evaluate students using valid and reliable instruments as well as inconsistent processes with lack of interrater reliability standards between educators. A need exists for fair and consistent evaluation of nursing students. When the clinical educator uses a standard evaluation process and understands students’ motivation for learning, adaptations in teaching strategies and education on self-regulatory strategies can be implemented to enhance learning and measure clinical growth. This research study used a prospective, correlational, pre-test/post-test design to examine the relationship between student motivation and clinical growth and to measure the concept of clinical growth. Nonprobability sampling with multisite, convenience samples was used. Participants came from three schools of nursing in a large Midwestern city. The schools had similar, traditional 8-semester Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree programs that included 7th and 8th semester students enrolled in a clinical course that included a minimum of 80 hours. Training occurred for clinical educators on the use of the Creighton Competency Evaluation Instrument (CCEI) before data collection occurred for each school. The findings from the study indicate a statistically significant difference in both educator assessment of the students using the CCEI scores from Time 1(M = .52, SD = .25) to Time 2 (M = .84, SD = .16), t(71) = -13.28, p \u3c .001 and student self-assessment CCEI scores from Time 1 (M = .72, SD = .21) to Time 2 (M = .90, SD = .12), t(71) = -7.90, p \u3c .001. The expectancy and value components of motivation were not significantly related to students\u27 clinical growth when assessed by educators or students. However, when specific components of motivation were examined, task value was negatively associated with both student and educator change scores and intrinsic goal orientation was significantly associated with educator change scores. The relationship between educator and student clinical growth scores was not statistically significant indicating a small, negative correlation, r = -.11, n = 72, p = .34. The findings from this study suggest that using a standard process for assessment in the traditional clinical learning environment with the CCEI is fair and objective for students. Further exploration of motivation relating to clinical growth is warranted

A Comparative Study of Motivation and Perceptual Learning Style Preferences for Learning Chinese as a Foreign Language among Grade 5 to Grade 8 Students of Concordian International School, Thailand

The purpose of this study was to examine the level of overall motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic goal orientations, perceptual learning style preferences, and to determine the motivation and perceptual learning style preference differences among 169 grades 5-8 students learning Chinese as a foreign language at Concordian International School in Bangkok, Thailand, during the first semester of the academic year 2015-2016. The study employed a quantitative research methodology utilizing a questionnaire to collect data. There were four main findings. First, the level of overall motivation for learning Chinese as a foreign language among grade 5 to grade 8 students was high, with the level of intrinsic goal orientation being moderate; and the level of extrinsic goal orientation being high. Second, kinesthetic, tactile and group learning style preferences were major, while visual, auditory and individual were minor learning style preferences. Third, there was no significant difference of overall motivation in Chinese as a foreign language learning according to grade levels, with no significant difference of intrinsic goal orientation according to grade levels and no significant difference of extrinsic goal orientation in Chinese as a foreign language learning according to grade levels. Finally, there was a significant difference of perceptual learning style preferences in Chinese as a foreign language learning according to grade levels. The study concludes with recommendations for practice and for future research

“Just Don’t Bore Us To Death”: Seventh Graders’ Perceptions of Flipping a Technology-Mediated English Language Arts Unit

This mixed methods study aimed to assess student engagement during the flipped model of instruction in two seventh-grade English language arts (ELA) classrooms. Implementation of the flipped model required students (n=183) and teachers (n=2) to use digital technology via a website and teacher-made videos. It compared student perceptions during a flipped unit to those same students’ perceptions during a traditionally taught unit. A hybrid embedded design and case study interviews were used to assess students’ cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement. Data analysis revealed that overall student engagement decreased in the flipped unit and that students were divided in their reactions to the flipped method with one student poignantly writing on the survey, “Just don’t bore us to death.” This work is significant in that it is among the first to examine whether course content matters when utilizing the flipped method and whether student engagement in the traditional ELA curriculum is unique due its emphasis on discussion and holistic assessment

THE RELATIONSHIP OF SELF-REGULATED LEARNING AND ACADEMIC RISK FACTORS TO ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN COMMUNITY COLLEGE ONLINE MATHEMATICS COURSES

Completion of required mathematics courses in a community college program of study can be a critical factor in a student’s academic success and degree completion. Underprepared, nontraditional students who take mathematics courses online in a community college face barriers to success that are different from those found in traditional face-to-face courses in four-year universities. Research suggests that motivation and self-regulated learning skills are potentially related to student success in online learning. The preponderance of research on student academic success in online courses is predominantly conducted with traditional, better-prepared students in four-year universities. Yet, there is little research on the effectiveness of online mathematics courses in community college settings with underprepared, nontraditional students. This study examines the relationship of self-regulated learning and academic risk factors to academic performance in community college online mathematics courses. The results of this study indicated that the self-regulation measures of Self-Efficacy for Learning and Performance and Task Value had a statistically significant relationship to academic performance as measured by mathematics final examination scores. Academic risk factors were not found to be predictors of academic performance. The results also indicated that self-regulated learning did not appear to moderate the strength of the relationship of academic risk factors to academic performance. Implications for practitioners are discussed

Best practices of motivation in a self-directed distance education at a community college

The purpose of the study was to identify predictors that influence a learner’s motivation in a self-directed online business administration course in learning contexts by collecting a sample size population, sample of demographics, and indicators from online students from Business Administration Department at a Southern California Community College. The study explored significant correlation between students’ motivation and learning strategies in a self-directed online business administration course using demographics. Results from this study show demographics including age, education, and ethnicity were statistically significant, but none of the gender differences were statistically significant. This research also explored the educational needs of adult learners by examining motivation, self-efficacy, existing learning models, adult learning theories, and constraints of adult learners that affect students’ performance in computer-based instruction (CBI) format such as the andragogical approach versus the pedagogical approach to education. Since prior studies have since used both the Motivational Strategies Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) and Online Technology Self-Efficacy Survey (OTSES) instruments that was used in this study, a pilot study was not conducted. Additionally, distance education courses are increasing rapidly and this study supported the type of students who are enrolling in these courses such as re-entry of adult learners

What Do We Think We Think We Are Doing?: Metacognition and Self-Regulation in Programming

Metacognition and self-regulation are popular areas of interest in programming education, and they have been extensively researched outside of computing. While computing education researchers should draw upon this prior work, programming education is unique enough that we should explore the extent to which prior work applies to our context. The goal of this systematic review is to support research on metacognition and self-regulation in programming education by synthesizing relevant theories, measurements, and prior work on these topics. By reviewing papers that mention metacognition or self-regulation in the context of programming, we aim to provide a benchmark of our current progress towards understanding these topics and recommendations for future research. In our results, we discuss eight common theories that are widely used outside of computing education research, half of which are commonly used in computing education research. We also highlight 11 theories on related constructs (e.g., self-efficacy) that have been used successfully to understand programming education. Towards measuring metacognition and self-regulation in learners, we discuss seven instruments and protocols that have been used and highlight their strengths and weaknesses. To benchmark the current state of research, we examined papers that primarily studied metacognition and self-regulation in programming education and synthesize the reported interventions used and results from that research. While the primary intended contribution of this paper is to support research, readers will also learn about developing and supporting metacognition and self-regulation of students in programming courses

An Analysis of Self-Regulated Learning Strategies, Academic Performance, and Satisfaction among Recent Online High School Graduates

Recent studies indicate a positive correlation between academic performance and metacognitive self-regulation (MSR) and effort regulation (ER). This relationship was explored across performance (e.g., higher and lower) and satisfaction (e.g., satisfied and dissatisfied) levels to help identify which self-regulated learning (SRL) skills were most critical for 102 recent graduates of online high schools. A mixed-methods design was employed to determine use of SRL strategies and to better understand participant experiences while learning online. Responses to surveys, open-ended questions, and ten follow-up interviews were compared and contrasted to assess the level of corroboration between quantitative and qualitative data in this study. There were three main findings in this study. First, the relationship between SRL and academic performance was not statistically significant. Second, the ER means were higher in both academic performance groups, but not statistically significant. Third, there was a strong positive and statistically significant relationship between SRL and satisfaction. Future areas of research were suggested and insights were offered to secondary and postsecondary level practitioners

Interaction between Group Work, Motivation and Instructional Feedback in Project-Based Courses

This study aimed to define the relationships between the factors affecting the learning processes of participants in project-based courses. The study sample consisted of 132 participants who had taken in the instructional design course offered at the undergraduate level. The MSLQ, SAGE, and SPIF were used as data collection tools. The findings showed that the conflicts caused by the individuals with negative affect about instructional feedback diminished the quality of product and process during group work. Positive affect was found to be directly affected by ‘extrinsic goal orientation’, which is one of the motivation variables

Transforming Learning Into A Constructive Cognitive And Metacognitive

This study explored the effectiveness of embedding a guided, learner-generated instructional strategy (query method), designed to support learners\u27 cognitive and metacognitive processes, within the context of a computer-based complex task training environment (i.e., principles of flight in the aviation domain). The queries were presented as stop and think exercises in an open-ended question format that asked learners to generate either simple (low-level elaboration) or complex (high-level elaboration) sentences from a list of key training concepts. Results consistently highlighted the benefit of presenting participants with low-level elaboration queries, as compared to the no-query or high-level elaboration queries. In terms of post-training cognitive outcomes, participants presented with the low-level elaboration queries exhibited significantly more accurate knowledge organization (indicated by similarity to an expert model), better acquisition of perceptual knowledge, and superior performance on integrative knowledge assessment involving the integration and application of task-relevant concepts. Consistent with previous studies, no significant differences in performance were found on basic factual knowledge assessment. Presentation of the low-level elaboration queries also significantly improved the training program\u27s instructional efficiency, that is, greater performance was achieved with less perceived cognitive effort. In terms of post-training metacognitive outcomes, participants presented with the low-level elaboration queries exhibited significantly greater metacomprehension accuracy and more effective metacognitive self-regulation during training. Contrary to predictions, incorporating the high-level elaboration queries into the training consistently failed, with only a few exceptions, to produce significantly better post-training outcomes than the no-query or the low-level elaboration query training conditions. The results of this study are discussed in terms of the theoretical implications for garnering a better understanding of the cognitive and metacognitive factors underlying the learning process. Practical implications for training design are presented within the context of cognitive load theory. Specifically, the increased cognitive processing of the training material associated with the high-level elaboration queries may have imposed too great a cognitive load on participants during training, minimizing the cognitive resources available for achieving a deeper, integrative understanding of the training concepts and hindering successful performance on the cognitive measures. The discussion also highlights the need for a multi-faceted approach to training evaluation