Socially shared regulation of motivation and emotions in collaborative learning

Abstract This study focuses on motivation and emotions in collaborative learning. The aim is to investigate the kinds of socio-emotional challenges learners experience during learning processes, and to examine how motivation and emotions are regulated during challenging situations, in order to develop appropriate methods of identifying socially shared regulation of emotions from situated, real life data. The study includes the development and implementation of an instrument that collects data regarding learners’ situation-specific interpretations of their socio-emotional experiences, as well as analyses of the data derived from two different data collections. The first empirical data set is composed of elementary school students’ interviews and video-observations. The second data set includes higher education students’ self-reports, video-observations, and interviews. The analyses combine different data sources and qualitative and descriptive quantitative methods in order to create a comprehensive understanding of the regulation of motivation and emotions in collaborative learning situations. A lack of instruments that gather data of learners’ situation-specific, real-life experiences has been evident in motivation and self-regulated learning research, where static, general self-report measures have been dominant. In this study, the results from the first empirical data collection are implemented in the development of an AIRE (Adaptive Instrument for Regulation of Emotions) instrument. The AIRE collects situation-specific data dealing with learners. experienced socio-emotional challenges and their regulation within a group. The second empirical data collection of this study employs the AIRE instrument as a method. In social learning situations, learners’ can experience a variety of emotions that influence learning. The results of this study show that students can regulate their emotions in order to maintain a goal-oriented learning process. Furthermore, the results indicate that group members can regulate emotions and motivation together within the group. This socially shared regulation is distinct from self-regulation as well as from co-regulation, where development of self-regulation is supported by others, or where group members regulate their own learning processes in parallel with each other.Tiivistelmä Tämä tutkimus tarkastelee motivaation ja emootion ilmentymistä yhteisöllisessä oppimisessa. Tavoitteena on selvittää, millaisia sosio-emotionaalisia haasteita oppijat kohtaavat oppimisprosessin aikana ja miten motivaatiota ja emotionaalisia tuntemuksia säädellään näissä tilanteissa. Lisäksi tavoitteena on löytää ja kehittää tilannekohtaisia analysointimenetelmiä erityisesti sosiaalisesti jaetun emootion säätelyn tutkimiseksi. Tutkimus koostuu oppijoiden tilannesidonnaisia sosio-emotionaalisia tulkintoja keräävän instrumentin kehittelystä sekä kahdesta empiirisestä tutkimusaineistosta. Ensimmäinen tutkimusaineisto koostuu peruskoulun oppilaiden haastatteluista ja videoidusta työskentelystä. Toinen tutkimusaineisto sisältää korkeakouluopiskelijoiden kyselyaineistoa, videoitua työskentelyä ja haastatteluita. Kokonaisvaltaisen ymmärryksen luomiseksi aineiston analyysissä yhdistetään näitä erityyppisiä aineistoja ja kuvailevaa kvantitatiivista analyysiä käytetään tukemaan kvalitatiivisia tulkintoja. Itsesäädellyn oppimisen tutkimuksessa on ollut nähtävillä tarve löytää metodisia ratkaisuja, joiden avulla voidaan kerätä aineistoa yksilöiden vaihtelevista kokemuksista todellisissa oppimistilanteissa. Aikaisemmin pääpaino on ollut staattisissa, yksilöiden yleisiä käsityksiä mittaavien aineistojen analyysissä. Tässä tutkimuksessa ensimmäisen tutkimusaineiston tuloksia hyödynnetään AIRE (Adaptive Instrument for Regulation of Emotions) -instrumentin kehittelyssä. AIRE kerää tilannekohtaista tietoa sosio-emotionaalisten haasteiden kokemuksista ja näihin liittyvästä ryhmässä tapahtuvasta emootioiden säätelystä. AIRE:a käytetään toisen tutkimusaineiston yhtenä keruuvälineenä. Sosiaalisten oppimistilanteiden aikana oppijoissa herää erilaisia tuntemuksia, jotka vaikuttavat oppimistilanteeseen. Tämän tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat, että oppijat voivat säädellä emotionaalisia tuntemuksia ylläpitääkseen tavoitesuuntautunutta opiskelua. Tulosten perusteella voidaan todeta, että yhteisöllisen oppimisen tilanteissa ryhmän jäsenet voivat yhdessä kontrolloida motivationaalisia ja sosio-emotionaalisia haasteita. Tämä sosiaalisesti jaettu emootioiden säätely (socially shared regulation) eroaa itsesäätelystä sekä yhdessä säätelemisestä (co-regulation), jossa tuetaan yksilön kehittymistä itsesäätöiseksi oppijaksi tai jossa ryhmän jäsenet säätelevät kukin rinnakkain omaa toimintaansa

Investigating the relation of higher education students’ situational self-efficacy beliefs to participation in group level regulation of learning during a collaborative task

Abstract Understanding the role individual beliefs play when the group faces challenge is key in understanding the shared regulation processes and participation that lead to collaborative learning success. As of now, there is not much research focusing on how self-efficacy plays a role in regulation taking place in collaborative group settings. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore how situational self-efficacy beliefs relate to students’ participation in group level regulation during a collaborative task. The study involved 18 university students working in groups on a computer-based collaborative task. Repeated self-reports measuring group members’ self-efficacy were related to performance feedback from the task as well as participation in group level regulation identified from videotaped collaborative working. The results showed that self-efficacy varied depending on the nature of performance feedback. In addition, the way students participated in regulation was connected with their level of self-efficacy: low self-efficacy was associated with taking a passive role in regulation whereas high self-efficacy was associated with taking an active role. The study suggests that situational self-efficacy beliefs are associated with the participation roles during group level regulation, thus being of practical concern for educators seeking to support learners’ self-efficacy and active participation in collaborative learning

Socio-emotional interaction in collaborative learning:combining individual emotional experiences and group-level emotion regulation

Abstract This study explores how groups’ negative socio-emotional interactions and related emotion regulation during a collaborative physics task are interconnected with 12-year-old primary school students’ (N = 37) situated individual emotional experiences. To accomplish this, the study relates group-level video data analysis with students’ self-reported emotional experiences. The results indicate that students’ negative emotional experiences related to the task prior to collaborative working increase the group’s emotion regulation during the collaboration and that negative group interactions negatively affect students’ emotional experiences after the task. The study also shows that even though group-level regulation is more likely to change the valence of the group’s interaction from negative to positive, regulation does not always succeed in making a difference to the students’ overall emotional experiences

Motivation in collaborative inquiry environments

Abstract This chapter will focus on motivational effects on inquiry learning and their contribution to the learning outcomes. Two main themes are discussed: How does inquiry learning challenge or support students’ motivation to learn? If both pathways, challenging and supporting, occur, what settings and supports create a learning environment for motivating inquiries?Theoretical grounding is based on a perspective of motivation as a social phenomenon and the recent empirical findings on how inquiry-based learning environments challenge or support motivation. The chapter also discusses regulation of motivation and its role in overcoming socioemotional challenges in inquiry learning settings. Finally, suggestions for designing and supporting motivation in inquiry learning are provided and future trends and developments are discussed

Examining the interplay of knowledge construction and group-level regulation in a computer-supported collaborative learning physics task

Abstract Group-level regulation (co-regulation (CoRL) and socially shared regulation (SSRL)) supports knowledge construction (KC), but it is not yet clear how the two phenomena intertwine in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). This study aims to explore how phases of CoRL and SSRL (planning, task understanding, strategy use, evaluation) occur in relation to KC in collaborative interactions. Secondary school students (N = 34) were videotaped while collaborating in groups of three to four. Their task was to create a poster about “center of gravity” using an interactive tabletop. In the analysis, video data were coded for KC phases and phases of CoRL and SSRL. Process mining was applied to visualize sequential associations between KC and regulation as process maps. This was complemented by qualitative examples illustrating these associations in interactions. Results revealed that KC and regulation manifested either simultaneously via the same talk or interaction or prompted or followed one another. Group-level regulation guided, and supported KC. Current study contributes to CSCL research by demonstrating reciprocal relationships between KC and group-level regulation and the importance of regulation for collaboration. It also provides implications for designing pedagogical tools to support regulation and KC and advancing analytical methods that enable tracking CSCL processes for its better understanding

Interplay of metacognitive experiences and performance in collaborative problem solving

Abstract Metacognitive experiences are the feelings and judgments that emerge in relation to an ongoing learning task. Much of the work on metacognitive experiences has studied these constructs piecemeal and mostly in individual learning settings. Thus, little is known about how metacognitive experiences co-occur in social learning settings. In light of this, we investigated the relationships between metacognitive experiences and their impact on perceived and objective task performance in a collaborative problem solving (CPS) simulation. Seventy-seven higher education students participated in the study. Metacognitive experiences (judgment of confidence, mental effort, task difficulty, task interest, and emotional valence) were measured with self-reports at multiple time points during CPS. A path analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship between metacognitive experiences and perceived performance. A generalized estimating equation was used to observe the relationships between metacognitive experiences and objective group CPS performance. Overall, the findings indicate complex relationships among the metacognitive experiences and performance in CPS and further highlight the social characteristics of metacognition

Capturing the dynamic and cyclical nature of regulation:methodological progress in understanding socially shared regulation in learning

Abstract Self-regulation is critical for successful learning, and socially shared regulation contributes to productive collaborative learning. The problem is that the psychological processes at the foundation of regulation are invisible and, thus, very challenging to understand, support, and influence. The aim of this paper is to review the progress in socially shared regulation research data collection methods for trying to understand the complex process of regulation in the social learning context, for example, collaborative learning and computer-supported collaborative learning. We highlight the importance of tracing the sequential and temporal characteristics of regulation in learning by focusing on data for individual- and group-level shared regulatory activities that use technological research tools and by gathering in-situ data about students’ challenges that provoke regulation of learning. We explain how we understand regulation in a social context, argue why methodological progress is needed, and review the progress made in researching regulation of learning

The sequential composition of collaborative groups’ emotion regulation in negative socio-emotional interactions

Abstract Research indicates that to adjust a group’s emotional atmosphere for successful collaborative learning, group members need to engage in group-level emotion regulation. However, less is known about the whys and ways regulation is activated at a group level. This research explores what triggers 12-year-old primary school students’ (N = 37) negative socio-emotional interactions during a collaborative science task and whether the nature of the trigger makes a difference to group-level emotion regulation strategies and their sequential composition in these interactions. Groups’ collaborative working was videotaped, and triggers and strategies were analysed. The results reveal that the triggers of negative interactions are linked to the groups’ activated regulation strategies. Motivation control strategies were more represented in situations where negative interactions were triggered by task-related issues, whereas socially related triggers were associated with behavioural regulation strategies. Furthermore, the results illustrate that strategies are concatenated to a series of strategic actions, which mostly begin with sharing an awareness of the trigger. The results indicate a need to focus on the series of strategic actions activated in group interactions. This will help reveal how socially shared regulatory processes build a group’s emotional atmosphere

Exploring groups’ affective states during collaborative learning:what triggers activating affect on a group level?

Abstract During collaborative learning, affect is constantly present in groups’ interactions, influencing and shaping the learning process. The aim of this study was to understand what type of learning situations trigger affective states in collaborative groups, and how these affective states are related to group members’ physiological activation. The participants were 12-year-old primary school students (N = 31, 10 groups) performing a collaborative science task. In the analysis, video data observations were combined with data of group members’ physiological activation. The groups’ situational valence was identified based on the group members’ observed emotional expressions and their physiological activation levels were measured with electrodermal activity (EDA). Results revealed that situations with group members’ simultaneous physiological activation were rare compared with the observable emotional expressions. However, when group members indicated physiological activation simultaneously, they also showed visible emotional expressions more often than in deactivating situations. Moreover, the results showed that socially-related factors were more likely to trigger physiological activation with a mixed group level valence. In turn, task-related factors were more likely to trigger physiological activation with a neutral group level valence. The results of this study imply that by combining different process data modalities revealing the different components of affect, it might be possible to track emotionally meaningful situations that shape the course of the collaborative learning process