Is successful scaffolding an illusion? – Shifting patterns of responsibility and control in teacher-student interaction during a long-term learning project

This study aims to examinethe process of scaffolding in terms ofteachers' and students' discussions, and howtransition from teacher regulation to studentregulation takes place during a learningproject carried out in a web-based learningenvironment. The participants were twosecondary school teachers from separateschools, together with their students. The datawere collected through videotaping. The resultsshowed the relationships betweenteacher-student discussions and teachers'conceptions of their role. The data as a wholeindicated a transition from other- toself-regulation in the classroom of oneteacher, but not the other. These findings arediscussed in terms of the teacher's role aschallenger, monitor and evaluator of studentlearning, and the implications for successfulscaffolding.     

The role of pre-service teachers’ perceived instrumentality,goal commitment,and motivation in their self-regulation strategies for learning in teacher education courses

This study investigated the influence of pre-service teachers’ (n = 142) perceived endogenous/exogenous instrumentality, goal commitment, and intrinsic/extrinsic motivation on their use of self-regulation strategies (effort regulation, management of time and study environment) for their teacher-education courses. Data were drawn from a customised survey and were statistically analysed using hierarchical multiple regressions. Results demonstrated that pre-service teachers’ endogenous instrumentality was a significant contributor for explaining their use of self-regulation strategies. To facilitate pre-service teachers’ use of self-regulation strategies for learning, our findings suggest that, in addition to having intrinsic motivation for learning in their teacher-education courses, they need to have appropriate understandings of how their current course content connects to their future goals to be teachers in order to promote their use of strategies for self-regulation and learning.     

Facilitating Self-Regulation in Higher Education Through Self-Report

For the purpose of examining a tool to enable students in higher education to systematically reflect on their own self-regulation, a modified version of the Martinez-Pons Scale of Self-Regulation was used in a cohort study of 75 first-year undergraduate students in a Scottish University. Statistical analyses of the data revealed that, consequent to the intervention, participants reported greater use of self-regulatory behaviour. The reported change is explored through the lenses of expertise, pedagogy and personal epistemology. While this study cannot explain the detail of this reported change, its purpose was nevertheless met insofar as a structured self-recording instrument, to focus and inform students on the nature and effectiveness of their current learning behaviour, could be a useful and readily-available pedagogic tool for higher education tutors who wish some support in their practice.     

A Discussion of Future Time Perspective

A growing area of research in educational psychology is future time perspective and its relationship to desired educational outcomes. This article discusses and critiques five reviews of current research on future time perspective. Key questions addressed are when do individuals begin to articulate a future, how far into the future does this articulation extend, what is the nature of the future that individuals articulate for themselves, what is the relationship between future time perspective and other important psychological processes such as motivation and self-regulation, what is the relationship of future time perspective to gender, culture, and socioeconomic status, and how does future time perspective change over time as individuals grow and develop intellectually and socially? These key questions are fundamental to understanding the relevance and usefulness of future time perspective for interpreting and explaining variations in educational achievement across diverse group of learners internationally.     

Fostering self-efficacy and self-regulation in higher education: a matter of autonomy support or academic motivation?

ABSTRACT

By implementing student-centred learning environments, higher education institutions aim to foster student self-efficacy and self-regulation. Previous research that focuses on how students perceive these learning environments usually does not take the differential impact of students’ study motivation into account. However, the type of motivation might influence how students perceive their learning environment. To this end, this study investigates the relationship between students’ perceived autonomy support in student-centred learning environments and self-regulation and self-efficacy by taking study motivation into account. The results indicate that autonomy-supportive teacher behaviour enhances self-efficacy for students who are autonomously motivated. Amotivated students might need other than autonomy-supportive teacher behaviour to develop self-efficacy. Self-regulation seems to play a less distinct role. Overall, when examining the effects of autonomy-supportive teaching in higher education, the quality and quantity of students’ motivation has a role to play, an aspect which is important to consider in future research and practice.     

How Children Regulate their Own Collaborative Learning

In this article we analyze the dialogic learning of one pair of students in order to investigate how these students cope with a collaborative learning situation in the classroom. Our aim is to substantiate the claims that not only are young students (8 year olds) capable of solving mathematical problems collaboratively, but that they also take an active role in regulating their collaborative learning activities. More specifically, our claim is that children appear to apply constructs of “mathematical level raising”, “social interaction” and “division of time” to steer their own collaborative learning and that they are rather successful in balancing these three aspects. The analysis is exploratory, but this new perspective on collaborative learning is relevant theoretically and consequential for classroom practice.     

A Model of Future-Oriented Motivation and Self-Regulation

This article presents a theoretically grounded model of motivation and self-regulation that places personally valued future goals at its core. We attempt to integrate two lines of theorizing and research that have been relatively independent of one another: the social–cognitive perspective on self-regulation (e.g., Bandura, A., 1986) and theories of more future-oriented self-regulation (e.g., Markus, H., and Nurius, P., Am. Psychol. 41: 954–969, 1986; 1986; Nutin, J., Motivation, Planning, and Action: A Relational Theory of Behavior Dynamics, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, 1984; Raynor, J. O., Motivation and Achievement, Winston, & Sons, New York, Chap. 7, pp. 121–154, 1974). We argue that personally valued future goals influence proximal self-regulation through their impact in the development of proximal subgoals leading to future goal attainment. The development of a system of proximal subgoals increases the likelihood that proximal tasks are perceived as instrumental to attaining future goals. Proximal tasks that are perceived as instrumental to reaching personally valued future goals have greater overall incentive value and meaning than proximal tasks lacking this instrumental relationship, and their impact on task engagement is correspondingly greater. Research supporting these claims is reviewed and the implications of this model of future-oriented self-regulation for research and intervention are discussed.     

What impedes or enhances my studying? The interrelation between approaches to learning,factors influencing study progress and earned credits

The aim of the study is to explore how students' experiences of enhancing and impeding factors and approaches to learning are related to students' study progress. A total of 93 students from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities participated in the study by answering a Learn-questionnaire regarding their experiences of the enhancing and impeding factors and their approaches to learning. Regression analysis showed that working impeded study progression whereas interesting teaching enhanced it. However, the results revealed that the factors that enhance or impede studying appear to be closely mediated by students' approaches to learning. For example, working was not problematic for students with good organising skills. The findings suggest that it may not be possible to identify the factors that would enhance or impede studying without taking individual differences into consideration. In addition, the results imply that the focus in teaching should be in developing students' self-regulation skills.     

Maximizing Performance Feedback Effectiveness through Videotape Replay and a Self-Controlled Learning Environment

This study was designed to examine whether participants who could control the schedule of performance feedback (KP) would learn differentially from those who received a rigid feedback schedule while learning a complex task. Participants (N = 48) were randomly assigned to self-controlled KP (SELF), summary KP (SUMMARY), yoked control (YOKE), or knowledge of results only (KR) conditions. Data collection consisted of an acquisition phase and a 4-day retention phase during which right-handed participants performed a left-handed ball throw. Overall, throwing form improved across trial blocks during acquisition, with the SUMMARY, SELF, and YOKE groups showing more improvement than the KR group. During retention, the SELF group retained a higher level of throwing form and accuracy in comparison to the other groups. Results suggest that when given the opportunity to control the feedback environment, learners require relatively less feedback to acquire skills and retain those skills at a level equivalent to or surpassing those who are given more feedback but receive it passively.     

Procrastination in a distance university setting

Procrastination, putting off until tomorrow what should have been done today, is a self-regulation failure that is widespread among students. Although plenty of research has emerged regarding academic procrastination, hardly any research endeavor regarding procrastination in distance university settings exists. This lack of research is even more astonishing when considering that the demands on self-regulation are higher in distance education settings than in traditional university settings. The present (questionnaire) study was intended to shed light on procrastination in an actual distance university setting by exploring its relationship to grades, learning strategies (e.g., cognitive, meta-cognitive strategies), and life satisfaction in students from a distance university in comparison to students from a traditional university.