- Title: Instructing students on effective sequences of examples and problems
- Authors: van Harsel, M et al
- Access the original paper here
- Listen to a deep-dive podcast:
Paper summary
This research article investigates how effectively college students self-regulate their learning of problem-solving skills using examples and practice problems in an online environment. The study compares students’ task selection patterns in self-regulated learning conditions with and without instructional guidance on effective learning strategies. Researchers assess whether providing this instruction improves task selection, learning outcomes, and motivation, comparing these self-regulated learning approaches to a fixed-sequence learning condition. The findings suggest that students are surprisingly adept at selecting effective learning tasks, even without explicit instruction, although some room for improvement remains. Finally, the study explores the generalizability of these findings and proposes areas for future research.
What are the key implications for teachers in the classroom?
The sources describe research on student self-regulation during problem-solving tasks. The key implication for teachers in the classroom is that higher education students appear to be quite good at regulating their own learning with examples and problems when allowed to choose their own learning tasks.
Here are some other key implications for teachers:
- Providing students with control over their own learning is becoming more common, especially in higher education. Allowing students to choose their own learning path can be effective and motivating for some student populations.
- There is still room for improvement in student task selection. Informing students about evidence-based instructional design principles may improve task selections. Teachers should consider spending class time explicitly teaching students how to select effective learning tasks.
- Future research is needed to uncover under which circumstances students can and cannot regulate their own learning. Teachers should observe their own students and determine if they are choosing learning tasks that effectively meet their learning needs.
- Teachers might consider incorporating opportunities for students to practice and reflect on the information provided to them. This might help them experience the benefits of planning their learning strategy and enhance their beliefs and commitment to self-regulated learning.
- Teachers might consider emphasizing what to do when students do not yet master a task at a certain complexity level. They could also directly target self-assessment abilities. Helping students improve their self-assessment skills might help them make more effective learning decisions.
Quote
The findings suggest that the higher education students who participated in this study were relatively good at regulating their own learning with examples and problems in online learning environments
