Dealing with autonomy: Self-regulated learning in open online education

Abstract

Education is increasingly offered online, for instance in the form of massive open online courses (MOOCs). Students in MOOCs have the freedom to decide when and where they study, and at what pace. The autonomy that is offered to students requires learners to engage in self-regulated learning. This means that students must be actively involved in their learning process to be successful. It is however known that many students struggle with this. In this dissertation we therefore focused on how the self-regulated learning of students in open online education can be supported. First, an overview was made of ways to support self-regulated learning in higher education. With this review we have shown that interventions that are successful in improving students’ self-regulated learning do not necessarily positively affect students’ performance and the other way around. Next, we offered MOOC learners support in the form of short instruction videos on self-regulated learning. The results showed that the intervention improved students’ self-regulated learning as well as their course completion. Throughout the dissertation, we have also paid attention to the measurement of self-regulated learning. This is especially important as self-regulated learning mostly occurs inside learners’ heads. We have developed new methods to more accurately measure students’ self-regulated learning in open online education. Taken together, the results of this dissertation provide a valuable base for further research on students’ self-regulated learning in open online education, with adequate and adaptive support as its ultimate aim.