Abstract
This chapter analyzes self-regulated learning and student success, engagement, and retention in online learning contexts. The conceptual literature review was adopted as the research methodology. The search engines such as Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), Google Scholar, PsychINFO, Science Direct, Academic Search Elite/EBSCO, Blackwell Synergy, and JSTOR were used to obtain secondary data. The results from reviewed literature indicate that self-regulation was effective in enhancing student success, engagement, and retention among students in online learning. Therefore, the chapter recommends that instructors should train students on scaffolding as a classroom technique which would help to strengthen self-regulation. The study is quite significant because understanding self-regulation is very important in the development of these achievement capabilities for students.
TopBackground
Student success, retention and engagement has received attention in research for decades now. Student success is predicated on the ability of institutions to actively engage students in the learning process and increase students’ use of self-regulation skills (Mello, 2016). Student success is important since when students perform well in academics in school, they increase their opportunities for better-paid and more satisfying career. However, research also indicates that students do not perform in class at similar levels and that there are individual differences among them, even when family background and school and teacher quality are controlled for (Rivkin, Hanushek & Kain, 2005). This implies that individual differences play an important role in determining whether children thrive or fail in school. One of the most important goals of education has become to help students acquire self-regulation skills that to improve learning during school years. Self-regulation looks at the triadic interaction between the person, their behavior, and the environment (Zimmerman, 2000). According to Patock-Peckham, et al., (2001), self-regulation involves the ability of a student to function as an autonomous individual. Thus, a self-regulated individual sets attainable goals and takes appropriate actions to achieve these goals, utilizing their resources while remaining aware of their limitations (Miller & Byrnes, 2001). The well self-regulated learner recognizes limits on cognitive capacity and the necessity to be strategic in the deployment of these resources (Zimmerman & Schunk, 2011). This knowledge generally is revealed with increased effort, time management, and focused attention (Mrazek et al., 2018).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Student Engagement: This refers to the degree of attention, curiosity, interest, optimism, and passion that students show when they are learning or being taught, which extends to the level of motivation they have to learn and progress in their education.
Retention: is the measure of students that enroll, continue, and finish their academic studies in the same school
Student Success: This refers to how well students are prepared to accomplish their current and future academic, personal, and professional goals through the development of knowledge, a sense of responsibility and self-reliance, and a connection to the college and wider community.
Online Learning: This involves enrolling in a course on the internet and learning through online videos and assignments.
Self-Regulated Learning: This is a cyclical process, wherein the student plans for a task, monitors their performance, and then reflects on the outcome.