Understanding Self-Regulated Learning and Its Importance in Online Learning

Development And Evolution Of Self-Regulated Learning Theory

Decades of research have led researchers to develop the construct of self-regulated learning. While self-regulated learning has been a topic of many articles and experimental studies, the debate continues as to what truly defines self-regulated learning. In exploring the literature on this topic, it is quite clear that there are some common core elements that transcend the various perspectives which adds to the complexity of this construct. Self-regulated learning, as it is known today in the mainstream literature, was born out of theoretical literature attempting to describe various constructs such as metacognition and the self-regulation of behavior and emotion. For instance, elements of self-regulated learning can be found in the early writings on metacognition by Flavell in the 1970s. Baker and Brown (1984) further described metacognition as being divided into two parts including metacognitive awareness and metacognitive regulation. Thereby individuals who were deemed to be metacognitive would be metacognitively aware and thus regulate their cognition via multiple strategies. This idea stands as a central theme in self-regulated learning. During this same time period, Bandura was exploring the self-regulation of behavior and emotion, coining the term Reciprocal Determinism, which is the idea that elements of the person, behavior, and the environment all interact in a triadic reciprocal fashion (Bandura, 1986; Zimmerman, 1989).