Dianne Jamieson-Noel

Exploring students’ calibration of self reports about study tactics and achievement

When students self-regulate studying, they monitor achievement and study tactics. Proximal input to monitoring is perceptions that the student constructs based on experience. Productive self-regulation theoretically requires strong correspondence between (a) perceptions of achievement and actual achievement and (b) perceived use of study tactics and actual use of study tactics. That is, calibration should be high. Students studied using a software tool that traced study tactics they used. Subsequently their self-reports about study tactics and estimates of achievement were gathered, and a test was administered. Students were slightly positively biased (overconfident) about their achievement and moderately positively biased about (overestimated) their use of study tactics. An individual difference measure of calibration was very high for achievement but modest for study tactics. It is explained why calibration of self-reports about study tactics did not predict achievement, examine theoretical links between calibration and other prominent constructs, and discuss issues of self-regulated learning.

Self-regulating studying by objectives for learning: Students' reports compared to a model

Abstract Research often tests whether students achieve more or less by varying cues to guide studying. Usually, these hypotheses are tested in between-groups experiments that contrast the achievement of students presented cues, such as bold terms and figures elaborating text, to other students not experiencing the cue(s). We took a different tack. We presented students with four objectives that set four different tasks for studying a chapter. In the chapter, we embedded other cues that theoretically trigger seven specific study tactics. After studying, students self-reported their use of those seven study tactics. Within each task (objective), we compared students’ self-reported use of study tactics—their perceptions about how they studied—to a research-based model specifying optimal use of those seven study tactics. Compared to our theoretical model, students self-reported using tactics at considerably lower intensities and in approximately opposite patterns. Our study raises questions about how students study versus how they report they study. We suggest more experiments are needed that test models of how students perceive cues for studying and relation between such perceptions and actual self-regulated learning.

Using a multitrait-multimethod analysis to examine conceptual similarities of three self-regulated learning inventories

BACKGROUND A programme of construct validity research is necessary to clarify previous research on self-regulation and to provide a stronger basis for future research. AIM A multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) analysis was conducted to assess convergent and discriminant validity of three self-regulation measures: the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI; Weinstein, 1987), the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ; Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, & McKeachie, 1993) and the Meta-cognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI; Schraw & Dennison, 1994). Method bias across all three inventories was also examined. SAMPLE AND METHOD Three hundred and eighteen undergraduate university students (255 female, 61 male, 2 did not specify) were recruited from various courses to participate in research on perceptions about studying and study methods. Participants spent 30-60 minutes completing all three inventories. RESULTS Evidence for convergent validity was found at the matrix level, but was attenuated when examined at the individual parameter level. Evidence for discriminant validity among traits was modest, and common method bias was evident across all three measures. CONCLUSIONS Results revealed the three inventories yielded different results, which suggests that researchers should be selective in the inventory they use to assess self-regulated learning (SRL).

Implications of task structure on self‐regulated learning and achievement

School tasks interact with student motivation, cognition, and instruction to influence learning and achievement. Heeding calls for additional research linking motivational and cognitive factors in learning and instruction on specific tasks within authentic classroom settings we quantitatively and qualitatively track 90 tenth‐grade science students’ motivation, reported use of learning strategies, achievement, calibration, and task perceptions as they engage in a well‐structured task (WST) and an ill‐structured task (IST). Students achieved higher grades on, and reported more ease and value for, the WST whereas they utilised critical thinking and peer learning strategies more on the IST. Lower academic achievers calibrated their achievement less accurately on each task and experienced lower grades, interest, ease, and management capability on the IST. Conversely, higher academic achieving students reported more self‐efficacy and effort regulation and lower anxiety and elaboration on the IST. Motivation – notably less intrinsic goal orientation in low academic achievers and higher task value and self‐efficacy – predicted performance on the IST. The structure of tasks may provide prompts that illicit unique self‐regulated learning responses in students.

Comparing Self-Reports to Traces of Studying Behavior as Representations of Students' Studying and Achievement

Ein Vergleich von Selbstberichtdaten mit verhaltensbasierten Indikatoren des Lernverhaltens und der Leistung von Studierenden Zusammenfassung: In dieser Studie verglichen wir Modelle des selbstgesteuerten Lernens, die auf dem Selbstbericht versus der Aufzeichnung von “Verhaltensspuren” des Einsatzes von Lerntaktiken beim Lesen eines Textes beruhen. Die selbst berichteten Lerntaktiken unterschieden sich von den im Verhalten tatsachlich gezeigten Taktiken. In getrennten Regressionsmodellen erwiesen sich sowohl selbst berichtete als auch im Verhalten gezeigte Taktiken als Pradiktoren der Leistung, wobei jedoch unterschiedliche Arten von Taktiken in die beiden Modelle aufgenommen wurden. Getrennte Hauptkomponentenanalysen zeigten, dass verhaltensbasierte Indikatoren andere Formen selbstgesteuerten Lernens beschreiben als selbst berichtete Taktiken. Dies lasst darauf schliesen, dass der Selbstbeschreibung des eigenen Lernverhaltens andere Prinzipien zugrunde liegen als der tatsachlichen Ausubung dieses Verhalt...

Quality Rating and Recommendation of Learning Objects

The unceasing growth of the Internet has led to new modes of learning in which learners routinely interact on-line with instructors, other students, and digital resources. Much recent research has focused on building infrastructure for these activities, especially to facilitate searching, filtering, and recommending on-line resources known as learning objects. Although newly defined standards for learning object metadata are expected to greatly improve searching and filtering capabilities, learners, instructors, and instructional developers may still be faced with choosing from many pages of object listings returned from a single learning object query. The listed objects tend to vary widely in quality. With current metadata and search methods, those who search for learning objects waste time and effort groping through overwhelming masses of information, often finding only poorly designed and developed instructional materials. Hence, there is a clear need for quality evaluations prior to making a recommendation that can be communicated in a coherent, standardized format to measure the quality of learning objects.