Web-Teaching

CHAPTER 9
Promotion of Self-Regulated Learning (p. 155-156)

The early literature about students using the Web describes successful students in terms that teachers frequently use to describe students who traditionally succeed. While all teachers enjoy these successful students very much, many students come to us in less than perfect form to succeed at the tasks we ask of them. This chapter is about making students better at academic survival. A goal for us in writing this book has been to direct readers toward what we believe to be the best available literature to assist you when making Web course design choices. Thus far, the literature related to Web-teaching has spoken about the less than perfect students with a single voice - don't admit them. While that strategy nearly always leads to teacher success, it does not address the realities of the students we meet.

In traditional settings, the instructor controls the classroom to some degree. Class attendance may be a requirement. Students in a class can engage in activities; participation can be an integral part of their grades. Over the Web, students have much more freedom than in a classroom. They may be logged into a Web site, but not even in the room. It is not possible for the instructor to tell exactly what students are doing. Students who are poor at self-regulation easily can be "slaughtered" in Web-based courses. On the Web, if your students are not self-regulating, how can you hope for success?

The research literature in the area of self-regulation often is found under the heading metacognition {U09.01}. While literature about Web-teaching is sparse on this issue, there is a rich literature about distance learning. In distance settings, attrition rates (lack of success rates) of 50% are commonplace. But it is not clear that high dropout rates are intrinsic to the distance process. Kevin Cox {U09.03} suggests that: "If you have a high drop out rate then all other things being equal you probably have a poor course."

A very basic question about teaching, especially college teaching, is "can we do much anyway?" Christy Horn's work (studies of introductory biology classes [Horn et al., 1993; Horn, 1993, 1995]) determined that the biggest fraction of lack of success can be attributed to students' not trying! Worse yet, this problem is not localized; it is widespread at major universities. Students who do not attend classes, do not interact with the learning materials, and, therefore, have very low success rates. Horn's work is representative of many that document the breadth of a troubling situation. Instructors can do only so much to improve their teaching before the lack of student involvement becomes a limiting factor.

There is substantial hope that successful interventions are possible, however. As one of several responses to Horn's results, faculty have developed Web pages for student use. For example, William Glider [1996] has developed Web pages with opportunities for submitting questions, access to tutorials, access to old quizzes with answers and discussion, and enrichment materials. Questions are entered using standard HTML form elements. Glider has documented improved student learning [Horn et al., 1997]. Recently Shin [1998] suggested guidelines for instructional design that might promote students' selfregulation. Keller [1999], originator of the ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction) model of motivational design, suggests ways to use this in computer-based instruction and distance education.

Puntambekar & duBoulay [1997] describe a system, Metacognition in Studying from Texts (MIST), that includes three features to foster metacognition. Their system was used more productively by high ability than low ability students, however. Self-regulation concerns the entire range of factors that affect student performance. Intelligence is a controversial construct describing factors about which teacher impact, at best, is limited. Self-regulation is something that is teachable and not especially constrained by intelligence [Symons et al., 1989]. Self-regulation accounts for the ability of persons of modest intelligence to become skilled masters of very complex tasks.

Interventions aimed at improving self-regulation are one way for teachers to impact students' lives. According to Gregg Schraw, teaching self-regulation may be the most important thing a teacher can do for students; it may amount to empowering them to be lifelong learners. This kind of thinking pervades the community of educational psychologists studying these issues:

A new vision of education is emerging. It is one in which children are provided procedural instruction throughout their academic careers, one in which strategy instruction is at the heart of education. This reflects the belief that a major goal of schooling is to teach people how to read, write, and solve problems.
Symons et al., 1989, p. 1