This document reports on a study that explored how students regulate their learning when facing challenges during collaborative tasks. The researchers collected data on challenges students encountered across three group assignments and the strategies students identified to address those challenges individually, as a team, and together. The strategies were coded and analyzed to determine patterns. The key findings were that students most often faced strategic planning challenges but suggested soft skills strategies, indicating a mismatch. Additionally, students did not always successfully address challenges as the same challenges persisted across tasks for many groups. This suggests students could benefit from training in regulatory processes to better match strategies to challenges encountered during collaboration.

1. REGULATION OF LEARNING IN THE CONTEXT OF COLLABORATIVE CHALLENGES
Lindsay McCardle, Stephanie Helm, Allyson F. Hadwin, Kara Shaw, & Peter Wild
University of Victoria
Funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Standard Research Grant 410-2008-0700 (PI: Hadwin)
Table 1. Codes for Strategy Main Ideas Table 4.Type of Regulation Frequency by Type of Challenge
Main Idea Description Examples Strategic Team
PURPOSE Planning Task understanding, goal setting/ planning,&scheduling saying up front what our goals for the project are -saying when we don't agree on what
Regulating… Planning
Challenges
Coordination
Challenges
Soft Skills
Challenges
TOTAL
To explore students’ regulation of learning in response to our priorities are
Self 53 17 22 92
challenges encountered in three collaborative tasks with the Roles & Workload, equality,&leadership/ coordination If it were a longer task I think I it would be easier to divvy up task as opposed
Responsibilities to many people working on the same issue Each other 78 17 36 131
following research questions. Together 19 1 4 24
Distributed Different perspectives or using different knowledge bases I would like to expand my knowledge base into other disciplines to make myself
1. What strategies do individuals identify for themselves (I Expertise a bigger asset to a group. Total 150 35 62 247
strategies) and for their team (WE strategies) to address Motivation Students desire to actively&effortfullyengage in the task Even if you have a lot of other work or have not completed your part, frequent
group meeting are essential to keep the group motivated and continue Table 5. Strategy Main Idea Frequency by Type of Challenge
collaborative challenges? developing thoughts and ideas. Strategic Team
2. Do students evidence regulatory shifts in the challenges Monitoring & Reflecting on or adapting learning processes/ task enactment Make sure that everyone in the group feel just as satisfied with the work at Code Planning Coordination
Soft Skills
Challenges
TOTAL
encountered across tasks? Regulating processes hand as I am myself. Challenges Challenges
Supportive Creating a comfortable environment, shared language, & open I would use open dialogue as much as possible to overcome disagreements. Regulatory 40 7 15 62
Climate environment Team Coordination 29 7 12 48
Personal Changing/ developing beliefs, attributes or skills in order to improve I would like to practice to improve my social behaviors because last night I could Soft Skills 54 21 24 99
Attributes, Beliefs group functioning not participate in the discussion and I did not have enough self- confidence to
Task Completion
& Skills even think in the right direction. 27 0 11 38
Total
A little more focus, but it was a good team in all. (there isn't a second thing) 150 35 62 247
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Task Focus
Enacting Processes
Staying on track during the task and discussion
Cognitive& behavioural strategies for completing the task Encourage initial brainstorming before jumping right in
Successful collaboration depends on three levels of regulation Satisfactory Group Indicated that they would not change how their group functioned Continue doing what we do, being flexible.
Table 6. Shifts in Challenges Encountered
(Barron, 2003): Processes Challenge Change No Change Total
1. Strategies & regulatory skills individuals use to regulate No Regulation Indicated that group functioning needed to improve but how to do Talk brainstorm work anything! Challenge 35 (85%) 6 (15%) 41
Strategy this was unknown
themselves (self-regulation; SRL) Challenge Group 21 (51%) 20 (49%) 41
2. Strategies & regulatory skills individuals use to regulate each
other (co-regulation; CoRL)
FINDINGS & DISCUSSION
3. Strategies & regulatory skills individuals use to regulate
together (socially-shared regulation; SSRL)
Task
Perceptions CORL Task
Perceptions •A total of 84 challenges were identified. I & WE strategies were
Successful collaboration among group members occurs when combined (totaling 276 strategies) & coded with the exception of
individuals collectively regulate their learning across the four phases 29 strategies where students indicated they wouldn’t change
of Winne &Hadwin’s (1998) model (see Figure 1). Challenge anything (n = 8), or did not provide a strategy (n = 21.
Large Scale SRL Goals & Large Scale SRL Goals &
•Communication: Was a focus in 57.9% of strategies. Students
episodes provide salient contexts to study regulation in action as Adaptation Planning Adaptation Planning
these create the need to engage regulatory processes. perceived communication as integral to group work.
•Regulation: Students recognized in their strategies the need to
Shared Task
regulate themselves and each other. SSRL strategies for regulating
Perceptions
Strategic Strategic together were rarely identified.
METHOD Enactment Enactment •Main idea: Soft skills strategies were the most frequently
Participants: 42 upper year students in Environmental Science identified strategy, no matter the type of challenge encountered.
(N = 24) or Mechanical Engineering (N = 18, unspecified, N = 6) Students most often identified strategic planning challenges, and
working in teams. many students suggested regulatory strategies to address these.
Tasks: Two in-class assignments & one major assignment Shared Large
Shared Goals However, students most often suggested soft skills strategies to
outside class time on community environmental issues. Teams Scale SSRL & Planning deal with strategic planning challenges, which implies a mismatch
Adaptation
differed across tasks. between challenge and strategy.
Measures: A structured reflection (Järvenoja&Järvela, 2009) •Shifts in challenges: Shifts in challenge types occurred only
that asked students to: about half the time suggesting that many students were not
1. Choose the main challenge their team encountered successfully addressing challenges. This provides further support
2. List two things they would like to do to address collaborative Shared to the idea that students applied strategies which were poorly
challenge in future tasks (I strategies) Strategic matched to the challenge they were facing.
3. List two things they would like their team to do in future Enactment
tasks (WE strategies)
Figure 1. Schematic of self-, co-, and socially shared regulation of learning.
Coding: Strategies were coded using an inductive coding IMPLICATIONS
scheme guided by Winne &Hadwin’s (1998) model (see Table 1). Table 2. Challenge Groupings Table 3. Strategy Groupings Results hold important implications for educators working to instruct
Two coders completed multiple iterations of coding, coming to Grouping Challenge Included in Grouping Grouping Strategies Included in Grouping students in developing group work skills. Findings suggest that
agreement on codes. Strategies were coded for: students believe soft skills strategies to be the answer to any
1. Presence of communication keywords (e.g., talk, ask) Strategic Planning Goals, Priorities, Standards of work, What to Regulation Planning, Monitoring & regulation
challenge, however strategic planning challenges such as holding
2. Type of regulation, i.e., regulation of self, of each do, Concept or task
Team Coordination Distributed expertise, Roles & different goals or different priorities, were most often reported.
other, together Team Coordination Working styles, Equal participation, responsibilities Although soft skills are commonly identified as potential strategies
3. Main idea of strategy (Table 1) Knowledge Soft Skills Supportive climate, Motivation, Personal for improving group functioning, regulatory processes are crucial for
Challenges and strategy ideas were grouped for ease of beliefs, attributes, & skills
successful group functioning. Thus a shift in training soft skills to a
Soft Skills Interaction styles, Language proficiency,
interpretation (see Tables 2 & 3, respectively). focus on regulatory processes should be beneficial.
Connection, Commitment, Distraction Task Completion Task focus, Enacting processes