This document summarizes the results of a survey of 17 educators on their perceptions of self-regulated learning (SRL) among their students. Key findings include: 1) Educators estimated that 10-20% of students displayed high SRL, 20-40% medium, and 50-60% low. 2) Educators enjoyed teaching students with high SRL who were more involved and asked challenging questions. 3) Examples were provided of students with high SRL being self-motivated and those with low SRL being unmotivated. 4) Educators motivated SRL through guidance and encouraging independence. Next steps are to conduct a broader survey and provide teachers with tools to support SRL.

1. A Survey into the Teacher’s
Perception of Self-Regulated
Learning
Alexander Mikroyannidis, Teresa Connolly
The Open University, UK
Effie Law
University of Leicester, UK
© www.role-project.eu

2. What is a PLE?
• A Personal Learning
Environment (PLE) is a
facility for an individual to
aggregate, manipulate and
share digital artefacts of
their ongoing learning
experiences.
• The European project ROLE
(Responsive Open
Learning Environments) is
aiming at empowering
learners for lifelong and
personalised learning within
a responsive open learning
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hanspoldoja/4098840001
http://www.flickr.com/photos/petahopkins/2157928982
environment.

3. Self-Regulated Learning
• Self-regulated learning (SRL) is a term that describes an individual’s
ability to learn how to learn. In other words, each of us can develop a
wide-ranging skill set that enables us to learn in a number of different
ways.
• In some university settings the term SRL is more commonly described
as “independent learning” or “auto-didactic learning”.
• Some examples of how SRL might be assessed:
• Having the ability to set learning goals and plan appropriate study strategies
• Finding suitable learning materials
• Seeking help from peers and collaborating to gain feedback or assurance
• Being able to reflect on their learning progress and adjust their study
strategies accordingly

4. Survey
• In order to acquire a better understanding of the teacher’s
perception of SRL in higher education, we conducted a survey
among 17 educators.
• The survey was circulated online (see http://bit.ly/wqozuC).
• Participants were first provided with a short introduction to SRL,
which included some SRL assessment examples.
• They were then asked to answer a number of questions about the
SRL levels of their students and report their teaching experiences
with them.

5. Survey results
• 64% face-to-face classes - 35% distance-based classes
• Number of students / year: 100-300
• Estimated SRL levels of students:
• High: 10-20%
• Medium: 20-40%
• Low: 50-60%

6. Survey results
• “It is more intellectually stimulating and less routine”
• “It is more enjoyable teaching”
• “[The students] are more involved on learning, they ask me more
serious questions and thus it is also a challenge for me”
• “I particularly like teaching students with originality and critical
skills. They do not always have to agree with me!”

7. Survey results

8. Survey results
Could you give an example from your teaching experience of these
groups? (Students with high & low SRL levels)
• “The first group are more „mature‟ and more interested on learning
than the second group which is more childish and less prepared to
assume a responsibility and put on some effort on their education.”
• “High: self-motivated, keep up-to-date themselves and ask
challenging, forward-looking/advanced questions in labs & lectures.”
• “Low: unmotivated, poor attendance, ask simple questions about
material they're falling-behind with.”
• “Mixed SRL groups have different challenges. The low SRL levels
require encouragement, guidance, instruction to become more
independent. The high SRL groups engage with more complex
materials and have challenging higher order questions.”

9. Survey results
How do you motivate SRL among your students?
• “We have plenty of material on our website that students can use to
enhance their SRL. Problem is they don't always use it - sometimes
because they are so out of their depth that they have no time to do
anything else but study the course material.”
• “[I] direct them to our academic skills centre which runs personal
sessions and workshops on study skills.”
• “I usually give a question or context for projects and then organize
with them an agenda and goals. [...] From this point they are free to
find the best direction and we work together all time revising the
project goals and agenda.”
• “In the context of what I teach, I would encourage them to try and
design their own problems and then apply their learning to them, or
take a new approach to an already solved problem. The aim being to
reinforce the idea that solutions are not discovered but are created.”

10. An introductory course to PLEs
http://tinyurl.com/role-course
• Introduces the core ROLE
concepts and demonstrates
a selection of ROLE
learning tools.
• Learning outcomes:
• Understand how widgets
can be used to carry out
specific tasks
• Outline how a Personal
Learning Environment can
be enabled
• Build your own Personal
Learning Environment

11. An introductory course to SRL
http://tinyurl.com/role-srl-course
• Learning outcomes:
• Understand the
fundamental aspects of
SRL
• Outline a series of SRL
examples
• Assess your own SRL
skills
• Understand how you can
use the ROLE tools to
apply SRL to your
learning

12. SRL in ROLE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTa1vOH6JjA

13. Conclusions & next steps
• Preliminary survey results indicate that SRL is not a foreign
concept among higher education teachers.
• Our respondents acknowledge its usefulness and are trying to
motivate and support their students towards achieving a high
level of independence in their learning.
• Next steps:
• Reach out to educators in
various European countries
and beyond.
• Provide teachers with
learning resources and tools
for motivating and supporting
SRL.

14. Thank you!
The ROLE project
http://www.role-project.eu
The ROLE courses
http://tinyurl.com/role-course
http://tinyurl.com/role-srl-course
© www.role-project.eu