The document explores how professional learners self-regulate their learning through various factors such as confidence, motivation, planning, and critical thinking. It identifies nine key behaviors that skilled learners exhibit, including setting learning goals, seeking help, and adapting strategies for effective learning. Case studies from finance and clinical trials highlight the importance of self-regulated learning in professional environments.

1. How professional
learners self-regulate
their learning
Professor Allison Littlejohn
Caledonian Academy
Glasgow Caledonian University, UK
@allisonl
Dr Colin Milligan, Dr Anoush Margaryan,
Dr Pia Fontana
www.gcu.ac.uk/academy

2. MOOCs and the broader digital disruption
that they represent are definitely going
to transform the ability of an individual
student or learner to tailor their learning
to their own needs and to
fit it [learning] around their life rather
than their life fitting around the learning
Simon Nelson, Chief Executive Futurelearn (FT, October 2014)
http://www.ft.com/reports/future-of-university

3. Learning
Technologie
s
& Resources
Work
practices
Learning
processes
Littlejohn & Margaryan (2013), Technology-enhanced Professional Learning, Chapter 1, Routledge: NY

4. learning
intentional
formal
non-formal
unintentional
recognised
unacknowledged
Eraut (2002)

5. Scenario 4
Self-regulated Learning
Self-generated
thoughts, feelings and
actions that are
planned and cyclically
adapted to the
attainment of personal
learning goals.
(Zimmermann, 2005)
Planning (F)
Performance
(P)
Reflection
(SR)

6. Nine things skilled professional learners do differently:
Have the confidence & motivation to take control of their learning
Consider what they want to learn and plan appropriately
Set and adapt learning goals
Contemplate the value of what they learn beyond their immediate context
Think critically and relate their learning to other potential areas of application
Have a wide repertoire of learning approaches to draw upon as appropriate
Actively seek help from elsewhere
Persist in their learning & experience a sense of achievement when they learn
Compare their own performance against others outside the immediate context

7. Case 1

8. Scenario 4
Context: Partnership with Chartered
Institute of Securities & Investments
Period: Nov 12-Oct 13
Method/instruments:
SRL Questionnaire (n=170)
& semi-structured interviews (n=30)
Sample: knowledge workers
in 19 finance organisations
www.gcu.ac.uk/academy/wlbk
Planning (F)
Performance
(P)
Reflection
(R)

9. self-efficacy – belief in capacity to have control over role.
strategic planning – purposive actions directed at acquiring skill.
goal-setting – use and adaptation of goals to plan learning.
task interest & value – readiness to determine the wider value of a task
elaboration – ability to relate learning to wide areas of application
task strategy – repertoire of learning approaches
critical thinking – ability to think critically
help-seeking – seeking help from other people or resources
interest enhancement – making a task interesting & enjoyable
self-satisfaction - motivation to achieve learning goals
self-evaluation- readiness to compare own
performance against an external goal
Planning (F)
Performance
(P)
Reflection
(R)

10. http://figshare.com/articles/Self_Regulated_Learning_at_Work_Questionnaire/1146236

11. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
80
90
100
110
120
130
140
150
160
170
180
190
200
210
More
Frequency
WLBK

12. Factor analysis identified 9 Factors:
n =170 for survey. 30 interviews.

14. Senior Analyst
HSRL (N62 ranked 1/30)
2
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
F1 Strategic
Planning
F2 self-efficacy F3 Goal Setting F4 Task interest
Value
P1 Elaboration p2 Task
Strategies
P3 Critical
Thinking
S1 Self-satisfaction
S2 Self-evaluation
WLBK 62-1

15. Have the confidence & motivation to take control of learning (F2)
My career has always been in financial services, so it’s a career but it’s
also turned into a hobby as well. It’s something that I enjoy doing and
I’m good at…
You have to be brave and be prepared for somebody to say ‘I disagree’
or ’You’re wrong’ and that can be intimidating.
Task interest and value (P4)
It’s my business… therefore this is what I have to do. I have to
demonstrate that my company is able to have some understanding and
some value in these sort of changes. Secondly of course is commercial,
that’s what I get paid for’.
High-SRL (N62, Director, senior analyst)

16. Have a wide repertoire of learning approaches (P2)
In financial markets you can’t learn it all from a book. There’s an
awful lot that happens that’s just not written down. Fnancial markets is
like life -not everything is works in a logical parallel way.
So although I have a very deep appreciation of learning and training to
be able to provide the foundation tools to do the job, I think the
successful career is also based a lot on experience.
High-SRL (N62, Director, senior analyst)

17. Think critically and relate learning to other potential areas of
application (P1)
Its important to speak to people who represent different parts of
society to get a perspective of how things may look from different
points of view.
If you always speak to people in financial markets you tend to get a
jaundiced view of people that are in the same sort of neck of the
woods. So it’s quite important to actually go and speak to …
High-SRL (N62, Director, senior analyst)

18. Persist in learning & experience a sense of achievement (SR1)
Once you’ve thought about it - you’ve talked, you’ve thought about
things, you’ve assessed - you then use your own knowledge,
experience and background to be able to say ‘Now this is what I think
is going to happen’ and then to continually test that thought.
High-SRL (N62, Director, senior analyst)

19. Risk Manager
LSRL (N90 ranked 28/30)

20. Contemplate the value of what they learn beyond their immediate
context (F4)
The trigger for learning was that it was a new task. Previously we had
a team of 4 people who used to do that type of thing, but those roles
were made redundant within our function due to some cost savings.
The outcome for my learning is that I was equipped. That I could, in
essence, deliver what was expected of me.
So part of it was about learning and part was about being able to
deliver what we’d asked to deliver… because I always want to do
the best job that I can.
LSRL (N90, Risk Manager)

21. Have a wide repertoire of learning approaches to draw upon as
appropriate (P2)
Part of how I did my learning was to talk to some other colleagues in
other divisions who I knew had previously organised events I had
attended.
But limited in the numbers of people he interacts with:
I talked to my line manager and I spoke to colleagues in other
divisions. I didn’t speak to anybody outside the organisation.
LSRL (N90, Risk Manager)

22. Compare own performance against others (SR2)
if something was challenging and I had put a lot of thought into it and
it got a good result, then I would probably spend time reflecting on
that to say what is it that actually went well and could I use that again?
But if it was just something that I had done and I had done it
automatically and it had resulted in a good job, I don’t know if I would
spend much time reflecting on that.
LSRL (N90, Risk Manager)

23. Investment complaints manager
HSRL (N82 ranked 9/30)

24. Consider what they want to learn and plan appropriately (F1)
When asked if he ‘jumped in’ to the task:
No it was very much planned. The reason I knew I needed the plan
was it’s a highly complex job beyond what I was doing - in the sense
that you’re dealing with the whole of the UK for various different
departments. You could get a question around wealth, protection,
investments, endowments, mortgage protection - the whole kit and
caboodle. So the knowledge had to be at the highest level.
After the first training session and looking at it I knew there was a
learning gap. So I had to plan it correctly to make sure.
High-SRL (N82, Investment complaints manager)

25. Have a wide repertoire of learning approaches (P2)
I got taught over the phone initial call when I was asked to do it. I then
realised there was a lot more involved in it and I had to do my own
self-learning. On the back of that the main ‘phone a friend’ team is
actually in Halifax, so I took it on myself to say I’m going to visit
Halifax for 3 days, work shadow one of the path advisors (who’s got
10 years experience) and then I’d sit in on a live situation for a day or
two to experience how it works.
So it was all a bit of self-learning and self-development.
High-SRL (N82, Investment complaints manager)

26. Compare own performance against others (SR2)
Well in our case our job is highly technical, so we have to make sure
that we’re learning.
I’d sit in on a live situation for a day or two to experience how it works
and have somebody next to me that had done it for 10 years. So it was
all a bit of self-learning and self-development for the benefit of the
colleagues, myself and the customers.
I’ve added value to the team, I'm able to help the team learn and
people have noticed
High-SRL (N82, Investment complaints manager)

27. Nine things skilled professional learners do differently:
Planning
Have the confidence & motivation to take control of their learning
Consider what they want to learn and plan appropriately
Set and adapt learning goals
Contemplate the value of what they learn beyond their immediate context
Performance
Think critically and relate their learning to other potential areas of application
Have a wide repertoire of learning approaches to draw upon as appropriate
Actively seek help from elsewhere
Reflection
Persist in their learning and experience a sense of achievement when they
learn
Compare their own performance against others outside their immediate
context

28. Case 2

29. Context: Fundamentals of Clinical Trials
MOOC, 24,000 registered learners
Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health,
Harvard Catalyst.
Period: Nov 13-Apr 14
Method/instruments/ sample:
psychometric Questionnaire (350) &
semi-structured interviews (30)
350 learners in study, contacted by announcement in week 5 (of 14)
http://www.gcu.ac.uk/academy/pl-mooc/
https://www.edx.org/course/harvardx/harvardx-hsph-hms214x-fundamentals-
941

30. 22k participants
174 countries

31. Video, with
commentary...

33. Discussion
forum,
encourages in-depth
discussion

34. MCQ assessment
items.
Limited number
of attempts
Scores are
recorded in the
progress tab.

35. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
80
90
100
110
120
130
140
150
160
170
180
190
200
210
More
Frequency
WLBK
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
140
150
160
170
180
190
200
210
More
Frequency
PL-MOOC

36. • 5
•
•2
• 6
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•3
•
•
•
•
•
•

37. PL-MOOC Factor analysis identified 8 factors:
n = 350 for survey. 35 interviews.

38. Learner engaging
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
0.00
F1 Self-efficacy F2 Goal Setting F3 Task Interest
Value
P1 Task
strategies etc.
P2 Help-seeking P3 Interest
Enhancement
SR1 Self-evaluation
SR2 Self-satisfaction
PL-MOOC 152

39. Have the confidence & motivation to take control of learning (F2)
I’m sure after this course I’ll be much better in dealing with my daily
job tasks.
Persist in learning & experience a sense of achievement (SR1)
I have projects on clinical trials and every project is a long duration
and usually there’s always hurdles. You know, you have some stuff
that you face all the time and you need to solve and have a decision
very quickly and very accurately because it effects the rest of the
project and the rest of the team.

40. Actively seek help from other people (P2)
So if something is not clear for me or something I need to understand I
check the ongoing discussion related to this issue.
When I’m studying in the MOOC I get very concentrated on the video
content and the homework content and the assignments and whatever
resource is needed to provide these assignments.
I don’t distract myself much more because of the time constraints.
Contrasts with learning in unstructured environment…

41. Learner with unusual profile
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
0.00
-0.50
-1.00
-1.50
-2.00
F1 Self-efficacy F2 Goal Setting F3 Task Interest
Value
P1 Task
strategies etc.
P2 Help-seeking P3 Interest
Enhancement
SR1 Self-evaluation
SR2 Self-satisfaction
PL-MOOC 334

42. ‘Actively seek help from other people (P2)
I’ve never really been a study group person, I’ve always been a study
group person leader, I’ve always kind of worked with them to help
them. So it’s hard for me to…I haven’t made any friends in class!
About the discussion board:
If you learn from other people who don’t know what they’re talking
about you could teach yourself the wrong thing. …
I read them but I take them with a grain of salt, I’m like ‘I don’t know
if this person knows what they’re talking about’.
I don’t interact probably as much as I could.

43. Learner experiencing difficulty
0.00
-0.50
-1.00
-1.50
-2.00
-2.50
F1 Self-efficacy F2 Goal Setting F3 Task Interest
Value
P1 Task
strategies etc.
P2 Help-seeking P3 Interest
Enhancement
SR1 Self-evaluation
SR2 Self-satisfaction
PL-MOOC 213

44. ‘
Have the confidence & motivation to take control of learning (F2)
I hoped I can get the certificate, but I found it quite difficult for me.
Difficulty engaging with the course:
I tried to get through the course. Well because of my work I don’t have
very much time and so I may not achieve my original goal.
When asked whether she takes notes (key sensemaking strategy)
Not in this course. Sometimes I will consult my text book that I have.

45. Self regulated learners demonstrate
• confidence & motivation to learn
• a broad view of learning
• preference to plan learning themselves
Rather than
• focusing on the immediate task
• prefering regulation by the ‘other’
Planning (F)
Performance
(P)
Reflection
(SR)

46. Self regulated learners
• use a range of learning strategies
• seek help from people & resources
Rather than
• employing limited ways of learning
• preferring to learn within an immediate group
Planning (F)
Performance
(P)
Reflection
(SR)

47. Planning (F)
Performance
(P)
Self regulated learners
• embed self-observation processes into everyday learning
• compare their learning against wide benchmarks
• demonstrate persistence in achieving goals
Rather than
• Relying on others for reflection and appraisal processes
Reflection
S(R)

48. answer
questions
receive
score
receive
feedback
(relative to
others)
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
0.00
-0.50
-1.00
-1.50
-2.00

49. Research considerations
 Theory
 Sub-factor selection
 Data measurement
 Access
 Sampling
 Context
 Interpretation

50. Scenario 4
Want to read more?
Littlejohn, A. and Margaryan, A. (Eds) (2013) Technology-enhanced Professional
Learning: processes, practices and tools, Routledge: New York.
Littlejohn, A. and Pegler, C. (Eds) (2014) Reusing Open Resources: learning in open
networks for work, life and education Routledge: New York.
Milligan, C., Fontana, P., Littlejohn, A. and Margaryan, A. (2014). Self-regulated learning
behaviour in the finance industry, Journal of Workplace Learning
Milligan, C. and Littlejohn, A. (2014) Supporting professional learning in a massive open
online course, The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning
Fontana, P., Milligan, C., Littlejohn, A. and Margaryan, A. (2014) Measuring self-regulated
learning in the workplace, International Journal of Training and Development
Milligan, C., Margaryan, A., and Littlejohn, A. (2014) Workplace learning in informal
nnetworls Journal of Interactive Media Environments
Milligan, C., Margaryan, A., and Littlejohn, A. (2013). Patterns of engagement in
connectivist MOOCs. Journal of Online Learning & Teaching, 9 (2)
Littlejohn, A. and Margaryan, A. (2014) Technology-enhanced Professional Learning,
International Handbook on Research in Professional and Practice-based Learning,
(Eds. Billiet, S, Hartels, C & Gruber, H.) Springer Verlag.

51. WaSncte tnoa rrieoa 4d more?