This research investigates how scaffolding affects the quality of goals set by undergraduate students in self-regulated learning. It examines the relationship between goal quality, goal perceptions, and academic performance, finding that while scaffolded goal setting did not significantly change goal quality compared to open-ended prompts, higher goal quality was associated with better term GPAs. The study suggests that students can learn to set high quality goals through effective instruction and regular practice.

1. Effects of a Scaffold on Quality
of Goals Set By Undergraduate
Students
Elizabeth A. Webster, Mariel Miller, &
Allyson F. Hadwin
This research was funded by a SSHRC Standard Research Grant 410-2008-0700 (A.
Hadwin) and a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship (E. Webster).
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2. Self-Regulated Learning
 Active regulation of cognitions, motivation, and
behaviours to accomplish goals
 Successful self-regulated learners take control of
their own learning by
 Setting task-specific goals
 Selectively using metacognitive, motivational, and
learning strategies
 Adapting in the face of challenges
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3. Winne & Hadwin’s Model of SRL
Phase 1:
Task
Perceptions
Phase 4: Monitoring Phase 2:
Goal
Large Scale & Setting &
Adaptation
Evaluating Planning
Phase 3:
Task
Enactment
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4. Properties of Effective Goals in SRL
 Specific
 Short-term
 Challenging yet attainable
 Learning vs. performance
 Self-set vs. assigned
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5. Challenges with Goal Setting
 Setting vague, long-term goals rather than goals
to guide specific study episodes
Get started!
Organize myself or my time.
Stay on top of my work and
catch up on all my readings.
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6. TASC Goals
imeframe
 2 hours or less
 Monitor progress frequently
ctions
 Cognitive processing
 Guide strategy choice
tandard
 Concrete criterion
 Evaluate progress
ontent/concepts
 Specific course material
 Identify and focus on specific elements
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7. Goal-Related Perceptions
 Goal efficacy
 Perceived goal difficulty
 Perceived goal attainment
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8. Supporting Goal Setting
 Our past research
 Goal setting prompt
State one goal you have for
improving your learning next week.
 Problem: goal quality not high enough
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9. Purpose & Research Questions
 Examine how students might be better
supported in setting high quality studying goals
1. How does a scaffolded goal setting prompt
contribute to goal quality and goal perceptions?
2. Do goal quality and goal perceptions change over
time?
3. Are goal quality and goal perceptions related to
academic performance?
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10. METHODS
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11. Research Setting
 ED-D 101: Learning Strategies for University
Success
 Lecture
 Week 3: Goal setting module
 Lab (10-20 students)
 Weekly goal setting
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12. Personal Planning Tool (PPT)
 Weekly diary
 Cycle of planning & reflecting anchored in day-
to-day studying practices
 Supports SRL and promotes transfer of SRL
cycles across study episodes
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13. GOAL PERCEIVED DIFFICULTY
1 = easy to 5 = extremely
challenging
GOAL EFFICACY
1 = cannot do it at all to
5 = highly certain I can do
it]
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14. PERCEIVED ATTAINMENT
1 = did not attain it at all to
5 = fully attained it
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15. Conditions
Open-Ended Condition (PPT A) Scaffolded Condition (PPT B)
For the task you selected above, set My goal is to define
one goal for this week. Remember a explain
good goal statement includes analyze
information about: what action, what
course content or concepts, when (day, What? (Course concepts or content)
time, duration) & to what degree, _______________________________
amount, or standard.
_______________________________ When? (day, time)
_______________________________ _______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________ To what degree, amount, or standard?
_______________________________ _______________________________
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16. 97 Participants
Open-Ended Scaffolded
n 43 54
Female 60.5% 51.9%
Age (SD) 19.1 yrs (2.6) 19.4 yrs (4.1)
High school avg (SD) 81.1% (7.5) 80.9% (6.4)
Term GPA (SD) 5.0/9.0 (1.7) 5.0/9.0 (1.3)
1st year 59.5% 50.0%
Faculty of social
53.5% 44.4%
science
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17. Timeline
Goal Quality Coding
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3
PPT A PPT A PPT A
Intervention
Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9
PPT A PPT A PPT A PPT A PPT A PPT A
PPT B PPT B PPT B PPT B PPT B PPT B
Goal Quality Coding
Week 10 Week 11 Week 12
PPT A PPT A PPT A
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18. Coding Goal Quality
 565 goals
 2 independent coders
 Coded each TASC criterion
 0 (absent), 1 (weak), or 2 (strong)
 Overall quality score out of 8
 Grouped goals into
 Weak (0-2)
 Moderate (3-4)
 Good (5-6)
 Excellent (7-8)
 Discrepancies resolved through discussion
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19. Goal Quality
Level of
%
quality Description Example
(N = 565)
(score)
•Few or no properties of TASC My goal is to balance my work with my own spare time. I plan
Weak goals on reading ahead in both my Soc and Poli textbooks before
14.0% next class. I don't have a specific time for this task to be done
(1) •Often planning goals or too
as long as I strive myself to read ahead before the next class.
vague
•At least two properties of TASC On monday my task is to go to the library and find useful
goals resources for my essay. The following day I will give myself an
Moderate
36.5% •Often behavioural in nature hour to read over my sources and choose which sources will
(2) be useful. By thursday night my goal is to have an outline and
and/or to-do lists thesis statement for my essay.
•At least three properties of For PSYC test 2 on Friday, re-create a table of brain structures
TASC goals (brain areas, hindbrain, midbrain and forebrain) and organize
Good specific functions for each of those brains. Explain in my words
34.3% •Overall goal is good
(3) how each function works and relate each other.
•Missing one property or weak in
two properties
•All four properties of TASC Friday from 10:30 to 12:30, I will analyze the different DC
goals Motor Speed vs Torque plots obtained from the lab 3 data and
Excellent
15.2% •Overall goal is strong be able to explain (in-depth) the effects of using terminal
(4) voltage, field current, and series resistance in speed control of
DC motors.
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20. FINDINGS
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21. Q1: Did Scaffolding Affect Goal Quality
and Goal Perceptions?
 No difference between open-ended and
scaffolded conditions at end of semester
 RM MANOVA assessing change over time in goal
quality, goal efficacy, perceived difficulty, perceived
attainment
 Mean scores at beginning (Weeks 1/2/3) and end (Weeks
10/11/12) of the semester
 No interaction
 F(4, 91) = .83, p = .512, partial 2 = .04
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22. Q2: Did Goal Quality and Goal Perceptions
Change Over Time?
 Main effect of time
 F(4, 91) = 27.04, p < .001, partial 2 = .54
Beginning End
Repeated-measures ANOVA
(T1, T2, T3) (T10, T11, T12)
Partial
M SD M SD F p 2
Goal qualitya
2.23 0.60 2.81 0.76 74.84 <.001 .44
Goal efficacyb
3.97 0.58 4.09 0.70 2.52 .116 .03
Perceived
3.25 0.65 3.42 0.71 4.55 .036 .05
difficultyb
Perceived
3.74 0.77 4.03 0.87 8.09 .005 .08
attainmentb
Note. N = 96. aGoal quality scored on a scale from 1 to 4. bRated on a scale from 1 to 5.
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23. Distribution of Goal Quality at
Beginning and End of Semester
179
156
124
97
Weak/Moderate
Good/Excellent
Beginning End
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24. Q3: Were Goal Quality and Goal Perceptions
Related to Term GPA?
Term GPA
r p
Goal quality
Beginning .40 <.001
End .37 <.001
Goal efficacy
Beginning .24 .020
End .15 .152
Perceived difficulty
Beginning -.02 .836
End .08 .425
Perceived attainment
Beginning .26 .011
End .20 .046
Note. N = 96.
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25. DISCUSSION
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26. Supporting Goal Setting
 Higher goal quality associated with higher term
GPA
 Students can learn to set high quality goals
 Instruction
in effective goal setting
 Weekly practice
 Evolving goal setting prompt
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27. Original Revised
Prompt Prompt
State one goal you have for improving For the task you selected above, set one
your learning next week. goal for this week. Remember a good
goal statement includes information
about: what action, what course content
or concepts, when (day, time, duration)
& to what degree, amount, or standard.
This week while studying for my psychology midterm I
will make a mind map of the different fields of
psychology. I will cover their main ideas, main For this week my goal is to create a conecpt map for
psychologists, and other key terms. This will help me to Econ 205 making connections from chapters 8
visually see the differences so that I can compare and (monopolys) and 9 (oligopolies). Using the connections,
contrast them during the test when the question comes I will formulate a paragraph summarizing the chapters
up. I will do this Friday morning for 2 hours. The mind using at least 5 of the connections mentioned in the
map will be colourful and contain pictures as well as concept map. I will do this goal from 7-8PM Thursday
words. night.
My goal for this week is to work on my math practice Friday from 10:30 to 12:30, I will analyze the different
problems and readings for an hour and half every day in DC Motor Speed vs Torque plots obtained from the lab
order to begin to understand how to use matrices when 3 data and be able to explain (in-depth) the effects of
solving algebraic problems, and i wish further my using terminal voltage, field current, and series
understanding of chapter 8 probability concepts. resistance in speed control of DC motors.
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28. Current Goal Setting Prompt
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29. THANK YOU!
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