Professor Allison LittlejohnCaledonian AcademyGlasgow Caledonian University, UK@allisonl

Dr Colin Milligan, Dr Anoush Margaryan, Dr Pia Fontana

www.gcu.ac.uk/academy

How professional learners self-regulate their learning

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

Learning

Technologies

& Resources

Work practices

Learning processes

Littlejohn & Margaryan (2013), Technology-enhanced Professional Learning, Chapter 1, Routledge: NY

learning

intentional

formal

non-formal

unintentional

recognised

unacknowledged

Eraut (2002)

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)

Goals as the Social Object

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

Case 1

Scenario 4

Context: Partnership with CharteredInstitute of Securities & Investments

Period: Nov 12-Oct 13

Method/instruments:SRL Questionnaire (n=170)& semi-structured interviews (n=30) Sample: knowledge workersin 19 finance organisations

www.gcu.ac.uk/academy/wlbk

Planning (F)

Performance (P)

Reflection (R)

Goals as the Social Object

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 applicationtask strategy – repertoire of learning approachescritical thinking – ability to think criticallyhelp-seeking – seeking help from other people or resourcesinterest enhancement – making a task interesting & enjoyable

self-satisfaction - motivation to achieve learning goalsself-evaluation- readiness to compare own performance against an external goal

Planning (F)

Performance (P)

Reflection (R)

Goals as the Social Object

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

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Factor analysis identified 9 Factors:

n =170 for survey. 30 interviews.

Goals as the Social Object

Senior Analyst

HSRL (N62 ranked 1/30)

F1 Stra

tegic

Plan

ning

F2 se

lf-ef

ficac

y

F3 Goa

l Set

ting

F4 Tas

k int

eres

t Valu

e

P1 Elab

orat

ion

p2 T

ask

Strate

gies

P3 Crit

ical T

hinkin

g

S1 Self

-sat

isfac

tion

S2 Self

-eva

luatio

n0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2

WLBK 62-1

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)

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)

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)

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)

Risk Manager

LSRL (N90 ranked 28/30)

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)

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)

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)

Investment complaints manager

HSRL (N82 ranked 9/30)

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)

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)

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)

Goals as the Social Object

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

Case 2

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

22k participants174 countries

Video, with commentary...

Discussion forum, encourages in-depth discussion

MCQ assessment items.

Limited number of attempts

Scores are recorded in the progress tab.

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PL-MOOC

Fre

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• 5

••2

• 6

•••

•

•

•

•••

••

•

•

•3

••

•

•

•

PL-MOOC Factor analysis identified 8 factors:

n = 350 for survey. 35 interviews.

Learner engaging

F1 Self

-effi

cacy

F2 Goa

l Set

ting

F3 Tas

k In

tere

st V

alue

P1 Tas

k st

rate

gies

etc.

P2 Help

-see

king

P3 In

tere

st E

nhan

cem

ent

SR1 Self

-eva

luatio

n

SR2 Self

-sat

isfac

tion

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

PL-MOOC 152

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.

 

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…

Learner with unusual profile

F1 Self

-effi

cacy

F2 Goa

l Set

ting

F3 Tas

k In

tere

st V

alue

P1 Tas

k st

rate

gies

etc.

P2 Help

-see

king

P3 In

tere

st E

nhan

cem

ent

SR1 Self

-eva

luatio

n

SR2 Self

-sat

isfac

tion

-2.00

-1.50

-1.00

-0.50

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

PL-MOOC 334

‘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.

Learner experiencing difficulty

F1 Self

-effi

cacy

F2 Goa

l Set

ting

F3 Tas

k In

tere

st V

alue

P1 Tas

k st

rate

gies

etc.

P2 Help

-see

king

P3 In

tere

st E

nhan

cem

ent

SR1 Self

-eva

luatio

n

SR2 Self

-sat

isfac

tion

-2.50

-2.00

-1.50

-1.00

-0.50

0.00

PL-MOOC 213

‘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.

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)

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)

Planning (F)

Performance (P)

Reflection S(R)

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

answer questio

ns

receive score

receive feedback

(relative to others)

F1 Self

-effi

cacy

F2 Goa

l Set

ting

F3 Tas

k In

tere

st V

alue

P1 Tas

k st

rate

gies

etc.

P2 Help

-see

king

P3 In

tere

st E

nhan

cem

ent

SR1 Self

-eva

luatio

n

SR2 Self

-sat

isfac

tion

-2.00

-1.00

0.00

1.00

2.00

Theory Sub-factor selection

Data measurement Access Sampling Context

Interpretation

Research considerations

Scenario 4

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.

 

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Scenario 4

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