SELF-REGULATED LEARNING AT WORK

Dr Anoush MargaryanCaledonian Academy, Glasgow Caledonian

University http://www.gcu.ac.uk/academy/people/anoush-margaryan

/@anoush

Central questions• How do people self-regulate their learning at work?• Practices • Strategies (behavioural)

• What makes professionals more or less likely to be self-regulated learners?• Intrapersonal factors• Interpersonal factors• Organisational factors• Technological factors

Expected outcomes•Inductive theory development –descriptive and explanatory (typology, models)

•Integration of knowledge from relevant disciplines and fields

•Recommendations for practice

Study 1: Hypotheses

1. WLC => WLA2. WLC => SRL3. SRL => WLA4. WLC => SRL => WLA

Workplace Learning Context• My job requires me to be creative• I can choose my job assignments • I have opportunities to develop my own special abilities

• I can vary how I do my work• My job requires a high level of skill• My job requires me to learn new things

Study 1: SRL processes (Zimmerman)

Workplace Learning Activity• Acquiring new information (e.g. by searching the internet)• Working alone/ with others to develop solutions to problems• Working alone or with others to develop new ideas• Following new developments in your field• Performing new tasks• Asking colleagues for advice • Attending a training course or using self-study materials• Observing/replicating colleagues’ strategies• Finding better way to do a task by trial and error• Reflecting on previous actions • Receiving feedback on tasks from work colleagues

Study 1: Methodology•QUAN->qual •Nsurvey=170; Ninterviews=30•Context – financial services industry

•Participants – associates and members of Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment

Study 1: Findings• WLC=>WLA - a higher score for WLC is on its own a strong predictor of learning activities undertaken

• WLC => SRL, with greatest effect on the Performance phase (elaboration and critical thinking)

• SRL => WLA: a subset of the SRL sub-process - task interest/value, task strategies and self-evaluation - predict learning activities undertaken in the workplace for a given workplace learning context

• WLC=>SRL=>WLA: task interest, task strategies and self-evaluation mediate the relationship between WLC and WLA

Study 2: Research questions1. What factors stimulate

formation of learning goals in the workplace?

2. What strategies do professionals use and what other people do they draw upon when planning and attaining their learning goals?

Study 2: Methodology•quan->QUAL •Nsurvey=462•Ninterview=29•Context – Shell•Participants - engineers, scientists, internal consultants

Study 2: Key findings•Prevalence of outcome goals vs process goals

•Learning goals driven by business needs

• Insufficient self-reflection (lack of skill and time)

•No discrete phases of SRL

Study 3: Research question

What patterns of personal-psychological and environmental characteristics are there in the life histories of professionals who are highly self-regulated learners?

Study 3: Methodology•QUAL (in-depth biographical interviews)

•Sampling – adapted SRLWQ (see handout)

•Participants – university researchers, consultants, learning designers

•N=40 (5 interviews done to date)

Study 3: Preliminary findingsAll respondents:• High self-efficacy• Successful in school

2/5 (both male)• Similarities: Focus on the present; high emotion control;

‘being easy to manage’ • Differences: Aspirations (becoming a thought leader vs

doing more of the same)

2/5 (both female)• Pleasing others (making sensible choices)

Conclusions•Current models of SRL do not properly describe SRL at work

• Intertwinement of work and learning makes it difficult to isolate ‘learning’ (both for subjects and for researchers)

•Articulation of learning processes at work requires significant introspection and meta-thinking

Future research•Expanding the methodological repertoire•Development of scales to measure aptitude to SRL at work

•Bring together relevant knowledge across micro (Psychology), meso (WPL, TEL, CSCW, Organisational Behaviour) and macro (Sociology, Organisational Learning, Economics) levels to explain SRL at work