According to the U.S. Department of Education, self-regulated learning is described as:

"...one's ability to under- stand and control one's learning environment. Self- regulation abilities include goal setting, self- monitoring, self-instruction, and self-reinforcement " (U.S. Dept. of Education, 2010). Accordingly, the source notes learners must also monitor and be effective in responding to frustration, lagging motivational effort, and emotional state.

Graphically, self-regulated learning can be depicted as: 

Notably, the graphic depiction demonstrates how the cycle generates feed-forward and feed-back loops so that additional learner effort leads to an improved product. Not depicted in the graphic are the ways in which instructors can prepare the learner and learning environment so the cycle can be amply applied. For example, instructors may have to give examples of how to plan and set goals, monitor peformance, and know when an adequate outcome is reached. Further, some learners may need encouragement to focus on the product versus focusing on a grade. 

Winne (2018) notes that key challenges to moving learners toward adopting SRL (self-regulated learning) are developing the study skills required for using it. Winne describes how motivation is a variable that is dynamic, not a constant. Thus learners must recognize when motivation is waning, and develop strategies to re-energize motivation. A perfect example was my own experience in reaching week 4 of this course after finishing week 3 early. It required real effort to re-engage in the course (even though I am loving the course) and get my "head" back in the rythym of the learning space and thwart the many other needy challenges that interfere with the learning "work space", like errands, grading others work, coordinating service learning, etc. 

No surprise then, that Littlejohn, Hooda, Milligan, and Mustain (2015) reflect on how MOOCs like Coursera depend substantially on student motivation or SRL. In their study (N=788), those with a high SRL were much more likely to be successful in a MOOC, than those with a low SRL. Thus, how to increase SRL??

In my exprience some learners require scaffolded strategies to gain improvement in self-regulation for learning. The current systems of learning still overwhelmingly teach in the familiar paradigm of reading, lecturing, and testing. Winne (2018) suggests encouraging learners to explore with "what works", but I am often confronted by graduate students who ask to be told what they need to know. The balance between requiring rigor and helping students achieve mediocrity by caving in to such demands is not as clear as one might hope. And this is where I think the e-learning ecology can be a benefit: enabling students to gauge whether the work they have done is enough to answer critical clinical problems and create interventions requires self-directed learning and the e-learning ecology helps cement in the footsteps taken in the learning journey: the artifacts of learning whether a post, a wiki, or blog. 

References:

U.S. Department of Education (2010). Self-regulated learning. Retrieved from https://lincs.ed.gov/sites/default/files/3_TEAL_Self%20Reg%20Learning.pdf

Winne, P. H. (2018). Cognition and metacognition within self-regulated learning. In D. H. Schunk & J. A. Greene (Eds.), Educational psychology handbook series. Handbook of self-regulation of learning and performance (p. 36–48). Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.

SAGE. The cycle of self-directed learning graphic. Retrieved from https://serc.carleton.edu/sage2yc/self_regulated/what.html

Littlejohn, A., Hooda, N., Milligan, C., & Mustain, P. (2015). Learning in MOOCs: Motivations and self-regulated learning in MOOCs. The Internet in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2015.12.003