The purpose of this study was to develop and examine designing strategies for supporting self-regulated learning in Web-Based Instruction. Previously, WBI studies focused on the interactivity between students and content, the interface between student...
The purpose of this study was to develop and examine designing strategies for supporting self-regulated learning in Web-Based Instruction. Previously, WBI studies focused on the interactivity between students and content, the interface between students and screen, and the interactivity among students and teachers. These studies relied on an assumption that students are basically regulating their own learning in WBI. Students know when and how to study learning materials and manage their own learning schedules. However, this as-sumption can be refuted when we observe that students show different levels of self-regu-lated learning skills in WBI. This study tried to come up with a support system for self-regulated learning in WBI where students with different levels of self-regulated learning skills could direct their own learning successfully without participating in particular training programs to acquire the self-regulated learning skills. The support system was developed in the following three steps. First, the results of con-ceptual clarification about self-regulated learning were examined, and ten self-regulated learning strategies were identified. Second, three levels of a support system for self-regulat-ed learning in WBI were suggested: level one for general orientation strategies, level two for content-related learning environment strategies, and level three for students learning path-related strategies. Finally, a Web-based self-regulated learning support system, or WBS has been developed to prescribe the learning environment for guiding and acceleraing self-regulated learning. The learning environment consisted of (1) both measuring and advising self-regulated learning skills and confirming the learning objectives for self-evalu-ating SRL strategies (2) identifying learning paths for goal-setting and planning and self-consequating SRL strategies (3) verifying questions for rehearsing and memorizing SRL strategies, (4) electronic note aking and writing a reflective journal for keeping records and monitoring SRL strategies, (5) providing additional information for seeking information SRL strategies, (6) providing a conceptual map for organizing and transforming SRL strategies, (7) advising about the physical learning environment for environmental structuring SRL strategies, and (8) asking questions to experts and assistants using email for seeking social assistants SRL strategies. The support system was implemented on an existing web solution, a Korean commercial platform for Web-Based Instruction. In order to examine the effects of the system, a Web -based collegiate course was developed. The course was implemented on two versions of the solution. One version was a normal one, and the other version had the support system for guiding self-regulated learning. Two groups of students participated in the respective course until the seventh week of the course syllabus, and the mid- term exam was administered in a classroom. The results showed that there was not a statistically signifi-cant difference between two groups, and neither was found in the interactive effect of the level of self-regulated learning and WBS. In-depth interviews with individual students were conducted to collect opinions about which functions worked well or not and what were the reasons for those opinions. Sugges-tions were made in the following areas from the statistical results and in-depth analysis of interviews with students. First, it is necessary to have a systematic explanation of self-reg-ulated learning and the support system to the students. Second, the tracking technology should be developed so that students can check their goal settings, and a more relevant advisement of the system should be provided on the basis of the results. Finally, the active involvement of a teacher should play an important role in the initial phase of the self-regu-lated learning process, and students should be required to participate in the components of the learning environment.