Personalised self-regulated learning with a checklist in secondary education

Abstract

There is a demand for a persons’ ability to continuously self-refine skills, both after and during school. Students’ self-regulated learning (SRL) skills are not acquired automatically but have to be trained. It remains unclear, however, what the most optimal instructional design (ID) for such a training would be. Scholars focused on a one-size-fits-all ID approach instead of a customised ID approach, though customised approaches benefit learners more in general. Therefore, this study examined whether applying a customised ID approach, in the form of personalisation, might benefit SRL skill acquisition. The sample included 48 Dutch first-year secondary school students in geography classrooms. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions: personalised SRL instruction, non-personalised SRL instruction or no SRL instruction. A pretest-posttest measured SRL skill acquisition. An intervention was provided with a checklist that contained five up to twelve questions and consisted of 3 minutes per class over four classes. The results show that a personalised intervention with a checklist in secondary education did not significantly improve students’ SRL skills more than a non-personalised SRL intervention or no SRL instruction. In conclusion, the personalised ID approach in this study did not enhance instructional efficiency for teaching SRL skills.