Review by: Brahm, Taiga (2007-10-06)

This article deals with the support of self-regulated learning in web-based environment. Its specific focus is on specific and general meta-cognitive strategies which are necessary to promote students' self-regulated learning. Self-regulated learning is defined as a "learning situation in which learniners, in addition to setting their learning objectives, plan, conduct, regulate and evaluate the learning process independently" (p. 1128). In a literature review, the authors identify a number of problems of web-based learning environments, in particular of hypertext or hypermedia environments. For instance, the amount of information accessible over the world wide web can lead to information overflow, inconsistency of some material (also due to the non-linear structure) as well as incoherence of the functionalities of different environments. Thus, students are busy processing irrelevant information. However, learning can only be effective if learners actively process the information available. Additionally, the computer seems to induce a trial-and-error-like behaviour from students instead of problem- or goal-orientation. It seems important that students are guided in their process of material processing and that they develop certain strategies to avoid the pitfalls of self-regulated learning. This study is based on the development of generic authoring tools to support designers and teachers in creating learning environments supporting the successful processing of information. There are a number of activities of relevance for self-regulated learning

• general, meta-cognitive requirements, e. g. setting goals, monitoring the learning process, evaluating the learning progress
• specific meta-cognitive requirements, e. g. planning the learning process, activating the appropriate learning strategies, planing the evaluation of the learning progress
• task and content-related cognitive requirements, e. g. organizing and processing learning material and media, applying acquired knowledge

In addition to these cognitive- and meta-cognitive activities, self-regulated learning also involves the regulation of motivation and attention. The literature analysis shows that it is necessary to support learnings in self-regulated learning by using instructional interventions. Two kinds of instructional interventions were differentiated (cf. Hadwin, Winne, and Nesbitt, 2005):

• tools that deliver instruction, also called direct interventions
• tools that guide and tutor learning, also called indirect interventions

These interventions can be embedded or not embedded in the learning environment. For instance, providing informative tutoring feedback within tasks can be seen as a non-embedded combination of direct and indirect information (p 1130). The Study 2000 project which is reported in the article reviewedis a generic authoring tool supporting the design of web-based learning environments. The tool comprises a compiler to integrate learning material into an integrated environment, an authoring tool to facilitate the creation and implementation of interactive learning activities, i. e. web-based tasks which can be solved using multiple-try strategies and informative tutoring feedback. An environment designed with these authoring tools is called [i]Study Desk[/i]. It includes multiple learning materials (e. g. texts, experiments, exercises), but also references as to where the student is currently located in the learning environment (navigational support). Thus, the effect of being "lost-in-cyberspace" is reduced. In order to support deep information processing the Study Desk also provides tools for active learning and elaboration, e. g. marking certain section, taking notes, integrating material. These learning strategies are supported by various tools. Additionally, elaboration resources such as audio-visual material and lecture transparencies, provide additional information. Monitoring and evaluating the learning process is promoted by giving the students access to the learning tasks, by supporting the learners' evaluation with interactive learning tasks (also including informative tutoring feedback). The evaluation study concentrated on how the students of a particular university course used the tools available to them. The students were provided with five Study Desks on different learning theories. The assessment of the course included a test at the end of the semester. Since the course was based on self-regulated learning, there were no restrictions with regard to which Study Desks should be worked on at a particular time. The measures used in the study included the individually coded log-files (N=72), a questionnaire on students' perceived acceptance which addressed usability features. Students' use of the Study Desks varied tremendously. The authors divided the whole group into those spending less than 40 minutes in the environment, the students spending between 40 and 180 minutes, and those spending more than 180 minutes. In the following, they compared their measures with regard to these three groups. The amount of time spent on the different learning activities also showed a great variety. Most time was spent on learning tasks, followed by the tool for active learning, then the elaboration resources. However, experiments, original research papers, and monitoring tools were rarely used. Furthermore, the usability of the Study Desks was rather high which was reflected in the questionnaire item as well as in the open comment section. In sum, the article provides some insights into the implementation of instructional interventions to foster self-regulated learning. The users left most of the unembedded tools unused, however, some students used selected tools quite extensively. Future research should deal with a comparison of students' study strategies and learning activities and also how to adapt interventions to the students' level of expertise. One of the most interesting questions could not be answered by the others, i. e. "how to prepare web-based learning environment users for self-regulated learning" (p 1141). This might also be an area for future research.