Understanding the varieties in first-year university students’ experience of self-regulated learning during emergency remote teaching

First-year students often lack basic self-regulated learning skills when transitioning to higher education. The emergency remote teaching period during the COVID-19 pandemic enhanced the importance of skills in self-regulated learning, due to the reduction of face-to-face contact with the teacher. This study focuses on first-year students’ experiences of their challenges related to self-regulated learning as well as how they engage in self-regulated learning during emergency remote teaching in autumn 2020. The data consisted of 67 reflective journals written by first-year students. The journals were analysed using a thematic analysis. The findings show that there were considerable differences between the students in terms of their ability to engage in self-regulated learning, particularly in how they approached the challenges mentally and in terms of study behaviour. However, most of the first-year students adjusted relatively well to emergency remote teaching in terms of their self-regulated learning and were able to utilise self-regulated learning strategies at least to some extent. This study stresses particularly the importance of some components of self-regulated learning: good time management skills and an ability to regulate attention, as well as positive academic emotions and a high level of self-efficacy. Conclusions of the study are also discussed.