Psychological measures in self-regulated e-learning, 2020

Previous research in e-learning has shown that students learn differently when they learn with printed texts than with digital texts. To learn successfully with digital texts, they need even more competencies in self-regulated learning, which depends on their characteristics (prior knowledge, motivation, knowledge and use of effective learning strategies) and the characteristics of the digital material itself, especially how it supports self-regulated learning. The aim of the research was to investigate on the one hand, the students’ characteristics (general and specific knowledge, motivation, metacognitive knowledge, use of self-regulation, use of notes) and, on the other hand, which scaffolds (cognitive, metacognitive, and motivational) and which combination of them influence the students’ learning outcomes. In the main study, authors measured the students’ individual characteristics, and then the students individually learned two learning units from the field of chemistry in everyday life using digital texts. In learning unit A, the students learned about colour perception; in learning unit B, they learned about smell perception. Based on the individual tests’ results and unit A’s learning, equal groups of students were formed, who then started learning with the learning unit B. Pupils from 14 Slovenian schools who attended the 9th grade of elementary school in the 2019/2020 school year participated in the study. During the implementation of the study, we experienced a pandemic outbreak and school closed. Hence, the learning with learning unit B was conducted only for part of the sample. A main study was conducted within the framework of the research project "Effectiveness of Different Types of Scaffolds in Self-Regulated e-Learning”, within which also a pilot study was previously carried out (available in ADP, see ADP - IDNo: IRSUP19 "Validation of instruments for measuring individual differences in self-regulated learning, 2019: Pilot study"), in which authors developed and prepared all the measurement instruments, put together learning units and developed a computer programme to monitor learning. For a detailed process of conducting the study, for a correct understanding of the questionnaires and interpretation of the data, we suggest that you look at the following documents among the accompanying materials: 1) Opis spremenljivk v bazi podatkov (Variable description in database) and 2) Navodila za testatorje (Instructions for testers).