Recently, there have been efforts to rethink assessment. Instead of informing about (relatively stable) learner characteristics, assessment should assist instruction by looking at the learning process, facilitating feedback about what students' next step in learning could be. Similarly, new forms of strategy assessment aim at capturing self-regulated learning as it happens. One potential method for such assessment is the learning journal. We analyzed whether (a) quantity and (b) quality of learning strategies assessed by learning journals predict learning outcomes, and (c) whether differently successful combinations of strategies can be identified. In Study 1, 9th graders of medium-track high schools (N = 236) wrote learning journals in mathematics during 6 weeks. Foremost, quality and quantity of cognitive strategies predicted learning outcomes, controlling for prior knowledge. Learners who combined cognitive plus metacognitive strategies were particularly successful. Learners who mainly used 1 type of strategy performed similarly poorly as did learners who hardly used strategies. Study 2 in the domain of biology learning (N = 144) essentially replicated these findings. In summary, learning journals are a useful and innovative method for assessing learning strategies.

Training teachers to assess important components of self-regulated learning such as learning strategies is an important, yet somewhat neglected, aspect of the integration of self-regulated learning at school. Learning journals can be used to assess learning strategies in line with cyclical process models of self-regulated learning, allowing for rich formative feedback. Against this background, we developed a computer-based learning environment (CBLE) that trains teachers to assess learning strategies with learning journals. The contents of the CBLE and its instructional design were derived from theory. The CBLE was further shaped by research in a design-based manner. Finally, in two evaluation studies, student teachers ( 1 = 44; 2 = 89) worked with the CBLE. We analyzed satisfaction, interest, usability, and assessment skills. Additionally, in evaluation study 2, effects of an experimental variation on motivation and assessment skills were tested. We found high satisfaction, interest, and good usability, as well as satisfying assessment skills, after working with the CBLE. Results show that teachers can be trained to assess learning strategies in learning journals. The developed CBLE offers new perspectives on how to support teachers in fostering learning strategies as central component of effective self-regulated learning at school.

No abstract

Writing learning journals is a method of fostering the application of learning strategies. However, students often do not spontaneously apply many learning strategies in writing learning journals. Prompts can be used to address this deficit. The present study analyzed the effects of prompts with different specificity on the application of learning strategies. High school students from two classrooms (N = 51) wrote learning journals in mathematics in two consecutive weeks. They received cognitive and metacognitive prompts for writing the learning journals. In a within-subjects design, students once received nonspecific and once received specific prompts. We counterbalanced whether specific prompts or nonspecific prompts were presented first. Specific prompts increased the quantity of cognitive learning strategies and, in part, the diversity of the specific learning strategies. Thus, production deficiencies could be overcome. However, the quality of learning strategies could not be enhanced. The deficits in applying high-quality strategies were obviously more fundamental.