Autonomy, self-direction and self-regulation are traditional issues of learning and instruction, although a validated comprehensive instructional theory was overdue up to our decade. From an educational standpoint self-regulation is a psychological concept that serves for an explanation of learning by its underlying processes of thinking and needs self-direction as the educational complement that serves for intentional prescriptions within instructional settings. Recent concepts. particularly about regulatory mechanisms in thinking and learning and studies on interactions between motivational and cognitive variables made it possible to formulate assumptions more precisely on how performance in learning and work will depend on these interactions and on how they are stimulated by an adequate arrangement oflearning environmentsfavouring self-direction.The purpose of the "Two-Shells-Model of Motivated Self-Directed Learning" described here is to serve as an analytical explanatory structure in which self-direction in learning can be understood as a lasting motive for intentional learning which is permanently modified by evaluated results of actual learning experiences. and whose characteristics depend on and consequently serve for the construction oflearning environments motivating and promoting self-direction.Studies on the validity of the model are presented with respect to the categorical nature ofits constituent elements and with respect to the entire model's postulated structure. The results show that the main elements of the model can repeatedly be replicated and have remarkable stability in their structure. Thus, the "Two-Shells-Model of Motivated Self-Directed Learning" can be regarded as a basically valid and generalizable model for various aspects of motivated self--directed learning.The main issues offuture research concern the question of how particular aspects of learning experience will contribute to future developments ofinterest.Autonomy and self-direction are traditional issues of learning and instruction. In education, among the various contributors to this theme, Herbart (1965) already stated that virtue as the primordial aim of education not only depends on the strength of man's moral character ("Charakterstarke del' Sittlichkeit") but also on the development of a multilateral interest ("Vielseitiges Interesse"). In the first part of this century, Montessori (1913) emphasised the child's ability to solve learning tasks independently ("polarisation of attention") if stimulated by a carefully prepared environment. About thirty years ago, Bruner's (1960Bruner's ( , 1961 controversially discussed concept of discovery learning (cf., Ausubel, Novak, and Hanesian, 1968) was one source of further research on the role of curiosity in learning (e.g., Nebel', 1981) and stimulated a number of learner oriented instructional methods in which the role of the: teacher shifted from instructor to advisor (e.g., Frey, 1982). Also with regard to self-direction in learning, a first attempt was made to describe this ph...
With their contribution about "self-regulation in the classroom", Monique Boekaerts and Lyn Corno (2005) open a broadly founded "perspective on assessment and intervention" and introduce a considered and distinctive judgment of the actual situation and of future evolution in this domain.With regard to possible implications of the meaning of "capacity to self-regulate" the authors include general as well as domain-specific selfregulatory skills in this notion, and in addition, point out different aspects that are emphasised by the various models explaining self-regulation as a complex element in the interaction of learning and instruction. On the basis of this comprehensive understanding of the issue, they address the main aspects of research related to their theoretical view; the instruments suitable for capturing the characteristics of self-regulation; the interventions appropriate for the investigation of its effects; and the contexts necessary for a comprehensive interpretation of the findings.Because of this quite exhaustive coverage of the field (at least for traditions of educational psychology in the English-speaking world), this commentary cannot refer to all the topics mentioned by the authors. It will therefore concentrate on a cross-sectional view of the more formal aspects, and in particular of the methodological themes these authors articulate. For the same reason only some new references will be cited in this comment and those already cited in Boekaerts and Corno's paper will not be repeated.The authors' outline of the variety of theoretical approaches to SRL in classrooms makes readers aware of the wide range of possible explanations of self-regulation. However, we also become aware of their relative incongruence. In this light it is not surprising that the more comprehensive ideas about self-regulation mainly contribute to a better understanding of the phenomenon as it appears (e.g. in the choice of distinctive tracks in the
The comment starts with a review of the authors' four phase model of SRL as metacognitive, motivated, and strategic where it is suggested to complete the model with aspects of motivation, emotion, and attribution. Furthermore, integrating theories about "online motivation" within the model's internal regulatory part and framing it with elements of interest theory could increase the explanatory power in view of the dynamics in the regulatory component. The authors' critics of methodological shortcomings and their preference of "in vivo" indicators about learners' tactics is acknowledged although their meaning of "validity" needs further elaboration, especially with regard to a precise definition of adequate parameters that depict significant characteristics of traces and of time-related changes. With respect to the Learning Kit Project, a parallel on-line measure of concurrent motivational and emotional states is suggested as well as an emphasis on regulatory aspects having their source in dynamic interactions between cognition, motivation, and emotion. Regarding the accompanying software, considering the difference in perspectives, roles, and needs of teachers and researchers and to integrate project and software into a more explicit instructional concept could help to realize its promising and challenging target even more efficiently.In the first section of their contribution the authors outline their view of the self-regulated learner as metacognitive, motivated for learning, and strategic. They describe the function of SRL in a model that includes four phases: (1) developing a model of the task, (2) creating goals relative to the model of the task and subsequent selection of appropriate cognitive operations, (3) engaging in the course of learning by applying the chosen tactics and
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