Self-Regulated Learning

Thinking about why some of my students choose sub-optimal learning strategies encouraged me to re-read a review article in the Annual Review of Psychology. The title and abstract give you a good idea what the article is about.

The article begins by discussing how memory works. For example, we do not store memories akin to a video recording. Nor do we retrieve them akin to mentally pressing the Play button. Instead memories are formed in connection to things we already know. Our storage capacity is not like a USB thumb drive. Long-term memory doesn’t seem to have a maximum limit; but it takes active work to move things to long-term memory. Retrieving information can modify how it is encoded, and often strengthens the memory and its ease of accessibility. That’s why testing yourself is an effective way to learn. While I verbally tell my students this, and it’s also on the “how to study” portion of my syllabus, many students hardly use this strategy. (Maybe I need to shorten it to these five quick points.)

How to monitor one’s own learning effectively is also discussed. The authors summarize research demonstrating that “(a) learners can easily be misled as to whether learning has been achieved, typically resulting in overconfidence, and (b) what people tend to believe about activities that are and are not effective for learning is often at odds with reality.” Learners often unconsciously emphasize their present performance, and do not make appropriate connections to past and future performance. ‘Fluency’, or how easy something feels, also influences (pun intended) assessment of one’s own learning even though such cues can be misleading. For example, interleaving or spacing practice feels harder than mass or blocked practice. Although the former is more effective than the latter, students often mass their learning in a single block because it feels easier. Sometimes difficulty is desirable.

Students under-predict the effectiveness of multiple study trials over a period of time, even though this provides superior performance than cramming. On the flip side, students over-predict how much they think they will be able to remember from when they first encounter new material. I don’t think any of my students would disagree with these statements – they makes sense – but why don’t students act on it? The authors think this is due to presentism. If it’s not affecting your present experience right now, it tends to get ignored.

In a section on “attitudes and assumptions that can impair self-regulated learning”, three important things are discussed. First, students should not be afraid to make errors during the learning process. This can be challenging because making mistakes may affect one’s self-esteem. As I tell my students often: Make the error now so you won’t do it on the exam. When I pose a question, I always try to wait a moment so each student has a chance to individually think or scribble something down before I call on someone to attempt an answer. (This advice is also in my syllabus.) If a student just hears the answer right after the question, this ‘fluency’ can be self-deceptive: Of course it’s obvious when someone tells you the answer. Erring, however, is important for learning.

Second, the authors note “an over-appreciation in our society of the role played by innate differences among individuals in determining what can be learned and how much can be learned… coupled with an under-appreciation of the power of training, practice and experience.” And third, students assume that learning should be easy. It isn’t. In fact, it shouldn’t be. Geary’s framework of biologically primary versus secondary information is crucial here.

I’m pleased to say that after my pep talk, more of my P-Chem students have been starting to work on their problem sets earlier and coming to office hours. I’ve continued to emphasize the importance of finishing the problem set before looking at the solutions and annotating, but I still think some students are not following these instructions to their detriment. That false sense of fluency without the struggle might feel easier, but the needed learning (which is hard) hasn’t taken place. The next exam is coming up in a week so we’ll see.