Regulatory Phases in Collaborative Learning

Sobocinski, Malmberg and Järvelä (2017) investigated whether there are differences in collaborative learning sessions between high and low difficulty sessions, from the regulation phases and the types of interaction.

Specifically, the following were examined:

1. the differences between collaborative learning sessions of high and low level of difficulty, 
2. how the three phases of self-regulated learning (forecasting, performance and evaluation) arise in a collaborative environment and 
3. types of interaction. 

Each phase of self-regulated learning is cyclical and consist of metacognitive monitoring which is guided by the learning goals and the environment. The sample consisted of 44 undergraduate education students who worked on complex group tasks for 6 weeks. The participants used an application designed to increase awareness of the cognitive, motivational and emotional processes that arise in the group. The students had to decide how to organize their work to complete the tasks of the session. The task was to design the final term paper which required a review of literature and materials, as well as create evaluation methods and metrics, and design instruction. Being an unstructured task, this task allowed the team to regulate their learning. The interactions were assisted by the application (S-REG), which records the use of cognitive, motivational and emotional processes. The frequencies of the interaction types were calculated for each session, through process mining, video records and S-REG application records.

The results showed differences between the sessions (difficult and easy). In general, the process model of the two sessions was different in that: the teams, in the difficult session, changed between phases more than in the group of the easy session. Specifically, the process model in the easy session team jumped the forecast phase and moved to the performance phase and stayed in that phase because the team could execute the easy task without regulation. In this study it was concluded that the phases of regulation and the types of interaction that support collaboration differ between difficult and easy sessions. This study is relevant to the Series given that it shows us how the teams are regulated differently depending on the demands and complexities of the task.

Sources and further readings:

Sobocinski, M., Malmberg, J., & Järvelä, S. (2017). Exploring temporal sequences of  regulatory phases and associated interactions in low-and high-challenge collaborative learning sessions. Metacognition and Learning, 12(2), 275-294.