Effects of mobile-app learning diaries vs online training on specific self-regulated learning components

A review of 13 years of research into antecedents of university students' grade point average (GPA) scores generated the following: a comprehensive, conceptual map of known correlates of tertiary GPA; assessment of the magnitude of average, weighted correlations with GPA; and tests of multivariate models of GPA correlates within and across research domains. A systematic search of PsycINFO and Web of Knowledge databases between 1997 and 2010 identified 7,167 English-language articles yielding 241 data sets, which reported on 50 conceptually distinct correlates of GPA, including 3 demographic factors and 5 traditional measures of cognitive capacity or prior academic performance. In addition, 42 non-intellective constructs were identified from 5 conceptually overlapping but distinct research domains: (a) personality traits, (b) motivational factors, (c) self-regulatory learning strategies, (d) students' approaches to learning, and (e) psychosocial contextual influences. We retrieved 1,105 independent correlations and analyzed data using hypothesis-driven, random-effects meta-analyses. Significant average, weighted correlations were found for 41 of 50 measures. Univariate analyses revealed that demographic and psychosocial contextual factors generated, at best, small correlations with GPA. Medium-sized correlations were observed for high school GPA, SAT, ACT, and A level scores. Three non-intellective constructs also showed medium-sized correlations with GPA: academic self-efficacy, grade goal, and effort regulation. A large correlation was observed for performance self-efficacy, which was the strongest correlate (of 50 measures) followed by high school GPA, ACT, and grade goal. Implications for future research, student assessment, and intervention design are discussed.

Self-regulated learning (SRL) includes the cognitive, metacognitive, behavioral, motivational, and emotional/affective aspects of learning. It is, therefore, an extraordinary umbrella under which a considerable number of variables that influence learning (e.g., self-efficacy, volition, cognitive strategies) are studied within a comprehensive and holistic approach. For that reason, SRL has become one of the most important areas of research within educational psychology. In this paper, six models of SRL are analyzed and compared; that is, Zimmerman; Boekaerts; Winne and Hadwin; Pintrich; Efklides; and Hadwin, Järvelä and Miller. First, each model is explored in detail in the following aspects: (a) history and development, (b) description of the model (including the model figures), (c) empirical support, and (d) instruments constructed based on the model. Then, the models are compared in a number of aspects: (a) citations, (b) phases and subprocesses, (c) how they conceptualize (meta)cognition, motivation and emotion, (d) top–down/bottom–up, (e) automaticity, and (f) context. In the discussion, the empirical evidence from the existing SRL meta-analyses is examined and implications for education are extracted. Further, four future lines of research are proposed. The review reaches two main conclusions. First, the SRL models form an integrative and coherent framework from which to conduct research and on which students can be taught to be more strategic and successful. Second, based on the available meta-analytic evidence, there are differential effects of SRL models in light of differences in students’ developmental stages or educational levels. Thus, scholars and teachers need to start applying these differential effects of the SRL models and theories to enhance students’ learning and SRL skills.