Developing Self-Regulated Learners:

Helping Student-Athletes Choose

Appropriate Learning Techniques

N4A Region II ConferenceOctober 7, 2013Blacksburg, VA

Presenters• Bradley Bethel, Learning Specialist• Tara Anderson, Assistant Learning Specialist,

Doctoral Student• Jessica Keroack, Assistant Learning Specialist,

Doctoral Student• Megan McVea, Assistant Learning Specialist,

Doctoral Student• Latasha Woods, Assistant Learning Specialist,

Doctoral Student

Learning Objectives• Explain self-regulated learning (SRL) and why it’s

an important concept for educators and students.• Describe ten common learning techniques and

how to use them effectively.• Discuss several real-life examples of choosing

appropriate learning techniques.

ReferencesDembo, M. H. & Seli, H. (2013). Motivation and learning strategies for college success: A focus on self-regulated learning (4th ed.). New York: Routledge.

Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K.A., Marsh, E.J., Nathan, & M.J., Willingham, D.T. (2013). Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques: Promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4-58. Print.

Self-Regulated LearningThe Process of Learning

What is learning?Learning is “a process that leads to change, which occurs as a result of experience and increases the potential for improved performance and future learning.” –from Ambrose et al. in How Learning Works

What is self-regulated learning?

• “Learning is not something that happens to students, it is something that happens by students” –Barry Zimmerman

• SRL is an active, systematic process of planning, controlling, and reflecting on one’s experiences to facilitate desired change

Self-Regulated Learning

• Essentially, SRL is what we do before, during, and after learning.

• Four Phases• Self-observation and Evaluation (Before)• Goal setting and Strategic Planning (Before)• Strategic Implementation and Monitoring

(During)• Outcome Monitoring and Self-reflection (After)

• The four phases create an ongoing feedback loop whereby self-reflection leads back to self-observation, and the process starts all over again for the next learning experience.

Strategic Planning• Task analysis: determining what tasks are ahead

and what is required to complete those tasks• Informed by task analysis, the learner then

develops a strategic plan to accomplish the tasks and achieve her or his goals

• For academic tasks, choosing appropriate learning techniques is a critical aspect of strategic planning.

Ten Common Learning Techniques

The Skills of Learning

Ten Common Learning Techniques

• Highlighting or underlining: marking potentially important portions of to-be-learned materials while reading

• Rereading: reviewing text material again after an initial reading

• Practice testing: Self-testing or taking practice tests over to-be-learned material

• Distributed practice: implementing a schedule of practice that spreads out study activities over time

• Elaborative interrogation: generating an explanation for why an explicitly stated fact or concept is true

Ten Common Learning Techniques, cont.

• Self-explanation: explaining how new information is related to known information, steps taken during problem solving

• Imagery for text: Attempting to form mental images of text materials while reading or listening

• Summarization: writing summaries of to-be-learned texts

• Keyword mnemonic: using keywords and mental imagery to associate verbal materials

• Interleaved practice: implementing a schedule of practice that mixes different kinds of problems or a schedule of study that mixes different kinds of material within a single study session

Rating the Learning Techniques

Learning Technique Utility RatingHighlighting/underliningElaborative interrogationKeyword mnemonicImagery for textPractice testingDistributed practiceInterleaved practiceRereadingSelf-explanationSummarization

LowModerateLowLowHighHighModerateLowModerateLow

Highlighting/Underlining

• What: marking material while trying to learn it• Why: isolation effect—a unique item is much

better remembered than its less distinctive counterparts

• When: o Read, then marko Limited amount of text highlightedo Relevant text is highlightedo Students with high prior knowledge o Memorization of discrete facts

Elaborative Interrogation

• What: prompting learners to generate an explanation for an explicitly stated fact

• Why: uses questioning to connect prior knowledge to the new factual information to enhance memory

• When:• On memory tasks and concept relatedness tasks • Students with high prior knowledge• Self-generated elaborations• For discrete factual information

Keyword Mnemonic• What: Using keywords and imagery to associate

verbal materials• Why: effectiveness resides in the use of

interactive images• When:

o For definitions, foreign languages, medical terminology

Imagery for Text• What: creating mental pictures or drawing

pictures of text that is read or heard• Why: enhances the mental organization of

concepts and the integration of new concepts into prior knowledge

• When:• Listening tasks• Concrete/spatial texts, rather than abstract• Free-recall assessment tasks

Practice Testing• What: testing that is completed as a low-stakes or

no-stakes practice or learning activity outside of the class

• Why: improves learning and retention by triggering more effective encoding of information and an elaborative retrieval process

• When:• Used as free recall• For tests that require recall of target information • Multiple practice tests over several distributed sessions with longer

intervals between sessions• Involves retrieval until items are answered correctly more than once

within and across practice sessions• Coupled with feedback

Distributed Practice• What: implementing a schedule of practice that

spreads out study activities over time within a single study session or across sessions

• Why: enhances learning by encouraging long-term retention more than massed learning opportunities (cramming)

• When:• For free recall tasks, short answer, multiple choice, and cued recall• In core domains, such as biology, math, vocabulary, and spelling

Interleaved Practice• What: alternating practice of different subtopics

or problems• Why: Students may better learn how to

distinguish and approach different problem types• When:

o Matho Diagnosing and classifyingo After introduction and practice o With problems or items that students will need to distinguish between

Rereading• What: self-paced reading again to gain greater

improvement in recall of main ideas or details• Why: repeated exposure to materials improves

information processing• When:

• Spaced after moderate delay• Best results after first reread• Strongest results for short answer factual questions

Self-explanation• What: having learners explain some aspect of

their processing during learning• Why: enhances learning by supporting the

integration of new information with prior knowledge

• When:• Occurs during learning • Self-generated explanations • On procedural or problem solving tasks

Summarization• What: extracting key points of a text and

capturing the gist of it while excluding unimportant or repetitive material

• Why: involves attending to and extracting higher level meaning, organizational processing, and connecting disparate pieces of text

• When:• Linked to prior knowledge • Self-generated and synthesized information • Students who are already skilled summarizers and those with prior

knowledge • For generative tests (e.g., short answer, essay)

Choosing Appropriate Learning Techniques:

ExamplesThe Practice of Learning

Example 1: Preparing for a History Exam • Scenario: The student has a History exam in one

week, covering four chapters. The professor has provided a study guide listing 20 identification terms (e.g., concepts, people, places) that students may be required to identify and five essay prompts students may be required to respond to.

• Which learning techniques would you encourage this student to use in preparation for the exam?

• Our suggestions:o Highlighting/underlining key concepts from textso Summarizing important texts or sections of textso Outlining responses to essay promptso Practice testing: use the key terms to develop free recall test questionso Distributed practice: set up a schedule for using each of the techniques

Example 2: Preparing for a Drama Test • Scenario: The student has a Drama exam in four

weeks, covering one play per week. The students will be asked to distinguish between the different dramatic elements of each play.

• Which learning techniques would you encourage this student to use in preparation for the test?

• Our suggestions:o Summarizing each scene of each playo Elaborative interrogation: generate explanations for why particular dramatic

elements are relevant for each playo Interleaved practice: practice comparing and contrasting the dramatics

elements of each playo Practice testing: use self-generated free recall questions and/or questions

from the instructoro Distributed practice: set up a schedule for using each of the techniques

Example 3: Preparing for a Political Science Quiz• Scenario: The student has a Political Science quiz in

two weeks, covering Chapter 2 of the textbook. Specifically, students will be asked to identify the major components of the U.S. executive, legislative, and judicial system , and to distinguish between the functions of each branch.

• Which learning techniques would you encourage this student to use in preparation for the quiz?

• Our suggestions:o Highlighting and re-reading key terms from each chaptero Elaborative interrogation (if the student has prior knowledge)o Interleaved practice: mix up the branches of government during study

sessionso Practice testing: use self-generated free recall questions developed from the

textbook and/or end-of-chapter questionso Distributed practice: set up a schedule for using each of the techniques

Example 4: Preparing for a Psychology Exam • Scenario: The student has a Psychology exam in

four weeks, covering one to two chapters per week.  The exam primarily consists of multiple choice questions.

• Which learning techniques would you encourage this student to use in preparation for the exam?

• Our suggestions:o Highlighting and re-reading key terms from each chaptero Summarizing major sections of each chaptero Practice testing: use self-generated free recall questions developed

from the textbook and/or end-of-chapter questionso Distributed practice: set up a schedule for using each of the techniques

Quiz1. What is self-regulated learning, and why is it

important?o Answer: SRL is an active, systematic process of planning, controlling,

and reflecting on one’s experiences to facilitate desired change

2. What are two high utility learning techniques?o Answer: Practice testing and distributed practice

3. Think of an academic task one of your students has had, and identify a set of learning techniques that might be appropriate for that task.

ConclusionDuring this presentation we accomplished the following objectives:• Explain self-regulated learning (SRL) and why it’s

an important concept for educators and students.• Describe ten common learning techniques and

how to use them effectively.• Discuss several real-life examples of choosing

appropriate learning techniques.Remember: The best strategy is to use a variety of techniques, from low to high utility, in combination.