Self-Regulated Learning in an Online Competency-Based Education Course

Abstract

An increase in competency-based education (CBE) courses have been on the rise at higher education institutions. CBE courses are generally self-paced (Leuba, 2015) and allow students to utilize prior knowledge to complete assessments they are familiar with and spend more time on less familiar topics (Colson & Hirumi, 2017; Leuba, 2015). Self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies allow students to be empowered, be self-aware of how they learn, and allow them to be more academically successful (Zimmerman, 2002). Little research was available on how students utilize SRL strategies in an online CBE course.This interpretative study was to better understand how students self-regulate their learning in an online CBE course and what course features support self-regulation. Through interviews with undergraduate students enrolled in an online CBE course, instructors who taught this CBE course, and instructional designers who designed this CBE course, these topics were explored in detail. Findings from this study included identifying six self-regulated learning strategies that students utilized in their online CBE course: These strategies were related to the use of the course dashboard and the course structure and included (1) motivation, (2) goal setting, (3) external feedback, (4) time management, (5) progress monitoring, and (6) assessment feedback. Instructional designers who developed the course pointed to the course dashboard, course structure, course content, and communication strategies as key design features to support self-regulation while instructors indicated they used communication, goal setting, and feedback on assessments. A discussion of the findings, implication to theory, practical applications, limitations of the study, and recommendations for future research are also discussed.