4/7/2021 Flipped learning: Bringing self-regulated learning to the forefront — Robert Talbert, Ph.D.

← , ..
Flipped learning: Bringing self-regulated learning to the forefront
By Robert Talbert • Jan th • Tags: Flipped learning, Teaching, Research

ote: This post originally appeared at the blog of the Flipped Learning Global Initiative.

N
There are times when we teachers have moments of clarity about our students, when the big picture comes into view. Although
we can be overwhelmed by the parts of conducting a class --- the tests, the homework, the grading --- on good days, we grasp the
meaning of what we are doing. And that ultimate meaning isn't merely to get students to get good grades or to pass a final exam. In-
stead, our job is to look forward into the future and prepare each of our students to be skilled, confident learners who have the abilit-
ies and the desire to learn new things throughout their lives.

Lifelong learners come in all shapes and sizes, but they have certain characteristics in common: They their learning
think about and plan

activities before they engage in them. They what they do when they learn, not only the cognitive processes but also their emo-
monitor

tions, behavior, even their physical surroundings. They exert over their learning, selecting appropriate strategies and tasks
control

without the need for a teacher to tell them what to do, and they make changes when it becomes apparent that what they are doing isn't
working as well as it could. And they on what they do when learning something, once the task is over, to analyze whether their
re lect

choices were effective and how they might do better next time.

The kind of learning that exhibits these skills, attitudes, and behaviors is known as self-regulated learning. Self-regulated learning
was first formally studied by psychologists in the 's and 's. One of the foremost researchers in this area, Barry Zimmerman,
described it as follows:

Self-regulation is not a mental ability or an academic performance skill; rather it is the self-directive process by which learners transform their mental abilities into

academic skills. Learning is viewed as an activity that students do for themselves in a proactive way rather than as a covert event that happens to them in reaction to

teaching. Self-regulation refers to self-generated thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are oriented to attaining goals (Zimmerman, 2002).

So a self-regulating learner not only has abilities and skills, she has the "meta-ability" to her existing abilities into
transform skills, new

and she is able to do so under her own power and direction. And this is done in an active way, oriented toward attaining certain end
goals that she desires.

Another prominent researcher in self-regulated learning, Paul Pintrich, described self-regulated learning as occupying four of areas

regulation (cognition, motivation, behavior, and context) and four of regulation, combined into the following grid that shows
phases

the kinds of tasks that self-regulating learners engage in (Pintrich, ):

rtalbert.org/flipped-learning-srl/ 1/3
4/7/2021 Flipped learning: Bringing self-regulated learning to the forefront — Robert Talbert, Ph.D.

A self-regulating learner will traverse most, if not all, of the sixteen activities described in this table in any significant learning task.

Self-regulated learning is an ideal state, one that --- when we have those moments of clarity --- we want all our students to attain, and
one that we believe all students attain
can eventually. It's on us as teachers to help students make incremental but measurable steps
along this journey while we have them in our classes.

How do we do that? I believe it's all about the learning environment we make for students. And I'm convinced that flipped learning is
the simplest and most effective way to help students become self-regulating learners.

Consider the alternative. In a traditional class design, students spend valuable class time simply receiving information and getting
first contact with new ideas, which overwhelmingly o en happens through passive listening to a lecture. Then when it's time for stu-
dents to do interesting things with this information, they are on their own, away from friends and experts. This sounds more like the
of self-regulated learning, where instead of becoming confident and independent, students are instead creating unhealthy de-
opposite

pendencies upon other people to tell them what to know, what to do, and how to think.

But in a flipped learning environment, all the pieces are in place to bring self-regulated learning to the forefront. A well-designed
flipped learning environment supports self-regulated learning by giving students actual practice with self-regulation every day. Let's
consider a few specific ways this can happen:

When students in a flipped learning environment are encountering new ideas in their pre-class work, we can coach them on forethought

and planning in several ways. For example, we can explicitly list the learning objectives that we have for them in the pre-class activity, so
students will have a sense of what they should be learning as they learn. Giving a split list of learning objectives with the pre-class as-
signment --- one "Basic" that describes what students should learn prior to class, and the other "Advanced" that shows what students
will learn during and following class --- can help teach students how to set goals for learning tasks and make good decisions about how
to focus their energies in preparing for class (and how not to feel guilty for not learning before class).
everything

In a flipped learning environment, we have a lot more time and space for active learning tasks than in a traditional environment.
Therefore we can ask students not to do more workbut . For example, we can give students questions that ask them to plan out a
go deeper

solution before working it out. We can build in times for the whole class to stop working and talk about their thought processes. We
can give groups tasks tha t involve looking back over the work of the group and commenting not only on the correctness of the work
but the quality of the group interactions and what they would do differently next time. All of these are prime characteristics of self-
regulated learning that fit perfectly in an enhanced time frame for group work.
Finally, we can continue the process of self-regulated learning once the class meeting is over, by giving out-of-class work that specific-
ally asks students to engage in self-regulated learning behaviors, especially Pintrich's "Reaction and reflection" stage. For example, we

rtalbert.org/flipped-learning-srl/ 2/3
4/7/2021 Flipped learning: Bringing self-regulated learning to the forefront — Robert Talbert, Ph.D.
can place out-of-class assignments inside metacognitive wrappers that ask students to reflect, react, and evaluate their work and not
just "get it done". In a flipped environment, this can even be done as part of pre-class work by including questions aimed at reflection
and reaction on the class meeting's work.
previous

Self-regulated learning is what we see when we are clear about what we really want for our students in the long haul. It's no easy task,
but our course designs can help, and the flipped learning environment provides possibly the best environment of all to help our stu-
dents get there.

References

Pintrich, P. R. ( ). A conceptual framework for assessing motivation and self-regulated learning in college students. Educational Psy-

chology Review, ( ), – . Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com/index/U N K X .pdf

Zimmerman, B. ( ). Becoming a self-regulated learner: An overview. , ( ), – .

Theory into Practice

http://doi.org/ . /s tip _

Home • About • Speaking • Book • Workbook • Newsletter •

© Robert Talbert, Ph.D.  • 

rtalbert.org/flipped-learning-srl/ 3/3