Olga Kokoulina

Abstract

Fostering self-regulation through the learning experience of an in-depth research module

This project focuses on the learning environment as an integral component of the strategy of promoting students’ self-regulation. Guided by the imperative to provide for and actively encourage students’ autonomy, it revolves around designing and improving a research-based module of the course taught in spring semester 2020. By analyzing and justifying the decisions made with regard to distinct attributes of the module, the project provides an example of modeling a research-based component of the course, with consideration paid to the importance of the students’ autonomy. According to the students’ feedback, the module has been successfully received. The survey responses also indicate that the project’s intention to demonstrate autonomysupportive teacher behavior has been fully realized. It is important to acknowledge that the focus on adjusting the learning environment alone is not sufficient in bringing about students’ self-regulation. More factors should be considered, and more adjustments are naturally needed to achieve the desired learning outcome. However, given the attractive prospects of scalability of this online project, focus on teachers’ behavior might be an instrumental platform to explore and improve other dimensions of student-centered teaching as well.