Online learning and self-regulation: balancing between personal and social dimensions

This chapter focuses on research around the field of self-regulation in online learning. The majority of studies in this field have concentrated on metacognitive regulation and not on the social, interactive aspect of self-regulation. This chapter will review relative research in the field of self-regulation and will also report on a study exploring the perceptions of fully online distance learners of four different types of reading activities in relation to some predefined dimensions of self-regulation. The authors were interested in finding out the extent to which the students self-regulated while participating in collaborative reading activities in different online settings. Findings of the study reinforce the significance of social learning, support the adoption of a different role for tutors and also underline the importance of investing in learning design. Implications for practice and future research are also discussed.