Scaffolding the Appropriation of Self-regulatory Activity: A Socio-cultural Analysis of Changes in Teacher–student Discourse about a Graduate Research Portfolio

Abstract

This study informs the design and development of pedagogical agents that can flexibly support self-regulation by calibrating guidance to specific phases and facets of self-regulated learning (SRL) as individuals encounter challenges and develop more sophisticated understandings of the task and content. From a socio-cultural perspective of self-regulation, we examine the transition of self-regulatory control from teacher to graduate student during naturalistic instructional conferences. Three goals included (a) examining teacher-student dialogue about a complex task to see if fading actually occurs, (b) examining whether support and fading of support are calibrated to specific phases of the self-regulatory process at a given point in time, and (c) examining techniques used for scaffolding and fading scaffolding directed toward specific phases and facets (behavioral, cognitive, metacognitive and motivational) of the self-regulatory cycle. Findings support a socio-cultural perspective of SRL demonstrating a transition from teacher to student regulation across phases and facets of SRL. The paper concludes with an examination of how our findings can inform the design of computerbased scaffolds that can support SRL.Consistent with the goals of this special issue, this paper examines the evolution of scaffolding dialogue in face-to-face discussions. Our focus was specifically on the evolution of naturalistic teacher-student dialogue as it occurred in face-to-face instructional conferences early and late in an academic year. We wanted to understand how human agents strategically scaffold self-regulated learning (SRL). Specifically, we explore how learners and instructors monitor, regulate and appropriate control of student self-regulation of task understanding, goal setting/planning, strategy enactment, and reflective adaptation. Students in our study were charged with the task of developing a graduate level research portfolio that evidenced growth and competency in research methods. Rather than comparing the portfolios themselves, or the Instructional Science (2005) 33: 413-450 Ó Springer 2005

e-Portfolios enhancing students’ self-directed learning: A systematic review of influencing factors

“…While mixed-method designs were amongst the explorative studies, they employed qualitative designs for the ascilite larger part. With the exception of the Hadwin, Wozney, and Pontin (2005) study, all qualitative studies measured perceptions of teachers and students about the effectiveness of e-portfolio mediated learning. The Hadwin et al study (2005) described an in-depth exploration of changes in self-regulation strategies over time.…”

“…By gradually fading support and guidance over time, learning becomes more student-directed, a process known as second-order scaffolding (Van Merriënboer & Kirschner, 2013). The Hadwin et al (2005) study explored whether it is useful to arrange e-portfolios in such a way that they can scaffold learning much like humans do. The researchers analysed teacher-student dialogue about the contents of portfolios.…”

“…Findings in this study indicate that e-portfolios should mimic the scaffolding role that teachers normally fulfil. Based on the study by Hadwin et al (2005) we suggest that portfolios aimed at facilitating the development of SDL should offer a lot of support (i.e., scaffolds) at the start of a learning task; these scaffolds should gradually fade towards the end of the task. Furthermore at the start of the learning task, scaffolds should be aimed at task definition and cognition.…”

Regulation of emotions in socially challenging learning situations: an instrument to measure the adaptive and social nature of the regulation process

“…Hadwin, Wozney, & Pontin, 2005;Meyer & Turner, 2002) have emphasised how the demands and responsibilities of learning with others can be conceptualised as co-regulated. For Hadwin et al, (2005) co-regulation of learning refers to regulatory instances that occur in-between "teacherdirected regulation" and "student-directed regulation" of learning or SRL. In those instances, more capable others share the regulation responsibility with a less able individual.…”

“…In those instances, more capable others share the regulation responsibility with a less able individual. To capture the idea that the process is not uni-directional but co-regulated, Hadwin et al (2005) point to a combination of both teacher guidance and students' requests. Consistent with a Vygotskyan perspective, it is expected that the responsibility for the regulatory activities is gradually transferred through scaffolded guidance, from more able to less able individuals.…”