The effects of self-regulation and instructional control on learning behaviour and performance of undergraduate nursing students

Abstract

Blended learning is the thoughtful integration of classroom face-to-face learning with online learning experiences. The design of blended learning environments impacts student learning behaviour and in turn learning outcomes. Although some attributes for successful online learning are being reported, further research on what makes online learning effective is needed. This study investigated the effect of mastery learning (ML) versus self-directed learning (SDL) as instructional strategies for the online part of a blended course. ML is characterized by program controlled, linear learning paths. SDL is characterized by student controlled, non-linear learning paths. Participants for this study were 159 freshmen undergraduate nursing students. Two online learning environments were created with identical content but different instructional strategy (ML vs. SDL). Participants were assigned to a learning environment based on their campus and completed the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) to measure self-reported self-regulatory learning at the beginning of the semester. All online activity was tracked from participants over the course of eight weeks prior to an online exam. Results showed that students from the ML-condition showed significantly more online actions compared to SDL students (M = 483 vs. 283 F(1,154) = 18.6, p < .001). Also this group completed more quizzes (M = 15 vs. 7 F(1,155) = 65.0 p < .001). No difference was found between conditions for exam results. No differences were found based on students self-reported self-regulation. These findings show that while the quantity of learning activity was influenced through the design of the learning environment the quality was not.