Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) Lab at Utah State University
Research Behind
Self-Regulated Learning
The Research
Self-regulation is a concept that has received a great deal of attention in fields such as psychology, education, neuroscience, and athletics. Research regarding self-regulation began with Albert Bandura in the 1970s-1980s. Since then, many researchers have developed models of self-regulation and expanded our understanding of this concept. Different definitions are used, but for our purposes we will define self-regulation as the strategic implementation of a collection of processes to help us achieve goals.
Overlap Among Concepts
Self-regulation is a concept that has received a great deal of attention in fields such as psychology, education, neuroscience, and athletics. Research regarding self-regulation began with Albert Bandura in the 1970s-1980s. Since then, many researchers have developed models of self-regulation and expanded our understanding of this concept. Different definitions are used, but for our purposes we will define self-regulation as the strategic implementation of a collection of processes to help us achieve goals.
A Model of Self-Regulation
Pictured below is a model of self-regulation developed by Barry Zimmerman (Zimmerman, 2000). This model can help illustrate how self-regulation consists of skills you may use on a regular basis and maybe some new concepts that are not familiar to you.
Simplifying the Self-Regulation Model
The purpose of this website is not to teach a complicated lesson about self-regulation. For this reason, the model above will be simplified and modified, but a basic understanding is needed if you are going to improve your self-regulation skills.
This model consists of three phases: Prepare, Take Action, and Reflect. Prepare includes forethought and represents what happens before we act or perform (examples: take a test, throw a football, etc...). Take action is performance, it is what we do during a task or an event. Finally, reflect is what we do after a performance. The model shows three arrows which mean that the three phases of self-regulation influence each other. Prepare (what we do before) influences the things we think and do while we are taking action, what we do when taking action will influence our reflection, and our reflection should influence our how we prepare before our next attempt. You may have noticed that this creates a cycle and you will likely need to go through this cycle several times before getting it just right.
Self-regulation is a very broad topic that can apply to almost any action. We can use self-regulation when we are learning things in school, practicing for a sport, developing our professional careers, and in many more situations. When thinking about this model, you should replace the words perform with whatever activity you are working on (e.g., taking a test, running a mile, etc...).