Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) aims to address the need to “learn to learn” successfully, a skill in demand in 21st century society. It is an active and constructive process by which students sets their own goals while trying to monitor, regulate and control their thoughts, motivation and behavior in accordance with those goals (Pintrich, 2000). The four areas that encompass the process of self-regulated learning are behavior, motivation, cognition and context.
Knowledge is recognized to be the result of interaction between individuals and the environment, thus, revealing the importance that context plays in teaching processes (Huber, 2008). So, SRL can be socially regulated through activities supported by others (co- regulation) (Hadwin et al. 2011) or when individuals negotiate their perceptions, objectives and strategies during shared tasks. Regulation thus occurs in tasks carried out independently, cooperatively or collaboratively, leading to changes in individual knowledge, beliefs and strategies (Molenar & Jarvela, 2014). These changes, which are transferred to the new tasks, have the ultimate purpose of personally adapting the regulatory activity.
Given the importance of the social dimension, it seems only appropriate for education to start working in contexts and activities that integrate this dimension. By encouraging students to be active in their own learning process and connecting to a virtual learning community, the potential of web 2.0 is considerable (Siemens. 2006). Specifically, academic social networks are work environments that enable the development of these skills and represent a knowledge network to promote information acquisition and the joint construction of knowledge. They have become allies in the development of SRL. However, the likelihood that this occurs depends on the type of teaching proposed with respect to the three basic components of the didactic triangle: the content to be taught and learned, the activity of teachers and the activity of student.
This paper presents a study analyzing an experience at the University of Santiago de Compostela, worked with the ELGG open source platform. It is a social network that includes a variety of tools such as discussion forums, blogs, micro-blogging in the main space, friend lists, activities screen, personal walls, calendars, bookmarks, pages and the ability to add comments to contributions made by classmates. This study focused on a core subject in the 3rd year of the degree in Education analyzed in the 2013-2014 course, which used Blended Learning. The proposed methodology involved the elaboration of student e- Portfolios with a personal space for their learning process to be evidenced.
The basic idea is that the less structured an activity is, the more learning strategies are implemented. This is a fundamental aspect of self-regulated learning. Therefore, little is provided in the way of specific guidelines so as not to constrain the process. Instead, conscious decision-making is fostered. Thus, each personal web space is different because, although there is a guided path for everyone to work on, the trail is built with those elements that students individually integrate into their space. At the same time, however, there is also collaborative learning, because even though group members represent interdependent agents of self-regulation, they constitute a social entity that imposes group possibilities and limitations as well as individual commitment (Banks et.al, 2004). This paper delves into the social self-regulated learning of students enrolled in the subject mentioned, analyzing what happens in the context, how the process of exchange that is stimulated by self-regulatory processes develops and what impact it all has on student achievement. Specifically, we delve into whether changes exist in the mode and number of interactions that occur throughout the course, and we will examine whether these variations point to improvement in the processes.