Learners’ skills do not fully explain student achievement. Self-regulated learning is also a factor that can explain achievement differences among students. Self-regulated learning refers to the process by which learners personally activate and sustain cognitions, affects, and behaviors that are systematically oriented toward the attainment of learning goals (Schunk & Zimmerman, 2008). These processes can appear at an individual or a group level. However, research on self-regulated learning has been focusing on individual level, overlooking the specificities of collective self-regulated learning.
Still, there is a growing attention for collaborative work. Group work has become a conerstone of organizational life and it is increasingly being capitalized on in educational settings (Akkerman & al., 2007). In many countries higher education students often work in peer groups on long-term tasks, such as project-based learning, for which ability to collectively self-regulate is paramount to achieve success (Silen & Uhlin, 2008). Research into sociocognitive conflict has shown that relational regulations focused on competence evaluation are less beneficial than epistemic regulations focused on task resolution and progress. If competence is at stake (competence threat), benefits from confrontations can be undermined (Buchs & al., 2004). Furthermore, collective efficacy might be a major variable underlying goal striving (Bandura, 1997, Guzzo & al., 1993). Therefore, it would be useful to gain insight into the processes underlying an efficient collective self-regulation. More specifically, one of the more challenging issue is to develop a consistent taxonomy of the self-regulation strategies group may use to control their motivation, cognition and emotion. For this goal to be achieved, research can use as a starting point taxonomies designed for individual self-regulated learning (e.g Corno, 2001 ; Pintrich, 1999). However, these taxonomies do not explore how students face with difficulty to get to work or to foster self-efficacy. One of the aims of this study is to shed light on these issues.

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