Self-regulation in improving university education.

Abstract

Methods of improving university education were investigated. Participants were 15 graduate students in a university in Japan. Each participant alternatively took the role of an instructor and a learner. Self-modeling by watching video-recorded instructional activities, and self-monitoring using the Self-Efficacy and Evaluation Scales were conducted as methods of self-regulation. A survey on classroom instructions revealed that self-modeling and self-monitoring were effective methods of improving instructions. These findings support the contention that self-regulation can play a significant role in improving university education.

Introduction

Recent psychological and educational studies have focused on self-directed functions of human nature, including self-regulation.

a) Basic human capabilities. Bandura (1989) has suggested that symbolic capability, vicarious capability, forethought capability, self-regulatory capabilities, and self-reflective capability are fundamental human capabilities.

b) Self-regulation. According to the social cognitive theory, humans possess self-directive abilities that enable them to exercise control over their thoughts, feelings, and actions, based on the consequences of their actions. Psychological functioning is, therefore, regulated by an interplay of self-generated and external sources of influences (Bandura, 1986). Self-regulation also encompasses the self-efficacy mechanism that plays a central role in the exercise of human agency (Bandura, 1991).

c) Self-efficacy. Perceived self-efficacy refers to beliefs in one's capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to produce given attainments (Bandura, 1997). Most studies on instructional self-efficacy have been conducted in the field of elementary and secondary education, whereas only a few studies of higher education have been reported.

d) Modeling and self-modeling. Modeling or observational learning is defined as learning through observing others (Bandura, 1986). New technologies have changed how modeling is conducted and have boosted its instructive power. Self-modeling of successes using videotaped replay has been shown to improve performance (Dowrick, 1983).

Based on psychology and educational technology research on learning and instruction, Itoh (2005) has proposed a new science of "Learning and instructional sciences (LIS)." LIS can clarify learning and instructional phenomena and apply the outcome to human problem solving. LIS treats education as a basic human functioning, and it has broader perspectives than ordinary teaching and learning studies that focus on school education.

LIS emphasizes the significance of self-investigation, which is a general term for investigating ourselves. It encompasses self-regulation, self-efficacy, self-reflection, self-monitoring, self-evaluation, self-esteem, and self-consciousness among others. It is based on the conception of human beings that advocate self-directedness of human nature.

As exemplified by the statement of Socrates' "Know thyself," self-investigation is a basic quest of human beings. It is also a challenge to contemporary psychology that has long been neglecting because certain notions, such as the one that this question is "unscientific." Itoh (1992) has analyzed her own learning processes as a second language learner, measured learning self-efficacy, and developed a video depicting the learning processes. This study has become the starting point of self-investigation in LIS. Itoh (2006) has proposed research methods for self-investigation related to LIS, in which the possibility of using media technologies as objective tools is discussed. These methodologies are expected to shed new light on an old question.

Recent trends in higher education in Japan 

In 1991, the Japanese Ministry of Education formulated new policies for the reform of higher education. In 1993, the National Institute of Multimedia Education (NIME) inaugurated a project to apply new approaches to improve university education. One bottom-up approach involves the active participation of university teachers and students in improving their own classroom activities. Another is a field of study focusing on actual instructional situations that have been regarded as sacrosanct in Japanese universities. For over ten years, the author has been involved in a series of projects striving to improve university education, which convinced her that the active participation by learners and instructors is important in this respect, and that this type of bottom-up approach could be a driving force in reforming higher education in Japan.

Promoting self-regulation by learners and instructors in university education

There is a proverb, "Wise men learn by other men's mistakes, while fools learn by their own mistakes." The development of media technology, however, has enabled us to "learn by our own mistakes" and still be considered wise. In this study, instructors video-recorded their instructional activities. Then, they watched these videos as a self-modeling tool to improve their instructions. Instructors were expected to think of ways to enhance appropriate behaviors and to correct inappropriate ones. By completing the Self-Efficacy and Evaluation Scales, learners and instructors were encouraged to monitor their own classroom activities, to clarify current problems, and to find clues for improving their activities. The terms "student" and "teacher" refer to the attributes of a person, whereas "learner" and "instructor" refer to the roles that a person take. Thus, a "student" could become an "instructor," and a "teacher" could become a "learner."

Method

The purpose of this study was to identify effective methods for promoting active participation in learning and instructional process by both learners and instructors with the final purpose of improving university education. The participants were 15 graduate students at a university in Japan who were enrolled in a course in learning, instruction, and evaluation.

(a) Lecture by students

A total of 13 sessions were conducted during the course. At the end of the orientation session, students completed the Learning Self-Efficacy Scale (pre course). Appendix 1 shows items designed for measuring learning self-efficacy. During the eight sessions, each student took an instructor's role and gave two lectures each of 15-minute duration (Lectures 1 and 2) about a topic that interested them, while the other students and the teacher took learners' roles. [Figure ONE] Figure 1 shows the cycle of self-regulation.

(b) Survey on instructional activities for instructors: Lecture 1 (repeated for Lecture 2)

i). Instructional Self-Efficacy I: The instructors completed the Instructional Self-Efficacy Scale before giving instructions. The instructors indicated their confidence on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 indicating (low) and l0 indicating (high) confidence in their instructions. Items for measuring instructional self-efficacy are shown in Table 1. See issue website http://rapidintellect.com/AEQweb/win2006.htm Items I-5 were common to all instructors, whereas items used by the instructor could replace items 6-10.

ii). Instructional experiences/Video-Recordings I: The lecture given by the instructors was video-recorded.

iii). Self-Evaluation of Instruction I: Instructors completed the Self-Evaluation of Instruction Scale before watching the video. Satisfaction was measured on a scale of 1 to 4, with 1 indicating (low) and 4 indicating (high) satisfaction.

iv). Instructors watching Video I: Instructors watched the self-modeling video of the lecture. They itemized positive and negative aspects about the instructions. They also classified the items in relation to the instructional self-efficacy items. The same procedure was repeated for Lecture 2, with the exception that after watching the video of the second lecture, instructors compared the items that were negative in Instruction I with those of Instruction II and itemized other positive and negative aspects about the instructions that they noticed. They also classified the items in relation to items in the Instructional Self-Efficacy Scale.

v). Instructional Self-Efficacy II: The instructors completed the Instructional Self-Efficacy Scale for the subsequent instruction. Procedures were identical to Instructional Self-Efficacy I.

vi). Usefulness of activities for improving instructions: The instructors completed the Usefulness of Activities for Improving Instructions Scale. Usefulness was measured on a scale of 1 to 4, with 1 indicating (low) and 4 indicating (high) usefulness. They also noted the reasons for their ratings.

(c) Survey on instructional activities for learners: Lecture 1 (repeated for Lecture 2)

After receiving instructions, the learners completed the Learners' Evaluation of Instruction Scale. Satisfaction was measured on a scale of 1 to 4, with 1 indicating (low) and 4 indicating (high) satisfaction. They also itemized positive and negative aspects about the instructions.

(d) Survey on summative evaluation

In the final session of the course, a summative evaluation survey was administered. It consisted of evaluation of instructional activities by the teacher and students, self-evaluation of learning activities, students' interests in the content of the lectures, usefulness of the activities for learning, learning self-efficacy for a subsequent course (post course), and free descriptions about the course.

Results and Discussion

See issue website http://rapidintellect.com/AEQweb/win2006.htm

Figure 2 shows the instructors' evaluation of the usefulness of activities for improving instructions related to Lectures 1 and 2. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) of Activities X Periods was conducted on the mean degree of usefulness. There was a significant main effect of Activity. The F value (3, 48) equaled 3.95, therefore the p value was less than .05. Post hoc analysis using a Tukey's q-test revealed that watching the self-modeling video of giving instructions was rated higher than responding to the surveys on instructions, regardless of the period. These results suggest that instructors benefited from watching the self-modeling video.

Figure 3 shows the changes in instructional self-efficacy scores by item before and after Instructional Experiences I and II. As shown in Figure 1, the procedures were identical to Lectures l and 2. An ANOVA (Items X Periods) was conducted on the mean strength of instructional self-efficacy. There was a significant main effect of Period. The F value (3, 195) equaled 5.10; therefore the p value was less than .01. A post hoc analysis using Tukey's q-test revealed that Instructional Self-Efficacy increased in the fourth period, regardless of the items. That is, it increased after Instructional Experiences I and 11, and after watching the self-modeling videos of these instructions. These results suggest that performance accomplishment and self-modeling are effective sources of self-efficacy information.

Table 1 shows what the instructors actually learned through self-modeling in relation to instructional self-efficacy items for Lecture 2. Comparisons of Instructions I and II were categorized into "improved," "partly improved," and "unimproved." A chi-square test revealed that the total number of descriptions of "improved" were significantly more than those of "unimproved." The chi-square value (2, N=35) equaled 19.26, therefore the p value was less than .001. These results suggest that the instructors actually "learned by their own mistakes." That is, they used the videos as a self-modeling tool to improve their instructions.

Table 2 shows relationships between self-modeling and self-efficacy of instructors for Lecture 2. Comparisons of Instructional Self-Efficacy Ill and IV were categorized into "increased," "unchanged," and "decreased." A chi-square test revealed that self-modeling and self-efficacy are not independent of each other. The chi-square value (4, N=35) equaled 40.60, therefore the p value was less than .001. Improvement of instructions through self-modeling was related to an increase of instructional self-efficacy. These results suggest that self-modeling, which is a vicarious experience of our own performance, is also an effective sources of self-efficacy information.

Figure 4 shows relationships between learning self-efficacy before the course, self-evaluation of learning activities, and learning self-efficacy for a subsequent course. The correlation between the ratings on learning self-efficacy (pre course) and self-evaluation of learning activities was significant. Correlation coefficient equaled .682, therefore the p value was less than .05. The higher was the self-efficacy before the course, the higher was the self-evaluation of learning activities.

The partial correlation coefficient that deleted the effects of learning self-efficacy (pre course), between the rating scores on self-evaluation of learning activities and learning self-efficacy for a subsequent course (post course) was significant. Correlation coefficient equaled .883, therefore the p value was less than .01, indicating that higher performance accomplishments were correlated with higher self-efficacy ratings for subsequent classroom activities. This finding is consistent with Bandura's theory of self-efficacy, which posits that performance accomplishment is the most effective source of self-efficacy information among various sources, such as vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion, and emotional arousal.

The correlation between rating scores on learning self-efficacy (pre course) and learning self-efficacy for a subsequent course (post course) was significant. Correlation coefficient equaled .732; therefore the p value was less than .05. This finding indicates that higher was the self-efficacy before the course, higher was serf-efficacy for subsequent classroom activities.

Changes in learning self-efficacy scores before and alter taking the course were also analyzed by item. An ANOVA (Items X Periods) was conducted on the mean strength of learning self-efficacy. There was a significant main effect of Period. The F value (1, 110) equaled 52.46; therefore the p value was less than .01. Post hoc analysis using Tukey's q-test revealed that learning self-efficacy increased after taking the course regardless of the item. These results suggest that performance accomplishment is an effective source of self-efficacy information.

Figure 5 shows learners' evaluation of the usefulness of activities for learning. An ANOVA was conducted on the mean degree of usefulness. There was a significant effect. The F value (6, 77) equaled 2.59; therefore the p value was less than .05. Post hoc analysis using Tukey's q-test revealed that the lecture by students was rated higher than responding to surveys on instruction. The course under evaluation in this investigation was designed to encourage the active participation by students. The results suggest that this goal was successfully attained.

All the results discussed here are consistent with Itoh (2004) in which 68 graduate students from 7 graduate courses in 3 Japanese universities participated. The research methods of Itoh were nearly identical to those of the current study, with the exception that instructors gave only one lecture. In the present study, by analyzing two lectures by the same instructor, the actual process of self-modeling and the relationships between self-modeling and self-efficacy have been clearly identified.

Conclusion

The purpose of this study was to identify effective methods for promoting self-regulation by learners and instructors with the final aim of improving university education. A survey on classroom instructions revealed that the use of information technology for self-modeling, such as video-recordings, self-monitoring using Self-Efficacy and Evaluation Scales, helped learners and instructors improve performance and self-efficacy. Instructors' evaluation of the usefulness of activities and the actual learning through videos suggest that instructions improved as a result of self-modeling. Moreover, instructional self-efficacy increased after instructional experiences and watching the self-modeling videos, suggesting that performance accomplishments and self-modeling are effective sources of self-efficacy information. Furthermore, self-evaluation of learning activities increased learning self-efficacy for a subsequent course. Learning self-efficacy also increased after taking the course. These results are consistent with Bandura's theory of self-efficacy, which postulates that performance accomplishment is the most effective source of self-efficacy information. The above findings support the contention that self-regulation can play a significant role in improving university education.

Acknowledgment 

This paper was read in part at the 26th International Congress of Applied Psychology, Athens, Greece, 2006. The starting point of the present research can be traced back to a self-experimentation conducted, while the author was studying as a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Psychology at Stanford University from November 1, 1991 to June 30, 1992. I am grateful to Albert Bandura for his invaluable guidance and encouragement, which has been continuous since then.

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Hideko Itoh, National Institute of Multimedia Education, Japan

Itoh is Professor of Learning and Instructional Sciences in the Department of Research and Development.