Self-Regulated Learning and Open Writing

ABSTRACT

In our study, we describe a situation where students take ownership of their learning and, on their own initiative, use digital tools actively in their learning activities. In our research we were interested in students who used weblogs and in the dynamic relationship between students and the weblogs they create. In particular, we were interested in how self-regulated learning was facilitated both by the technology that enables the creation of the weblogs, and in the content, or open writings, that are posted on the weblog.

The article begins with an introduction to weblogs. We then present the results of the analysis of the affordances of weblogs to facilitate self-regulated learning. We used a category system developed by experts from the universities of Aalborg, Amsterdam and Bergen to structure our study of the weblogs which we received from Bergen students. One of our most interesting findings was that students' reflection on both their own learning and access to other's reflections on their learning was a powerful tool to collectively develop a conceptual understanding of a topic. We could call this collective self-regulation.