Exercise - Self-regulated learning
In this exercise, you'll go through some scenarios and reflect on how much self-regulated learning is applied.
Reflect on self-regulated learning to solve problems
Imagine you're mentoring some of your team members to help them approach training strategically. Take a moment to read each of the following scenarios in which you're interacting with team members. Use the questions after each scenario to reflect on how self-regulated learning is (or isn't) applied. Optionally, capture your thoughts on a device or on paper.
Scenario 1
A team member asks you for help during the training session. You ask to review the pseudocode for the program he's working on. He spends a few minutes searching for it in a pile of disorganized notes. He tells you, "I've spent more time on this program than I expected to. I keep feeling like I'm starting from scratch. I'm not getting anywhere."
Scenario 1 reflective questions
What's the significance of the learner's disorganization?
- Possible answer: One way to work strategically is to keep notes about what you're doing and how your approach is working. This learner has disorganized notes. This could mean that he's approaching the task in a haphazard way.
Why and how do you think the learner's disorganization is contributing to his feelings about his progress?
- Possible answer: His disorganized notes make it difficult to review what he's done. So he doesn't recognize the progress he's made.
What steps should you suggest he take to approach the training more strategically?
- Possible answer: You could suggest that he start a log in which he records the steps he's taking. Suggest that he record his plan and whether his steps are successful. Explain that these notes will help him accurately assess his progress.
Scenario 2
Part of the training requires that team members work in groups to develop and test practice code. One team seems excited about their design and its implementation. When they run the program, their excitement fades as they count the runtime errors. You overhear one person remark, "I just want to give up. Our design was perfect!"
Scenario 2 reflective questions
Why are the team members feeling deflated?
- Possible answer: They expected the code to work the first time. When it didn't, they were disappointed.
Where are they in their self-regulated feedback loop? What's their next step?
- Possible answer: They're in the "act" or "try" stage, where they've tested their plan and have results from the test. The next step is to modify the plan and test it again. In this case, that means modifying their code and running the program again.
What can you say to help them move forward?
- Possible answer: Remind them that failure is a part of learning and that it's normal and even expected. Suggest they write down what they think went wrong and what they need to do to adjust the code. Then recommend that they modify the code, run the program again, and determine whether it works. Tell them to continue taking notes and following the iterative process, making changes to the code and implementing the changes until they're successful.
Scenario 3
A team member participating in training is struggling with an in-course task. She asks you for help. The task is to write the high-level steps, called pseudocode, for a code procedure. The team member can articulate the code's objectives but is reluctant to write down the steps. She explains, "I won't really know if this is going to work until I try it."
Scenario 3 reflective questions
Why might the team member feel reluctant about committing to the steps of the pseudocode?
- Possible answer: She might feel that the plan she writes needs to work before she documents it. She wants to write it down only when she can guarantee it works.
What can you say to help her work more strategically?
- Possible answer: You could reassure her that plans are rarely 100 percent correct. Explain that most plans change a little (or a lot) during development. Remind her of the three-step iterative feedback loop. The pseudocode is only a starting plan that she'll typically adjust if or when parts of it don't work.
Scenario 4
You notice a team member trying to debug a block of code. He's making frequent revisions to it and getting errors every time he runs it. He spends almost the entire lab time on one block of code and grows increasingly stressed and upset.
Scenario 4 reflective questions
What can you suggest to the team member that will help him work on the problem strategically?
- Possible answer: You could suggest that he keep a list or log of what he's tried to fix and note the result of each change he's made.
Where is he in his self-regulated feedback loop?
- Possible answer: He's in the "act" or "try" stage. He'll need to continue trying different options until he's successful.
What parts of the self-regulated feedback loop is he missing? How could he benefit from incorporating those parts?
- Possible answer: He isn't keeping track of what he's doing and whether his steps are successful. That, in turn, means he's not using that information to modify his plan. If he mindfully modifies his plan based on the results, he'll be working strategically. Even if his problem doesn't get solved, he'll have a tangible record of what he tried, what he learned from trying, and whether the results were successful.