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In a previous post, we talked about how to set goals and help keep up motivation with learning resolutions you may have for the year. Those tips are all about keeping yourself moving forward, but what should you be doing to help set yourself up for success? To explore this question, let’s talk about a research-based framework called “self-regulated learning.”
Before diving in, take a moment to reflect on the question, “What is that successful learners do differently from those that struggle?” Your first thought may be that they are just wired differently; it is easier for them to remember information or stay focused. Research finds that, whether consciously or not, they tend to have a specific approach, which is described as a “self-regulated learning cycle.” It consists of planning, monitoring, and reflecting on their learning. Let’s go over what each of these phases entails and how you can think about including them in your learning plans.
Planning
As we discussed in our earlier post, setting effective goals is important. But successful learners don’t just leave their goals to chance, they develop concrete plans. This kind of planning requires considering a number of factors, like breaking up what the goal entails into smaller pieces, matching strategies to activities, organizing resources, and managing time. Many people struggle, in particular, with accurately estimating how long things will take. When starting out on a new learning goal, they may run into a challenge when they realize they’ll need to devote more time to it than they initially thought.
The planning phase is also an important time to check in with your own beliefs and motivations. As we discussed in an earlier post, having a “growth mindset” can help frame moments of difficulty in ways that help you persist. Roadblocks happen; when they do, will you view it as a challenge you can overcome, or evidence that you just don’t have what it takes? Before diving in, remind yourself that you’ll be able to succeed if you react flexibly and strategically.
Monitoring
Once you have a plan in place, it's time to implement it, mindfully. Unfortunately, to borrow Robert Burns’ famous quote, “The best laid schemes of mice and men go oft awry.” So it is critical to be able to adapt as you follow your plan. One thing to monitor is your own attention. In this era of smartphones and multiple tabs (spread across multiple browsers, across multiple screens, across multiple devices, and so on!), it is exceedingly easy to let one’s mind wander off the task they started on. Simple techniques like using a pomodoro timer is a great place to start, but if you are struggling with this, you can also look into more targeted solutions, like apps or programs that limit what you can access on your device.
Along with helping yourself stay focused, it is important to periodically gauge your own understanding. It is easy to read something and feel like you’ve retained it, but how can you be more confident you really did master it? Some common techniques include quizzing yourself (like with flash cards), or trying to explain a concept to someone else. Frequently, these kinds of activities can help reveal areas where we may have been overestimating our learning.
Reflecting
You kept yourself on task and checked in to make sure you were really getting what you needed out of the learning activity. Great! To try to ensure that you continue making progress, it is good to periodically stop and reflect on the overall experience. It can be helpful to consider prompts to guide that kind of reflection:
Some questions to consider. What was the emotional experience of this like, for you? Were there parts that made you feel anxious or down? What about excited and engaged? What can you take away from that, for the next time, whether in terms of things to avoid, strategies to get through difficult moments, or renewed clarity on the areas you want to spend more time on? Similarly, which parts of the learning went better and which areas do you feel like you didn’t master as well as you would have liked?
Seeing lists of questions like these laid out can sometimes make reflection feel like a burdensome step, but even stopping to write down your thoughts on this for two to three minutes can set you up for future success on the next cycle. By checking in with yourself, you can better understand what works best for you, and spend more of your learning time engaging in ways that feel good and lead to better outcomes.
Lifelong learning
As mentioned above, self-regulated learning is really like a set of habits that help keep you going and succeeding. So, as you practice making good plans, monitoring yourself, and reflecting strategically, the steps you take will become more automatic and easier for you to engage with. With practice, they’ll become part of your routine, and just like other mental activities that become automatic, come to feel relatively effortless. In today’s world of lifelong learning, investing in your ability to self-regulate will pay off.
