A Review of Self-regulated Learning: Six Models and Four Directions for Research

Winne and Hadwin’s model of SRL has a strong metacognitive perspective that recognizes self-regulated students as active and managing their own learning via monitoring and the use of, mainly, (meta)cognitive strategies (Winne, 1995, 1996, 1997; Winne and Hadwin, 1998) while asserting the goal driven nature of SRL and the effects of self-regulatory actions on motivation (Winne and Hadwin, 2008). It has been a widely used model, especially in research implementing computer supported learning settings (Panadero et al., 2015b).

History and Development of the Model

Winne and Hadwin’s model is strongly influenced by the Information Processing Theory (Winne, 2001; Greene and Azevedo, 2007), exploring the cognitive and metacognitive aspects of SRL in more detail than the other SRL models with the exception of Efklides’. Some of Phil Winne earliest ideas that led to the model can be traced to his conceptualization of SRL as a fusion of information processing and information processed (Winne, 1995) and Butler and Winne (1995) in their theoretical review of feedback and SRL, in which the concept of internal feedback had a major role and the first version of the model was presented (Figure 1 in Butler and Winne, 1995). Additionally, they presented a second figure in which they explored the different profiles a goal can take and the discrepancy between the goal aims and the current state of work monitoring (Figure 2 in Butler and Winne, 1995). In 1996, Winne presented an updated version of his model (Figure 8) in which the two just mentioned figures were fused into one, along with a reflection about the metacognitive aspects that explains the differences in SRL (Winne, 1996). In 1997, he presented the COPES script ideas -see next section- (Winne, 1997). Finally, in 1998, a new version of his model was released (Figure 9) including more details and a clearer presentation of COPES (Winne and Hadwin, 1998). It is usually the latter work that is cited when the model is referenced: Winne and Hadwin instead of Winne’s model. That denomination is also used in this review for now onward to keep the consistency with the SRL community, but it is important to keep in mind that the model was firstly presented in previous work (Winne, 1996, 1997). Additionally, these two authors, while collaborating in usual basis, have followed different paths within SRL research as signaled by different chapters in the 2011 SRL handbook (Hadwin et al., 2011; Winne, 2011). Winne has continue examining (meta)cognitive aspects of the model, such as his work on gStudy and nStudy (Winne et al., 2010). Furthermore, he performed minor enhancements to the model although the figure that illustrates the process remains the same (Winne, 2011). Hadwin, while continuing collaborating in the empirical evidence of the model (Winne et al., 2010; Winne and Hadwin, 2013) has additionally focused on the situational, contextual and motivational SRL aspects in collaborative learning settings. This line of work has produced the model of Socially Shared Regulated Learning (SSRL) in collaboration with Järvelä and Miller (see Hadwin, Järvelä, and Miller: SRL in the Context of Collaborative Learning). This present section will explore in more detail the work by Winne as the one by Hadwin will have its own section.

Winne and Hadwin’s Model of SRL

According to Winne and Hadwin’s model (e.g., Winne, 2011), studying is powered by SRL across four linked phases that are open and recursive and are comprehended in a feedback loop. These four phases are (Figure 9): (a) task definition: the students generate an understanding of the task to be performed; (b) goal setting and planning: the students generate goals and a plan to achieve them; (c) enacting study tactics and strategies: the use of the actions needed to reach those goals; and (d) metacognitively adapting studying: occurs once the main processes are completed and the student decides to make long-term changes in her motivations, beliefs and strategies for the future. Winne especially emphasizes that mistakes can be detected in a posterior phase to the one in which they occurred.

Additionally, SRL deploys five different facets of tasks that can take place in the four phases just mentioned (Winne and Hadwin, 1998). These five facets are identified using the COPES acronym, that was used for the first time in Winne (1997) -i.e., Carla COPES with an arithmetic worksheet- (p. 399). It stands for (a) Conditions: resources available to a person and the constrains inherent to a task or environment (e.g., context, time); (b) Operations: the cognitive processes, tactics and strategies used by the student that are referred to as SMART -Searching, Monitoring, Assembling, Rehearsing and Translating- (Winne, 2001) (e.g., planning how to perform a task); (c) Products: the information created by operations (e.g., new knowledge); (d) Evaluations: feedback about the fit between products and standards that are either generated internally by the student or provided by external sources (e.g., teacher or peer feedback); and (e) Standards: criteria against which products are monitored (definitions taken from Winne and Hadwin, 1998; Greene and Azevedo, 2007) (e.g., assessment criteria).

Furthermore, Winne (2011) model explains in detail how students’ cognitive processing operates while planning, performing and evaluating a task. A crucial aspect is the use of criteria and standards to set goals, monitor and evaluate, aspects which are aligned with self-assessment research (Andrade, 2010; Panadero and Alonso-Tapia, 2013). The model describes how students constantly monitor their activities against standards and use tactics to perform tasks (Winne and Hadwin, 1998). One salient feature is that, in the model figure there is no reference to emotions, and there is only an allusion to motivation. Regardless of this Winne and Hadwin also agrees that SRL is goal-driven in nature and has built connections between his model and research by Pintrich (2003) and Wolters (2003) on regulation of motivation (Winne and Hadwin, 2008).

Empirical Evidence Supporting Winne and Hadwin’s SRL Model

Greene and Azevedo (2007) reviewed the empirical evidence for the model. Although they presented it as a theoretical review, due to the fact that they did not perform a “comprehensive review of the empirical literature” (p. 338), they reviewed a compelling number of studies (113) that provide empirical support for the model. The review covered all the aspects considered in the model, and made inferences that may have been beyond the initial scope of the work (e.g., they included a section for emotion, which is not explicitly mentioned in the original model). In their conclusions, they stated the model’s potential for future research and pointed out four challenges that needed additional clarification. First, phase four and external evaluations, especially clarifying long-term changes in the students’ SRL and more details on how phase four works (e.g., describing the role of conditions as products of the SRL activity). Second, they made a call for Winne and Hadwin’s model to incorporate the regulation of motivation, using Wolters (2003) as a reference to build the connection. Third, Greene and Azevedo recommended a discussion of how SRL skills develop over the life span. And, fourth, they made a call to consider how student characteristics (e.g., learning disabilities) might impact SRL.

In the later years, Winne and his team have been building a basis for gathering solid empirical evidence on the model based on the work with computers that scaffold students’ SRL while measuring it at the same time (Panadero et al., 2015b). These will be described in the next section. Additionally, Winne has also been exploring the potential of data mining and learning analytics and their application to SRL (e.g., Winne and Baker, 2013).

Instruments and Measurement Methods

No classical measurement instruments have been constructed based on Winne and Hadwin’s model, but there are a number of scaffolding tools that measure traces of SRL using the model as theoretical framework (e.g., Winne et al., 2010). They have developed nStudy and gStudy, which are computer-supported learning environments in which the use of SRL is scaffolded while students’ activities are recorded for trace and log data (Winne et al., 2010; Winne and Hadwin, 2013). Additionally, trace data which was brought to SRL research via Winne’s earlier work (Winne, 1982; Winne and Perry, 2000) has opened up new opportunities for the temporal and sequential analysis of SRL which is showing promising new insights for the field (Azevedo et al., 2010; Malmberg et al., 2013). Furthermore, Winne has written important reflection papers on SRL measurement, especially in Winne and Perry (2000) which emphasized the importance of “on-the-fly” or “online” SRL measures and opened up new approaches to the measurement of SRL (Panadero et al., 2015b); and in Winne et al. (2011) which reviews the SRL methods using trace data.