Article 18:
Effects Of Using Weekly External Goal Planning Analysis Forms In Developing Learners' Self-Regulated Learning Skills In An Online Course
by Albertha Stephens,
University of South Alabama

This study sought to determine if the use of weekly goal planning analysis forms, without teacher assistance, could be instrumental in helping online learners in developing self-regulatory learning skills, thereby improving their online academic achievement. The study used a non-equivalent comparison group quasi-experimental design to investigate this question. The Learning and Study Strategy Inventory (LASSI) was used to evaluate learners' perceived use of learning and strategic study strategies. The LASSI proved to be an invaluable instrument to evaluate participants' strategic use of learning and study strategies. Additionally, the reliabilities of the pre-test and post-test measures were highly reliable; alphas were .902 for the pre-test measures and .92 for post-test measures. Data obtained from the LASSI's pre- and post-tests were stored and placed in an Excel data file by the H & H Publishing Company. This data also included average scores of learners across the country for each of the LASSI constructs. In other words, the LASSI fulfilled all my research needs and made my study doable.

The Goal Planning Analysis Form was used as a motivational tool for online learners. Participants for this study were 27 postsecondary students enrolled in one of two sections of the same online college course. Findings from this research indicate that learners' use of weekly goal planning analysis forms promoted the development of self-regulated learning strategies in postsecondary online learners without teacher assistance. Three research questions guided this study. The first research question was "How do online learners employing weekly goal planning analysis forms perform academically in comparison to learners not using weekly goal planning analysis forms?" The results indicate that learners employing a weekly goal planning analysis form did not perform better academically than learners not using the weekly goal analysis planning form. The second research question was "How do online learners employing weekly goal planning analysis forms score on their use of self-regulation strategies in comparison to learners who did not receive the weekly goal planning analysis forms?" The results indicate that learners employing a weekly goal planning analysis form improved but showed only minor improvement on their use of self-regulation strategies. The third research question was "How do online learners who are less skilled in deliberate learning and study strategies employing weekly goal planning analysis forms demonstrate use of learning and study strategies compared to learners who are, to some extent, already self-regulated?" The results indicate that learners employing weekly goal planning analysis forms experienced an increased in use of learning and study strategies but there was not a statistically significant increase. Recommendations based on the findings suggest collection of participants’ prior grade point average and an increase in sample size.

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