ABSTRACT
Postindustrial society is changing, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Population is not only increasing in number, but also growing older and more diverse. Life expectancy has almost doubled in the past century and the exponential growth of the world’s population, along with its increased longevity, diversity and mobility, has significant implications for teaching and learning (Murphy & Alexander, 2000). The changing character of the population also demands a re-examination of what being a lifelong learner means. The learner is required to study effectively by self-regulated learning and use many learning tools and work collaboratively with other learners at the same time. Theory of learning, empirical experiments and learning tools are developed to guide the learners to improve how they learn, as they learn (Alexander, 2004). Self-regulated learning theory concerns how learners develop learning skills and use learning skills effectively (Boekaerts, Pintrich & Zeidner, 2000). In this chapter, arguments are given regarding why self-regulated learning is an important issue in future learning in social practices. During the past few years we have been studying self-regulated learning in computer-supported collaborative learning environments. In this chapter, we review findings from our studies and other studies to demonstrate a need to focus on students’ engagement and cognitive and motivational coping while working in modern collaborative and computer-supported learning environments. The basic idea of self-regulated learning will be introduced and metacognition as a form of cognitive regulation, as well emotion and motivation regulation models, will be introduced. Finally, we will discuss how self-regulated learning skills can be supported with various new computer-supported regulation tools.
