Title: The role of social media in self-regulated learning

Authors: Nada Dabbagh; Anastasia Kitsantas

Addresses: George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA ' George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA

Abstract: The challenge for faculty and academic institutions is to leverage the learning affordances of social media, particularly those that enable learners to become independent, self-regulated learners. There is evidence that social media can facilitate the creation of personal learning environments (PLE) that help learners develop and apply self-regulated learning processes such as setting appropriate personal goals, using task strategies to manage information, and engaging in self-monitoring and self-evaluation to progress to socially mediated knowledge and networked learning. The present study examines how learners (N = 87) use social media to create a PLE that supports their learning experience and whether learners apply self-regulated learning processes while creating this PLE. The study also reports on the degree to which earners' use of social media aligns with a three-level pedagogical framework for social media use and provides guidelines for the development of PLE.

Keywords: social media; self-regulated learning; SRL; personal learning environments; PLEs; learning technologies; learning strategies; information management; self-monitoring; self-evaluation; socially mediated knowledge; networked learning; social networks.

DOI: 10.1504/IJWBC.2013.053248

International Journal of Web Based Communities, 2013 Vol.9 No.2, pp.256 - 273

Published online: 30 Jan 2014 *

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