Sharing the Load: A Strategy to Improve Self-regulated Learning

In order to support learners with their learning processes, using effective strategies is important. Students are expected to monitor and regulate their own learning to a great extent, especially when learning takes place in digital learning environments. However, students tend to overestimate their own performance, which is problematic for decisions on their future learning, especially with complex problem-solving tasks that impose a high cognitive load. Using collaborative learning as a strategy to divide the demands of learning, learners can create a collective cognitive capacity. Supporting the use of shared regulation of learning, collective working memory, and team cognition as strategies for learning, could theoretically improve self-regulated learning skills such as monitoring and regulation both at the individual and the group level. From this discussion, possible future research questions on how collaborative learning could be a strategy to support SRL will be suggested.