Abstract:

Self-management skills contribute to effective online learning at university and professional success in modern careers. The rapid transition of the learning process into an online environment during the COVID-19 pandemic was a significant challenge to students and educators. Studying in a new educational paradigm demanded that students managed their learning process themselves. This problem increased the educators’ concern about how well the students could cope with self-management. The recent investigations confirm the relevance and value of self-management for online learning. However, practical aspects of self-management during online learning have not received the attention they deserve. This problem needs to be analyzed in terms of identifying efficient ways of developing and improving self-management skills.

This study aims to explore the effects of online projects on improving students’ self-management skills. The participants of the study were from the Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science of Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. The experiment lasted for a fall semester. A series of online projects were designed as early exposure to Professional English for the first-year students who studied General English. The online projects were integrated into the curriculum and implemented through instructional scaffolding, which facilitated mastering self-management skills. Every phase of an online project provided instructions to impact the level of self-management skills, both the core ones (setting goals, planning, and managing time) and recently emerged ones (working in virtual teams, active leaning and flexibility).

A questionnaire and interviews were used to collect data about the students’ level of self-management skills and their attitude to online projects. Qualitative and quantitative methods were applied. Before the experimental work and at the end of it, we conducted the interviews and distributed the questionnaire to find out the students’ attitude to project work, collaborating online, the way they manage their time when they study at home, distractions when learning at home, self-discipline, their attitudes to time management, deadlines, and motivation for self-management. Comparative analysis of data has been carried out to see the effect of online projects on improving students’ self-management skills.

The findings prove that the students changed their attitude to managing time, keeping deadlines, self-discipline, self-regulation and developed self-management skills important for their academic performance and their future profession.

The conclusion can be drawn that online projects implemented through instructional scaffolding allow students to learn, apply and improve the level of self-management skills.

Keywords:

Self-management skills, self-regulation, online projects, instructional scaffolding, research methods.