Abstract:

Academic self-regulation is one of the main predictors of academic success; however, many teachers do not consider its importance when planning their lessons. Moreover, self-regulated students are able to put into practice different cognitive strategies, as well as planning and reflecting on their own learning deliberately, making self-regulation an important skill to develop. This paper summarizes the results of research to determine the effect of the use of an e-portfolio in the development of academic self-regulation in a group of students (n=17) in a Peruvian university. Barry Zimmerman's Cyclical Phases Model of Academic Self-Regulation heavily influenced the use of the e-portfolio. This model proposes that self-regulation consists of three cyclical phases: forethought, performance, and self-reflection.

Students used the e-portfolio during weeks 3 and 11 of the academic research course as a tool to set goals and plan actions in order to achieve the course objectives. In addition, there were activities that would help them monitor their progress and reflect on the process and product that they had developed and on the qualification granted by the teacher. To encourage this reflection, students received an observation sheet to monitor their academic activities outside the classroom. In this sheet, they placed information such as the environment they used to study, the start and end time of the study session and the distractions they faced. Students uploaded this information in their e-portfolio in Google Sites; also, they received feedback from the teacher during the development of each of the course activities through this virtual space.

To evaluate the effectiveness of the virtual portfolio to develop skills of academic self-regulation, the author used the Colombian version of the Self-regulation strategy Inventory, which consists of 4 factors: maladaptive regulatory behaviors, searching information, managing environment, and managing tasks. Likewise, the author conducted four in-depth interviews in order to learn about the students' experiences using the e-portfolio. To identify the differences in self-regulation before and after the use of the e-portfolio, the data were analyzed using a paired sample t—student test, finding significant differences in the scores of maladaptive regulatory behaviors in students with lower performance. In addition, the author determined the effect size through Cohen´s D, finding a large effect (d = 3.39). Regarding the qualitative analysis, students highly valued the e-portfolio because it allowed them to organize their academic activities during the course as well as to reflect on their own academic behavior. Likewise, students emphasized how the attention and support of the teacher was a source of motivation to persist in the use of the e-portfolio.

The results suggest that the e-portfolio is an effective tool for the development of academic self-regulation skills, especially among the lowest performing students. Finally, the flexibility of this tool allows it to be adapted to Zimmerman's Cyclical Phases Model of Academic Self-Regulation.

Keywords:

Academic self-regulation, e-portfolio, cyclical phases model of academic self-regulation.