11 Introduction | 1 Self-regulated learning The first models of SRL were introduced in the field of educational psychology around 1986 to better understand the cognitive, motivational and emotional aspects of learning.18 In the years that followed, authors from different disciplines developed and adjusted models of SRL.19 Panadero compared six influential models and concluded that all models present SRL as cyclical and consisting of different phases and subprocesses. He describes SRL as an umbrella term that refers to a variety of constructs related to learning, that cover different domains: (meta)cognition, behaviour, motivation and emotion.18 Sitzmann and Ely performed a meta-analysis and identified sixteen constructs that are considered part of SRL: goal level, planning, monitoring, metacognition, attention, learning strategies, persistence, time management, environmental structuring, help seeking, motivation, emotion control, effort, self-evaluation, attributions and self-efficacy.19 Accordingly, it is difficult to provide a distinct definition of SRL. For the purpose of this thesis a definition of Zimmerman (one of the first authors to describe SRL) was used: ‘the degree to which students are metacognitively, motivationally, and behavio[u]rally active participants in their own learning process’.2(p167) SRL is usually considered important for two reasons. Firstly, SRL is considered to help learners during education, as those learners with a high degree of SRL are expected to learn more effectively than those with a low degree of SRL.20 Proof for this idea is often provided by research that showed a positive correlation between the degree of SRL (usually measured with the use of self-evaluation surveys) and academic performance (e.g. grade point average).21-23 Secondly, those with a high degree of SRL are supposed to engage more easily in lifelong learning after graduation, as there is a high degree of overlap in skills and activities described by the two constructs.24 This second reason can explain the increased popularity of SRL within medical education in particular. In the last decades medical training programmes have focused on lifelong learning, as it is expected that a mindset favouring lifelong learning helps physicians to adequately respond to the ever-changing demands of their profession.25 Moreover, SRL is considered valuable during clinical WPL, because it is expected to help learners keep track of individual learning needs in the unpredictable and sometimes chaotic clinical workplace.24 Consequently, medical training programmes aim to invoke SRL in learners during education. In order to support SRL of learners it is important to know more about differences in the degree of SRL between learners. These differences can be explained by various (interacting) factors: - P ersonality Some learners are more inclined to engage in high degrees of SRL than others, due to differences in personality characteristics. Studies have found a relationship between
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