Understanding students’ regulation of learning in Challenge-based courses

Self-regulated learning (SRL) is one of the key pedagogical principles of Challenge-based Learning (CBL). Students in CBL have the primary responsibility for planning, implementing, and evaluating their effort and progress. Challenge-based learning (CBL) exposes students to the complexities of open-ended and reallife challenges and encourages them to be in the lead of their learning. Still, the way students regulate their learning remains largely unknown, and existing
literature suggests that students struggle to regulate their learning within CBL. This study explores how first-year engineering students regulate their learning
during an 11-week CBL course in ethics and data analytics. Thirty-nine students completed a weekly diary for the duration of the course. In total, we analyzed
380 student reflections. A thematic analysis was conducted and we identified four themes related to students’ experience with open-ended and real-life
challenges, including challenge definition, learning and working process, solution development, and dissemination. Within each theme, we identified reported
cognitive, metacognitive, affective, and social activities that students engage in to regulate their learning. The frequency of mentioned regulation activities varied
across the four identified themes. Results suggest that students constantly regulate their learning at multiple levels when facing an open-ended challenge. In
addition, a strong social component in student regulation in CBL was identified. Building on the insights of this research, we make recommendations for further
research and educational practice.