How do students regulate their learning in challenge-based learning? An analysis of students’ learning portfolios

Self-regulated learning (SRL) is one the key pedagogical principles of Challenge-based Learning (CBL) in engineering curricula. Students in CBL have the primary responsibility for planning, implementing, and evaluating their effort and progress. This study explores the use of learning portfolios as a pedagogical tool aimed to document students’ SRL in a CBL course for 1st year engineering students. The research question was: How is SRL documented in a personal learning portfolio during a CBL course? Students were expected to work for 9 weeks with a group of peers on an open-ended challenge. Students were asked to complete a learning portfolio at 3 moments. In week 1, they were asked to set, individually, 5 disciplinary and 5 professional goals they wanted to achieve and in week 5 and 9 they were encouraged to reflect on the progress and attainment of those goals. Twelve students’ learning portfolios were included for analysis in this study. Content analysis of the learning portfolios revealed that students in week 1, described goal setting and in week 5 described SRL processes such as monitoring and self- evaluation while in the final submission in week 9, students reflected on the attainment of their individual goals and the overall success of their project, revealing a need for balancing their own disciplinary and professional goals and the overall goals of group they were members of. The study suggests that learning portfolios provide a useful instrument to encourage SRL in CBL. Limitations and implications for education and research are discussed.