Tracking social regulation of learning in interdisciplinary group work

Paper in proceeding, 2023

Recent years have seen a growing interest in how student groups regulate their learning when taking part in collaborative and interdisciplinary project-courses that are increasingly becoming popular in Engineering Education programs. While there is a rich research landscape on self-regulated learning, more empirical studies are needed on social regulation of peer-learning in collaborative group work. This study addresses this gap by conducting a narrative comparative case study to document shared regulation in three student groups from three project-based courses. Qualitative data was collected through interviews with members from those interdisciplinary groups working on real world challenges. The interviews were analysed for regulation episodes and synthesised into narratives representing key aspects of the groups regulative behaviours. The results are expected to highlight numerous instances of social regulation of learning within the various groups’ at different stages of the project. Preliminary results presented here demonstrate challenges faced by a group when attempting to socially regulate their learning, underlining the importance of scaffolding for collaborative learning. Findings from the full study will highlight the important role that social regulation processes play in group learning and add to the current understanding of the interplay between different modes of social regulation in groups.