Relationships between self-regulation and social experiences in asynchronous online learning environments

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which students' self-regulated learning predicts peer social presence, instructor social presence, sense of connectedness, and sense of learning in asynchronous online learning environments. Self-regulated learning has been measured with self-regulation for learning tasks (SRLT) and self-monitoring for interaction (SMI). Zimmerman's social cognitive model of Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) has been used as a research framework for this study. A total of 100 online students from six educational technology courses participated in the study. Four sets of simultaneous multiple regressions indicated that SRL, a combination of SRLT and SMI, is a significant predictor for peer social presence, instructor social presence, sense of connectedness, and sense of learning. However, only self-monitoring for interaction (SMI) significantly predicts peer social presence, instructor social presence, sense of connectedness, and sense of learning. Implications are drawn for ways to improve students' social presence and sense of community. Also, the application of Zimmerman's social cognitive model to an asynchronous online environment is discussed.