Improving Self-Regulated Learning Skills in Undergraduate Computer Science Through Personalized, Automated Feedback

This project aims to serve the national interest by addressing the fundamental challenge of integrating self-regulated learning (SRL) skill assessment, feedback, and improvement directly into CS instruction. By providing a practical and immediate approach to measuring and improving SRL behaviors, this work will address a critical need in CS education where heavy reliance on project work makes SRL skills particularly vital for success. Students frequently struggle not due to a lack of technical knowledge, but because of poor proficiency with SRL skills such as time management, project organization, or effective help-seeking. This Level II Engaged Student Learning project will develop a novel framework to foster development of SRL skills by leveraging data streams from existing educational software to observe and evaluate student SRL behaviors. Developing this framework requires significant technological innovation, particularly in the face of large numbers of students entering the computing field. To this end, the project will identify a consensus list of critical SRL skills that directly impact student academic performance. For these skills, the project team will design fine-grained, explicit rubrics that directly connect to student actions, allowing for personalized and actionable feedback that is designed to increase adoption of, practice of, and belief in SRL behaviors. Event trace data collected from diverse educational tools (e.g., learning management systems, automated grading tools, and integrated development environments) will then be used to provide objective, real-time insights into student behaviors. Automated assessment of SRL skill proficiency will support students while they iteratively practice the skills and receive feedback on their progress. To measure success in achieving these goals and to investigate the impact of project outcomes, the project will address the following research questions: How effective are the rubrics and associated measures developed for SRL skills and practices? How does the rubric-based feedback presented to students affect their use or demonstration of the corresponding SRL skills or practices? How much gain in SRL skill is measured when employing these techniques, compared to baseline data collected without any SRL interventions? What performance gains do students achieve when experiencing SRL assessment, feedback, and reinforcement? The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.