The relationship of students' self-regulation and self-efficacy in an online learning environment

One of greatest challenges for educators is motivating students to learn. Unmotivated students lead to high dropout rates. The purpose of the non-experimental, descriptive-correlational study was to investigate the relationship between students' self-regulation and their course achievement and self-efficacy in an online credit recovery program. The Modified Motivation Scale Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) was used in the study as measuring two different constructs: motivation and learning strategies. A total 62 respondents in an online credit recovery program participated in the study. Descriptive statistics and the Pearson correlation were employed to analyze data. Results of the study indicated no direct relationship between students' self-regulation and final grade. Students' self-efficacy and self-regulation levels support previous research on relationships among self-efficacy, self-regulation and one's academic experiences. Self-efficacy and task value emerged as significant in terms of at-risk students in the online credit recovery program. While it appears that students' self-regulation in online learning is not strongly related to academic achievement, this finding does not negate the importance of self-regulatory learning behaviors. Rather, it informs the need for more research on online instruction and course design to address the needs of at-risk learners.