Individual vs cooperative self-regulated learning for acquiring workplace competences

Background Self-regulation of learning is a key consideration in the process of acquiring workplace competences. One key assumption of self-regulated learning in the literature is that the learner themself is undertaking a process of learning. However, in adult and vocational educational settings it is common that tasks may be either individual or cooperative. Theoretically, self-regulatory demands are different when applied to different learning forms, such as an individual task vs a cooperative learning task; but to date there is a dearth of empirical studies in this regard. Method Part of the CADCoM2024 + study on measuring CAD and FEM competences at EQF 6, the present study was conducted with 175 students from four mechanical engineering technical colleges in Germany. Through quantitative analysis we compared progression in CAD and FEM competency development in two learning approaches: individual self-regulated learning vs cooperative self-regulated learning. Results Strict invariance was partially present in both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. The differences in mean values suggest that there was strong learning progression in both individual self-regulated learning and cooperative self-regulated learning treatment groups. Interestingly, progression in FEM competency was better through cooperative self-regulated learning; however, progression in CAD competency was better through individual self-regulated learning. This latter finding was surprising given that students had demonstrated that they could work well together cooperatively, as shown in the FEM learning tasks. Conclusion This original interdisciplinary study suggests that skills for both individual and cooperative self-regulated learning are important for optimally acquiring workplace competences. Indeed, an important finding from this original study was that both individual and cooperative self-regulated learning are recommended as learning strategies: students made strong progress in competency development in both learning forms. Whether individual self-regulated learning or cooperative self-regulated learning is chosen as a pedagogical strategy for fostering workplace competences may depend on a variety of factors (such as interest, previous experience, social environment, and nature of the task). Further studies, including studies with larger sample sizes, are required to unpick this complexity and to confirm which factors might influence the pedagogical choice between individual and cooperative self-regulated learning strategies for competency development.