Socially Shared Regulation of Learning as a Foundation for Sustainable Collaborative Practices in Higher Education: Evidence from a Brief Two-Dimensional Model

This study investigates the internal structure and functional consistency of a brief scale designed to assess the social regulation of learning in collaborative higher education environments. Social regulation is essential to understanding how students coordinate cognitive and socio-emotional processes during group work, but brief and valid instruments remain limited. A total of 973 undergraduate students responded to seven items on a seven-point Likert scale. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed to evaluate the dimensionality of the instrument. The results supported a two-factor structure comprising coordination regulation and collective engagement regulation. Standardized loadings ranged from 0.772 to 0.935 and the factors showed a high latent correlation (r = 0.792), indicating that they are distinct yet strongly interdependent. The model demonstrated excellent fit according to incremental indices (CFI = 0.992, TLI = 0.988) and acceptable residual fit (SRMR = 0.064). Although the RMSEA value exceeded conventional thresholds (RMSEA = 0.137, this result should be interpreted with caution due to the limited number of items and degrees of freedom, as documented in prior methodological research), these findings highlight how shared planning, monitoring, and socio-emotional alignment function as interconnected processes that support effective collaboration in academic teams. Overall, the study provides empirical evidence that a parsimonious two-dimensional model can capture key regulatory dynamics relevant to fostering sustainable collaborative practices in higher education. Future research should examine measurement invariance across contexts and explore associations with student performance, engagement, and well-being.