The RECAP and SCAFFOLDS Frameworks: Engaging Students in Self-Reflection and Self-Regulation Within Online Learning

Abstract

This case study will focus on the authors’ efforts to engage students in one asynchronous, online undergraduate legal pipeline course, and the substantive revisions made to the course over three years to increase student engagement, self-reflection, self-regulation, and metacognition. A “pipeline” program is designed to identify, support, and guide students from diverse backgrounds to the graduate level field of their interest (Cunningham & Steele, 2015). In this paper, the authors will discuss their initial efforts to engage students and facilitate self-regulation, and the substantive revisions made based on user data for two subsequent offerings of the course. The authors will describe two strategic uses of the learning management system (LMS) to increase student engagement and self-regulated learning. First, the authors detail a weekly reflection and engagement routine that was developed to address concerns regarding student-to-faculty engagement identified during the first version of the course. Second, the authors outline a scaffolded multi-week skills-based activity that was developed to reinforce a critical course learning objective and help students monitor their own learning progress. During each iteration of the course, user data collected from the LMS and other integrated tools, along with student feedback and instructor and designer reflection on practice, informed substantive revisions to the learning activities described. Over three versions of the course, data suggest increased engagement, self- reflection, and self-regulation. Finally, the authors will reflect on the implications of their work and possible applications to other settings.