How to Enhance Students’ Self-Regulation

Abstract

Critical thinking (CrT) is a fundamental competence, widely recognized as essential for students to learn and become better professionals in the future. Critical thinking, as conceptualized under the Think4Jobs ERASMUS+ project, is a purposeful mental process driven by conscious, dynamic, self-directed, self-monitored, self-corrective thinking, sustained by disciplinary and procedural knowledge as well as metacognition. CrT results from the complex interaction of a set of traits, driven by purpose and self-regulation, allowing the thinker to interpret, analyze, evaluate, infer, and explain different problems or situations arising in personal or professional life. Self-regulation, understood as the ability to self-monitor and self-correct one’s thinking or action (implying a regular intentional and adaptive process), is an attitudinal skill highly praised by professionals in the healthcare sector. Based on a personal drive for ongoing professional development and guarantee of service quality, self-regulation is considered a critical requirement for those in health professions. When facing a clinical situation, self-regulation skill drives self-reflection and questions the decision-making pathways into a proposed solution, both contributing to metacognition. However, the development of self-regulation competencies must initiate ahead of the entrance of students and trainees into the labor market. In parallel to the opportunity to enhance undergraduates’ self-regulation, the growing competence will furthermore foster motivation and engagement with learning, adaptiveness to changing environments, independence, and creativity in approaching complex tasks. Students with well-developed self-regulation competencies will be prone to robust decisions and successful actions. As well as many other traits and habits, the ability to engage in self-regulation is modulated by several psychological or motivational factors that, when not conveniently addressed, may hinder skill development. This chapter intends to discuss the most critical factors affecting the growth of self-regulation in Higher Education students, particularly in Veterinary Medicine, reflect on possible measures to mitigate them, and share possible learning strategies (including assessment methods) supporting the development of selfregulated learning skills in university students.