Strategies for Promoting Self-Regulation in a Technology-Enhanced Literacy Block

A recent article in The Reading Teacher echoed the concerns I have heard numerous elementary teachers voice when striving to incorporate contemporary technologies within the traditional literacy block. More specifically, Scott and Meeussen  (2017) maintain that, “Teachers often hesitate to embrace technology-enhanced learning because they fear students will be distracted, access inappropriate sites, argue over sharing devices, or fail to set goals and timelines” (p.659). Although they acknowledge the legitimacy of these concerns, Scott and Meeussen argue that teachers have an obligation to encourage students’ developing digital proficiencies. They claim that the key to establishing a productive open literacy block in which students choose to work collaboratively on activities such as creating stories with Bitstrip, internalizing new vocabulary with Scribblenauts, conducting research on the internet or synthesizing their reading with Pic Collage involves the internalization of self-regulation strategies.

Scott and Meeussen define self-regulated learners as those who “take responsibility for their own learning…set goals, select effective learning strategies, monitor their progress, seek assistance from both their teacher and classmates, and persevere until their goals have been met” (p.660).  Research supports the claim that self-regulated students are often more effective learners, and so the following strategies are offered by Scott and Meeussen (2017) to facilitate students’ self-regulated learning with technology:

1.      Teach students how to collaborate: Clearly articulate the social skills required of active collaboration and provided ample time to practice skills. How to go about sharing devices, asking for help and giving feedback are just a few of the social skills emphasized by Scott and Meeussen.

2.      Encourage students to set goals related to self-regulation: Making time each week to generate and reflect upon individual and/or group goals centered on self-regulation is crucial.

3.      Cultivate student autonomy via thoughtful decision making: When students make activity selections for literacy block, such as choosing to utilize a specific app, Scott and Meeussen suggest asking students to also justify how the app supports their individual literacy learning.

4.      Help students monitor their own progress: Checklists and/or tracking sheets are recommended to aid students in self-reflection and to make their progress more visible.  Specifically, students can reflect on progress made towards meeting academic and self-regulation goals.

What is your take on embedding contemporary technologies into the traditional literacy block?  Is self-regulation the key to a productive, technologically enhanced session?  Are you able to meet with individual students or a small group of readers while others embark on digital projects? We would love to hear your thoughts on both technology-infused literacy blocks and self-regulated learning.



Scott, R. M. & Meeussen, N. (2017). Self-regulated learning: A touchstone for technology-enhanced classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 70(6), 659-666.

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