Using clickstream data to measure, understand, and support self-regulated learning in online courses

The ability to regulate one’s own learning is essential for success in online courses. Recent efforts have used clickstream data to create timely, fine-grained, and comprehensive measures of self-regulated learning (SRL) in online courses in an attempt to shed light on the process of SRL and to improve the identification of students who lack SRL skills and are at risk of low achievement. However, key questions remain: to what extent do these clickstream measures correspond to traditional self-reported measures about specific SRL constructs? Do these clickstream measures provide more information than existing self-reported measures in predicting course performance? This study used the clickstream data collected from a learning management system to measure two aspects of SRL: time management and effort regulation. We found that the clickstream measures were significantly associated with students’ self-reported time management and effort regulation after the course. In addition, these clickstream measures significantly improved predictions of students’ performance in the current and subsequent courses over predictions based on self-reported measures alone. These results provide evidence for the validity of the clickstream measures and guide the use of clickstream data to understand the process of SRL and identify students who might not be well served by taking classes online.