Beyond goal setting and planning: An examination of college students’ self-regulated learning forethought processes

This study aimed to identify and evaluate major processes college students engage in as they begin their active engagement in learning. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 college students. Then, a grounded theory approach was used to identify the forethought processes students described. These processes included identifying goals, ordering and prioritizing tasks, scheduling, storing goals and plans, and regulating goals and plans. Additionally, findings indicated that students perceived their engagement in these forethought processes as connected to their beliefs about the subject domain, prior experiences, and subject domain and context. These results highlight processes that have not been thoroughly captured previously by self-regulated learning frameworks. Thus, articulating these processes provides a deeper understanding of students’ active engagement in self-regulated learning.