Engaging in writing to learn - Increasing the motivation during a long-term self-regulated learning training

Introduction: University students should be able to self-regulate their learning to gain the most from their studies. Extended self-regulated-learning trainings can help students to reach that goal. A frequent problem of such trainings is that students' motivation decreases over the course of training. To avoid this decrease, we combined a learning-journal-based, self-regulated-learning training with a learning environment teaching conditional knowledge about learning strategies, a guided peer-feedback system, and an optional intervention for students reporting low levels of motivation from the start of the semester. Methods and Results: Four motivational variables were repeatedly measured over the course of 10 weeks. Students (N = 103) in our training showed an increase in their self-efficacy and intrinsic value, and a decrease in cost associated with learning-journal-writing throughout the semester. The optional intervention led to an increase in the intrinsic value associated with the learning journals for students with low motivation. Discussion: Our study suggests that this expanded self-regulated-learning training can help students maintain their motivation during a long-term training.