Using a distributed systems laboratory to facilitate students' cognitive, metacognitive and critical thinking strategy use

Background: Recent research in online settings reports that supporting self-regulated learning (SRL) strategy use could lead to greater online academic success. A growing number of studies have started to investigate SRL supports in online environments recently, which indicates a great interest in this matter. Though several systems for automatic assessment of programming have been developed, there is hardly any study that has investigated how an automated assessment tool for distributed programming could facilitate students' SRL strategies. Objectives: This study examined the ways our online Distributed Systems Laboratory (DSLab) tried to enhance students' SRL strategies in an authentic long-term online educational experience. Methods: We applied an experimental research design, involving 111 university students who performed a programming assignment using DSLab. A customized questionnaire was used to collect data from all students. Results and Conclusions: The statistical analyses revealed that DSLab tool managed to facilitate students' cognitive and meta-cognitive strategy use to a certain extent and critical thinking strategy use to a fairly large extent. Implications: Though more experimental results are needed to delve more deeply into these findings, this study provides relevant implications for online distributed (or general) programming course teachers who seek to increase students' SRL strategies in this field.