Availability to Learn: An Essential, Achievable Condition for Self-Regulated Learning

Theoretical models of self-regulated learning (SRL) describe typical learners and learning processes that occur under ideal conditions. Such models largely ignore the broader environmental and historical challenges that can make some learners less available to engage in academic tasks when they encounter them in daily life. We consider the person- and task-specific variables included in models of SRL and broaden consideration to include the larger ecological system in which the learner and task reside. This integrated framework maps the positive and negative contributions these different factors can make to one’s “availability to learn.” We propose that (1) components in the ecological system combine in a summative ratio of contributors and challenges and (2) they must be regulated to establish availability by surpassing an activation ratio threshold and, thereafter, maintaining the availability to learn is necessary to engage in SRL. When such availability to learn does not arise naturally, we propose additional pathways that illustrate how learners activate SRL, use feedback loops to enhance availability, and draw on past experiences that promote learners’ initiative in future learning tasks. We close by proposing a research paradigm that handles complexity captured in real life circumstances. Assets and threats to one’s availability to learn can be modeled across an ecological system that blends observation of typical self-reported inter-individual differences with the process-oriented intraindividual study of SRL afforded by online measures including think aloud protocols, learning analytics, field observation, and self-reports.