Helping College Mathematics Students Improve Their Mathematics Self-Efficacy and Self-Regulation Using MyMathLab

A confident self-regulated learner knows how to effectively monitor their time management, motivation, help-seeking, self-efficacy, self-reflection, and strategic planning skills. These skills are components of a student’s self-regulation skills. The purpose of this action research was to evaluate the impact of using self-regulated learning strategies embedded in the online homework platform, MyMathLab, on the students’ self-regulated learning and mathematics self-efficacy skills while taking College Algebra at a 2-year Regional College Campus in the southeastern United States. This study looked to answer (1) how, and to what extent, does the online homework platform, MyMathLab, impacts the students’ self-regulated learning skills and mathematics self- efficacy? and (2) what are the students’ perceptions of how the online homework platform, MymathLab, impacted their self-regulated learning skills? This action research used a convergent parallel mixed-methods design. This study used daily homework, structured journals to reflect on what self-regulated learning skills the students are using, and homework helping tools and pre-created resources on MyMathLab to help improve the students’ self-regulated learning skills and mathematics self-efficacy. Thirteen college students participated in this action research. Data was collected using Sources of Mathematics Self-Efficacy Scale, Online Self-Regulated Learning Questionnaire, structured journals, and focus group interviews. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks Test, and inductive analysis. This study found that although there was no significant effect of the intervention, the participants’ social persuasion, goal setting, task strategy, environment structure, time management, and self-evaluation skills positively improved after the intervention. Also, the participants had mainly positive perceptions of how MyMathLab impacted their self-regulated learning skills while mentioning what MyMathLab and non- MyMathLab resources negatively impacted their self-regulated learning and mathematics self-efficacy skills. This study showed that when an instructor chooses to use an online homework platform, they need to choose a platform that will most positively impact their students’ self-regulated learning skills. This study had a limited number of participants in only one section College Algebra, the intervention lasted only five weeks, and the data was self-reported