1 . The Increasing Importance of Learning

Increasingly, learning is happening outside of formal classroom instruction. As a consequence, learners need to make multiple decisions, such as what to study, when to study, and how to study, and computer-based technologies offer multiple options and opportunities for how to manage one’s own learning. Knowing how to learn effectively has never been more important, not only during the years of schooling, but across one’s lifetime—as careers change, new job skills are required, and hobbies and interests develop and change. Recent research suggests, however, that we are often prone to both mis-assessing and mis-managing our own learning. In this chapter we summarize the evidence that intuitions and standard practices are often unreliable guides to optimizing one’s learning and that there exists the potential for learners and instructors alike to make self-regulated and teacher-regulated learning more efficient and effective.