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In general education classrooms across the United States, students with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) learn how to write and cultivate their writing skills. Teachers of students with ASD have the unique responsibility of carrying out effective instruction to all students. However, the growing body of research around evidence-based practices and approaches for students with ASD is limited. Two effective practices that have shown positive statistical significance for students with ASD are the self-regulated strategy development model (SRSD) and the social-emotional learning (SEL) framework. General education instruction faces a research-practice gap because of the widespread lack of strategy instruction and lack of evidence-based practices implemented in the classroom. The purpose was to design an integrated strategy instruction tool with an SEL framework, to provide potentially more feasible and equitable writing instruction for elementary students with ASD in general education classrooms. Therefore, a relationship skills themed expressive writing unit aligned with fifth grade language arts Florida State Standards was developed. Specifically, the researcher integrated the SRSD model into a five-day themed writing unit that teaches mnemonic writing strategies. The writing unit utilizes high-quality, SEL themed children's literature, cooperative learning practices, writing stations, and many formative assessment opportunities. In the future, the researcher's next step is to implement the writing unit in a general education classroom with a substantial ASD population to examine its efficacy and effectiveness. Hopefully, the feasibility of this innovative writing unit will decrease the research-practice gap that general education teachers face.

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Det svenska skolsystemet genomgår en digitaliseringsprocess. I och med digitaliseringen har ett starkt intresse av att utforska olika typer av lärodata via olika läroplattformar utvecklats. För att analysera sådan data kan man ta hjälp av Learning Analytics (LA). LA är när man samlar, analyserar och rapporterar lärodata från diverse lärandeaktiviteter. För att analysera datan mer effektivt kan man ta hjälp av visualisering. Denna studie presenterar ett visualiseringsverktyg riktat till lärare. Det har utvecklats för att stödja lärare i deras förståelse av hur valda självreglerat lärande (SRL)strategier har utvärderats av studenter. Att kunna applicera SRL-strategier är av stor vikt eftersom studenter som lär sig att applicera dessa kommer att ha fördelar båda vid framtida studier och framtida arbete. Syftet med denna studie var att se hur lärodata kan visualiseras för att förstå studenters användning av lärostrategier och hur bra visualiseringsverktyget var ur ett användbarhetsperspektiv. Användbarheten av verktyget testades genom ett experiment där ett antal frågor ställdes. Svaren gick att finna i visualiseringen. Deltagarna i studien fick sedan svara på ett System Usabilityformulär. Resultaten visar att det utvecklade verktyget är användbart och att olika användare använder sig av, om möjligt, olika metoder för att komma fram till ett svar. Denna uppsats presenterar riktlinjer att ha i beaktande när ett visualiseringsverktyg som ska stödja lärare i att förstå studenters användning av SRL-strategier ska designas. / The Swedish school system is going through a digitalization process. With digitalization, a strong interest in exploring learner data available through various digital platforms has emerged. In order to analyse the data, one can take help of learning analytics (LA) which relates to collect, report and analyse data from learners or learning activities. To be able to analyse it in a more efficient way, one can take help from visualization. This study presents a visualisation tool aimed at teachers. It has in particular been developed to support teachers in their understanding of how chosen self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies were evaluated by students. SRL strategies are important to be able to apply since students who can learn to apply SRL strategies have an advantage during both future studies and work compared to those who cannot. The aim with this study was to see how learner data can be visualized in order to understand students' use of learning strategies and how good the developed visualization tool is from a usability perspective. The perceived usability of this tool was tested by means of interviews where a series of questions was asked where the answers could be found in the visualization tool. The participants also answered a System Usability Questionnaire. The results showed that the tool developed is usable and that different users of the tool tend to, if possible, use different methods to reach the answer. This thesis presents design guidelines to have in consideration when designing a visualization tool in order to aid teachers in analysing students' use of SRL strategies.

Shifting from traditional face-to-face education to online mode of education (or online learning)  presents several challenges, such as increased difficulty for students to get immediate feedback and  lack of social interaction. To tackle these challenges, supporting learners' self-reflection process is  seen to be crucial to help students achieve academic success. Students in higher academic institutions  are generally not exposed during their education to self-reflection, and it is a skill that teachers  consider many students lack. However, there is a lack of studies that focus on self-reflection in online  environments. In this paper we aim to investigate in what ways can online learning platforms support  university students’ self-reflection. In this study a self-reflection tool was developed for an online  environment and evaluated through a set of iterations in a mixed method approach. A total of three  iterations were conducted, with their respective evaluations. Results show that participants perceived a  clear improvement of their learning process through self-reflection. Findings also show that there are  a few requirements not present in traditional self-reflection tools, which suggest a clear need for  self-reflective methods tailored to learners' needs. / Skiftet från traditionell salsundervisning till nätbaserad kunskapsförmedling innebär många  utmaningar, t.ex. det är svårare för elever att få omedelbar feedback och de saknar socialt utbyte. För  att komma tillrätta med de här utmaningarna anses det viktigt att den som studerar får stöd genom  självskattning, för att målen för studierna ska kunna uppnås. Den som studerar på högre nivå får sällan  tillfälle till kunskapssjälvskattning under sin utbildning och lärare anser att det är kunskaper som  många studenter inte besitter. Samtidigt saknas det studier som fokuserar på självskattning i en  nätbaserad studiemiljö. I den här uppsatsen så undersöks hur utbildningsplattformar online kan främja  universitetsstuderandes självskattning. För undersökningen har ett verktyg för självskattning inom  nätbaserad undervisning utvecklats, ett verktyg som utvärderats genom en serie iterationer och  tillämpning av mixad metod. Totalt har tre olika iterationer genomförts med respektive utvärdering.  Resultaten visar att deltagarna upplevde att deras inlärningsprocess tydligt förbättrades med hjälp av  självskattningen. Svaren visar också att vissa förutsättningar saknas i traditionella  självskattningsverktyg och det i sin tur pekar tydligt på att det behövs metoder för självskattning som  är anpassade efter elevernas behov.

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ABSTRACT In educational psychology and first language writing, many studies have established a link between self-regulation, key motivational factors associated with self-regulation, and academic achievement, but only a handful of research has examined this relationship in the context of L2 first-year writing. Using a sample of 170 non-native English speakers enrolled in different sections of two levels of first-year writing courses at an American university in Japan, the present study tested a hypothesized model of L2 first-year writing achievement using Structural Equation modeling. The model examined the impact of SRL strategy use, Academic Writing Self-Efficacy, Goal Orientation, Writing Attitude—key motivational factors associated with self-regulated learning—and general English proficiency, as measured by TOEFL iBT, on the writing achievement of students’ final essays, measured by their essay grades. The impact of gender on the hypothesized model of writing achievement was also investigated by conducting two separate Structural Equation modeling analyses on the hypothesized model for males and females. The study also examined the impact of SRL Strategy Use and Academic Writing Self-Efficacy on four levels of Writing Achievement, as well as the impact of four levels of Writing Experience on SRL Strategy Use and Academic Writing Self-Efficacy. The results of the study indicated that the hypothesized model had adequate fit to the data, and was, therefore, interpreted as being representative of the sample population examined in the current study. Statistically significant relationships in the model were found among the following variables: (a) English Proficiency and Essay Grade, (b) Academic Writing Self-Efficacy and Essay Grade, (c) Writing Attitude and Academic Writing Self-Efficacy, (d) Mastery Goal Orientation and SRL Strategy Use. These results corroborate findings in first-language and second-language writing research, which have reported statistically significant positive relationships among these variables, and lend support to the notion emphasized in socio-cognitive models of SRL that self-efficacy is a strong predictor of writing achievement. However, statistically significant relationships were not found among: (a) SRL Strategy Use and Essay Grade, (b) Writing Attitude and SRL Strategy Use, (c) Academic Writing Self-Efficacy and SRL Strategy Use, (d) Academic Writing Self-Efficacy and Goal Orientation. Possible explanations for the lack of statistically significant findings among the relationships between SRL and the other variables were attributed to the small sample size, and methods used to assess the use of SRL strategies. While the importance that the participants’ attribute to earning credits for the courses, as opposed to mastering writing skills, was considered a reason for the lack of a statistically significant relationship between Academic Writing Self-Efficacy and Goal Orientation. The examination of the influence of Gender on the hypothesized model of writing achievement indicated that the model for females had more adequate fit to the data than the model for males, suggesting that the model was more representative of the female participants. Differences in the models were found in the relationships between English Proficiency and SRL Strategy Use and the relationship between Academic Writing Self-Efficacy and Essay Grade. The results were in line with previous findings that have reported that female students use more SRL strategies and hold higher self-efficacy beliefs than male students. With regards to the influence of SRL Strategy Use and Academic Writing Self Efficacy on levels of Writing Achievement that ranged from Poor to Excellent, statistically significant differences were only found between the mean scores of the Poor and Excellent groups with regards to Writing Self-Efficacy. SRL Strategy Use did not exert a statistically significant difference on the mean scores of the groups. The results were in line with previous findings that reported the predictive influence of self-efficacy on writing achievement, but the results did not corroborate previous findings in relation to the predictive strength of SRL Strategy Use. The methodology used to assess the use of SRL strategies in the present study was considered a possible explanation for the lack of statistically significant results. In relation to the influence of Writing Experience on SRL Strategy Use and Academic Writing Self-Efficacy, the results also yielded non-significant differences between four groups with different levels of Writing Experience and SRL Strategy Use. This result was attributed to the broad nature of the method used to assess Writing Experience in the current study. Statistically significant differences were found between Academic Writing Self-Efficacy and Writing Experience, and the results supported previous findings in first language writing research, which have shown that learners with less experience often report higher levels of efficacy due to perhaps to overestimation of their skills. Overall, in the current study SRL did not predict the participants’ essay grades, and did not mediate the influence of other variables on essay grade. However, Academic Writing Self-Efficacy emerged as a powerful predictor of Essay Grades, and writing achievement. Therefore, while the current study supported social cognitive views about the predictive nature of self-efficacy on writing achievement, it did not corroborate theoretical assumptions about the relationship between the use of SRL strategies and writing achievement. / Teaching & Learning