Regulation of tool-use within a blended course: Student differences and performance effects

Given the rising popularity of content management systems (CMSs) in higher education, the current study investigates how students use tools in CMS supported courses. More specifically, the current study investigates how students regulate their tool-use throughout the course period by considering the moment tools are used. This temporal dimension has been neglected in current CMS research that considered the course as a single entity when investigating students' tool-use. More insight into students' tool-use is particularly important from an instructional design perspective since research has repeatedly revealed that a learning environment's effectiveness depends heavily on students' adaptive tool-use. Logging students (n = 179) use of multiple CMS tools and registering students' use of the face-to-face support in a blended course, the study reveals that all students regulated their tool-use throughout the course. However, the study demonstrates that only a minority of students regulated one's tool-use in line with the course requirements and this pattern was found to be more adaptive for learning. The results are related to students' awareness regarding the instructional cues and students' perceptions of tool-functionalities. Implications for the instructional design of CMS supported courses are discussed.

► Focus on students' tool-use throughout the course from a temporal perspective.
► Different tool-use patterns that mark student differences in tool-use.
► Different ways of regulating tool-use with significant performance effects.
► Conclusion: tool-use and tool-regulation cannot be taken for granted.
► Relevance for instructional design: how many student control and for who?