Self-regulatory learning in e-learning : An investigation of the onboarding phase

Sammanfattning: Organisations are increasingly using e-learning as a tool to train employees due to its flexibility and cost-efficiency. Training and development plays a central part in onboarding of new employees where e-learning is used to help new employees getting up to speed in their roles and become an effective member in the organisation. Self-regulatory learning is an important theory to consider when managing learning in organisations. It provides insight on what learners do in educational environments in order to learn, and what important underlying behaviours that make a learning process flourish. Researchers call for an examination of the learning process of e-learners. Understanding learning processes can deepen our understanding of what support employees need and thereby provide important insights in how to support learners during e-learning. This paper presents a qualitative study, which applies four elements of self-regulatory learning to the phenomenon of e-learning during onboarding in IT-organisations. The aim is to understand new employees e-learning processes in their new roles. Our findings display the prevalent role of goal setting and help seeking during onboarding. This research identifies different types of goals and how a combination of distant and proximal goals provide learners with a good foundation for professional development during onboarding. Furthermore, we acknowledge the importance of help seeking within the organisational context and its vital role in early stages of using e-learning systems.