Purpose: This study aims to propose and evaluate a course design to promote university students' understanding and intentional use of the concept and strategy of self-regulated learning (SRL). Design/methodology/approach: The course is designed on the basis of the experiential learning model. It is intended that the students reflect and conceptualize their own learning experience and prior knowledge by combining them with SRL theory. The course design exploits TV documentaries describing junior high school students struggling to achieve good results, as well as online essay submissions with which university students are expected to interpret the documentaries from the viewpoint of SRL theory. All the submitted essays are distributed to students to give them a chance to compare their own ideas with those in the essays written by other students to deepen their thoughts. Findings: The course was taken by first-year university students. The results of a questionnaire administered to 112 students indicate that the students could associate their own experience with SRL theory and deepen their understanding on SRL. Originality/value: Compared with previous intervention procedures, the course design activating student's own leaning experience through TV documentary viewing and essay submission would be an effective, efficient and practical way especially for university and adult students to make them aware of and able to use SRL theory.