Affordance #6 Metacognition

In my view, the potential for metacognitive conversations in e-learning is tremendous, and learner engagement is multiplied exponentially in comparison to traditional learning, which is very exciting. In e-learning many more opportunities exist for engagement such as dialogue that is peer-to-peer or self-to-self or teacher-student. The frequency of this dialogue can foster metacognition insofar as the learner can have ways of knowing, planning, discernment, as well as a finished artifact specific to what is assigned. Dr. Mary Kalantzis defines metacognition as thinking about thinking. This thinking is evaluative as it involves reflecting on knowledge and applying knowledge, as well as reflecting on what is applied. For instance, in the production of a written assignment, the learner finishes by asking "have I met the goal?" and "what part of the criteria do I still need to fulfill?" This internal dialogue is born out of strategically reviewing the assignment instructions and the artifact. Reviewing one's own work is difficult for anyone, especially for college freshman. Therefore, I assign these freshman students a self-assessment which requires them to review their work and comment on it. This formative assessment activity is assigned when the students have finished their drafts and have room for improvement. This self-assessment gives them practice in thinking about how their drafts ought to "look" which is to say, they get practice in both the ways of knowing and the presentation of the artifact. The activity is similar to having a learner annotate her own work, which is called self-annotation. On the self-assessment I provide a few comments, balancing my praise comments with criticism, in order to engage and motivate learners. The intended effects of my comments are engagement, motivation and striving. Self-annotation yielded what was desired in one study by authors Karen LeVan and Marissa E. King. They found that students who completed self-annotation were involved in “brave mistake making” and “strategic revision.” These are desirable habits of mind in a writing classroom. In conclusion, promoting metacognition through self-assessment fosters reflection, discernment and striving and is something I believe all teachers should do.

Sheriff LeVan, Karen, and Marissa E. King. "Self-Annotation as a Course Practice." Teaching English in the Two Year College, vol. 44, no. 3, Mar. 2017, pp. 289-305. Accessed 17 Apr. 2017.