In addition to our regular and guest blog contributors, in 2019 we were excited to begin guest-editor-coordinated Metacognition Blog Mini-series. Each mini-series consists of a set of blog posts on a metacognition-related topic of the guest editor’s choice. During the series release, each component blog in the series will be posted once a week. Enjoy these great collections!
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April 2024: Integrating Metacognition with the Work of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion |
Edited by Dr. Marie-Therese C. Sulit, Professor of English and Director of the Honors Program, Mount Saint Mary College
In this series, educators across Mount Saint Mary College discuss their approaches to promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion within their own pedagogy and professional development and that of their students through metacognition.
| “Engendering Empathy through Literature with Metacognition“ As a professor of English, Marie-Therese C. Sulit explores the role that metacognition plays in engendering empathy through multicultural American literature. |
| “Practical Magic: Using Metacognition to Connect DEI Work and the Writing Center“ As the Director of the Writing Center, Gina Evers reflects upon how she has integrated metacognition to explore issues of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in her tutor training program that has resulted in student workshops across campus. |
| “Democratizing a Classroom: The Challenge of Student Engagement and Metacognition“ As an associate professor of Education, Sonya Abbye Taylor offers a metacognitive reflection problematizing a student’s grade change within the context of trying to cultivate a democratic classroom. |
| “Using Business Ethics Case Studies to Foster Metacognition and DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) Appreciation“ As an associate professor of Philosophy, Charles Zola discusses the importance of metacognition as he applies principles of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion into his Business Ethics course. |
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January 2024: Reflection for Learning Develops Metacognition |
Edited by Dr. Marina Harvey, Australian National Teaching Fellow and Honorary Associate Professor, Macquarie University
Reflective practice supports learning. Reflective practice also supports the development of metacognitive knowledge. The aim of this blog series is to support educators and learners with their reflective practice, as a foundational skill in developing metacognition.
The blogs in the series each focus on a different mode of reflection, with the aim of introducing a spectrum of approaches to reflective practice spanning analytical, personalistic, critical, and creative. Each blog provides the scholarship underpinning the practice and shares a reflective activity to engage readers experientially.
| “The role of reflection for learning and metacognitive development” by Dr. Marina Harvey, Honorary Associate Professor, Macquarie University |
| “Preparing for reflection with mindfulness” by Dr. Greg Walkerden, Honorary Senior Research Fellow, Macquarie University |
| “Practicing reflection with cognitive text-based activities” by Dr. Agnes Bosanquet, Associate Professor, Macquarie University |
| “Practicing reflection beyond text to sensory and creative” by Dr. Kathryn McLachlan, Honorary Senior Research Fellow, Macquarie University, with Dr. Anne-Louise Semple, Honorary Associate Professor, Macquarie University |
| “Spaces for reflection beyond the classroom” by Anne-Louise Semple, Honorary Associate Professor, Macquarie University and Dr. Kate Lloyd, Associate Professor, Macquarie University |
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November 2022: Metacognition, Writing, and Well-Being |
Edited by dawn shepherd, PhD, Ti Macklin, PhD, and Heidi Estrem, PhD, Boise State University
This series incorporates perspectives from administrators, faculty, undergraduate students, a graduate teaching assistant, and a recent graduate. Each brings a rich perspective on the interplay of writing, metacognition, and well-being, particularly as they all navigated the challenges of the extended pandemic period. Collectively, the series offers readers insights into the practical and philosophical benefits of purposeful metacognitive work and its relationship to well-being.
| “Teaching and Learning Writing Together in a Pandemic” by dawn shepherd, PhD, Ti Macklin, PhD, and Heidi Estrem, PhD The authors share how metacognitive discussions that took place as part of their co-writing and collaborative pedagogical work became one of their richest strategies for calling attention to well-being during the pandemic. |
| “Student Well-Being Through Reflection and Metacognition in a First-Year Writing Course” by Ti Macklin, PhD; Lilly Crolius, graduate student; Harland Recla, then first-year writing student; and Natalie Plunkett, then first-year writing student In summer of 2020, it was clear that business as usual was not going to work in terms of preparing graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) to teach first-year writing (FYW) and for FYW students entering Boise State University. Ti Macklin and three students from her Fall 2021 first-year writing course examine their experiences with a metacognitively-focused English 101 course. |
| “Using Ungrading and Metacognition to Foster “Becoming a Learner” by Matt Recla, PhD, Associate Director of University Foundations Matt Recla discusses how reflective practices and assessment improved his students’ sense of self-efficacy and well-being. |
| “Broaden your self-awareness through reflective journaling“ Mariah Kidd, B.S., postgraduate student Mariah Kidd explains how reflective journaling helped her to track her growth as a writer throughout her undergraduate career. |
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August 2022: Metacognition and Self-Assessment |
Edited by Dr. Ed Nuhfer, California State University (retired)
The authors of this guest series have engaged in a collaborative effort to understand self-assessment, which is a specific area within the broad field of metacognition. A critical finding of their studies are that programs that do not develop students’ self-assessment accuracy are less likely to produce graduates with healthy self-efficacy or the capacity for lifelong learning than programs that do. We should not only train students to become content experts but should also educate students to understand themselves. Development of capacity for metacognitive self-assessment accuracy is the element most often missing when failing to make the distinction between training and educating. The authors of this series have engaged for years in mindfully designing and doing educating.
| “Introduction. Why self-assessment matters and how we determined its validity” by Dr. Ed Nuhfer, California State University (Retired) This entry paves the way for the blog entries that follow by disclosing the research basis, the terminology employed and the reasons these researchers engage with the work they present. |
| “Understanding Bias in the Disciplines: Part 1 – the Behavioral Sciences & Part 2 – the Physical and Quantitative Sciences” by Simone Mcknight (Simone Erchov), Global Systems Technology Ed Nuhfer, California State University (Retired) Eric Gaze, Bowdoin College Paul Walter, St Edwards University These blog entries introduce the concept of bias and provide examples from the behavioral sciences (Part 1) and from physical science, field science, and mathematics (Part 2). They explain why metacognitive self-assessment can be a valuable tool to counteract bias. |
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“Metacognitive Self-assessment in Privilege and Equity: Part 1 – Conceptualizing Privilege and its Consequences & Part 2 – Majority Privilege in Scientific Thinking” |
| “Self-Assessment and Mindset Inform Growth and Success: Part 1 – Understanding the Metacognitive Connections between Self-Assessment and Mindset & Part 2 –Documenting Self-Assessment and Mindset as Connected” (See also the Appendix.) by Steven Fleisher, California State University Michael Roberts, DePauw University Michelle Mason, University of Wyoming Lauren Scharff, U. S. Air Force Academy Ed Nuhfer, California State Universities (retired) These blog entries suggest how developing self-assessment accuracy and cultivating mindset conducive to success require metacognition. Our data suggest that self-assessment and mindset have surprisingly close connections that scholars have scarcely explored. The choice to obtain feedback about performance, a key component of a growth mindset, seems to be an especially effective means by which to connect mindset and self-assessment ability. |
| “Knowledge Surveys Part 1. – Benefits of Knowledge Surveys to Student Learning and Development & Part 2 – Twenty Years of Learning Guiding More Creative Uses” by Christopher Cogan, Memorial University McKensie Phillips, University of Wyoming) Matthew Rowe, University of Oklahoma (retired) Karl Wirth, Macalester College (retired) Ed Nuhfer, California State Universities (retired) These blog entries disclose the increased understanding of disciplinary content and self that arises for teachers and students as they come to understand high-quality knowledge surveys. Knowledge survey data offers surprising ways to assess the cognitive and metacognitive learning that happens during college. |
| “Guest Edited Series on Self-Assessment: Synthesis” by Ed Nuhfer, California State Universities (Retired) The summary ties together the four thematic blog entries to argue that now is the opportune time for educating to strengthen self-assessment and metacognition. |
| August 2021: Integrating Metacognition into Practice Across Campus |
This guest editor series shares campus-wide efforts to integrate metacognition, founded on the belief that if metacognition is embedded and integrated throughout campus, it can become part of the fabric of student experience, increase the effectiveness of the efforts, and reach more students.
| “Finding Your People” by Dr. Leah Poloskey, Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Exercise & Rehabilitation Science, Merrimack College, and Dr. Sarah Benes, Associate Clinical Professor, Department of Nutrition & Public Health, Merrimack College This opening to the guest blog series shares Leah and Sarah’s experience bringing faculty and staff from across their campus together to dialogue, brainstorm and support each other in our efforts to integrate metacognition into practice. |
| “Helping students become self-directed writers” by Dr. Christina Hardway, Professor, Department of Psychology, Merrimack College This blog post shares activities designed to help students become better self-directed learners and build more metacognitive skills, within the context of a writing-intensive research. methodology course. |
| “Building Emotional Regulation and Metacognition through Academic Entrepreneurship” by Traci McCubbin, M.A., Director of the Promise Program, Merrimack College This blog post explores a course that was designed to help students build emotional regulation and metacognitive skills while exploring growth mindset. |
| “What We Can Learn from Trees” by Dr. Anne Gatling, Associate Professor, Chair Education Department, Merrimack College In this post, Dr. Gatling describes a tree study assignment that she used with her education students to help students develop skills that can support metacognition and where students have an opportunity to apply their metacognitive skills to the assignment. |
| “Meta What? Let’s Polish Those Academic Edges” by Kristy Forrest, M.Ed., Academic Advisor and Success Coach, Merrimack College In this post, Kristy describes her strategies for and experiences with using metacognition to support students who have been placed on academic probation. |
| “Using Learning Portfolios to Support Metacognition ” by Dr. Sarah Benes, Associate Clinical Professor, Department of Nutrition & Public Health, Merrimack College In this post, Dr. Sarah Benes shares a semester-long learning portfolio assignment that develops metacognition and helps her connect with her students. |
| January 2021: Learning. Design. Analytics |
This mini series explores whether and how instructors’ metacognitive awareness about their own teaching is influenced through the process of designing and teaching online or hybrid courses. It also examines the role of learning analytics in relation to instructors’ metacognitive awareness of their teaching presence within digital and physical learning environments.
| “Learning. Design. Analytics Post 1: A faculty development approach to support metacognitive awareness during course adaptation.” by Yianna Vovides, Ph.D., Georgetown University This initial blog post highlights how the process of design in relation to online courses can support faculty in reflection about their own course design decisions and their teaching approach. |
| “Learning. Design. Analytics Post 2: Utilizing instructional design methodologies and learning analytics to encourage metacognition.” by Zhuqing Ding, MA This blog post provides a deeper dive into the adaptive process used for course design. The post describes the approach taken with a faculty teaching law online. |
| “Learning. Design. Analytics Post 3: Scripting Lectures, a Metacognitive Process.” by Eleri Syverson, MA, Joe King, Yiran Sun, MA, Yianna Vovides, PhD This blog post takes us even deeper into course design by focusing on content development. We take a look at the process of scripting asynchronous lectures in the context of metacognitive awareness. |
| “Learning. Design. Analytics Post 4. Metacognitive design to support metacognitive learning.” by Yianna Vovides, PhD and Marie Selvanadin, MS, MBA This blog post describes how adaptive design processes are used to design and develop a virtual learning environment that accounts for metacognitive learning. |
| November 2020: Metacognition – A Core Strategy for Promoting Student Success |
Edited by Anton Tolman, Ph.D. , Utah Valley University
This series explores several pivotal aspects of learning in higher education related to student resistance and motivation, and encourages all faculty and students to explore these boundaries. In the series’ blogs, you will hear from the following authors on several important subjects:
| “Series Introduction – Ways Metacognition Can Enhance Student Success” by Anton Tolman, Ph.D., Utah Valley University |
| “How Metacognition Can Foster Inclusivity in the Classroom” by Christopher Lee, Snow College |
| “Metacognition and the Fish in the Water” by Steven J. Pearlman, Ph.D., The Critical Thinking Initiative |
| “Change Instead of Continuity: Using Metacognition to Enhance Student Motivation for Learning” by Benjamin A. Johnson, Ph.D., Utah Valley University |
| “Boosting the Effectiveness of Collaborative Learning Using Metacognition” by Anton Tolman, Ph.D., Utah Valley University |
| “Series Finale – Using Metacognition to Facilitate Scholarly Identity” by Anton Tolman, Ph.D., Utah Valley University |
| September 2020: Integrating Reflection into Our Everyday Practices with Authenticity: A Discussion Series on Metacognition |
Edited by Marie-Therese C. Sulit, Ph.D. Mount Saint Mary College
This five-post narrative series (see Preface) explores the dimensions of metacognition across two tiers—within our classrooms and our offices—through our own professional development in tandem with our students and our colleagues: in short, why we do what we do and how we do it on an everyday basis.
| “Reflection Matters: Using Metacognition to Track a Moving Target” by Marie-Therese C. Sulit, Associate Professor of English and Director of the Honors Program |
| “Metacognition and First-Year Students” by Megan Morrissey, Assistant Director of the Office for Student Success |
| “Training Tutor-Learners in Contemplation: Reflection in the Writing Center” by Gina Evers, Director of the Writing Center |
| “Four Pillars of Dominican Spirituality” by Charles Zola, Assistant to the President in Mission Integration, Director of the Catholic and Dominican Institute, and Associate Professor of Philosophy |
| “Identity Matters: Creating Brave Spaces through Disputatio and Discernment” by Marie-Therese C. Sulit,Associate Professor of English and Director of the Honors Program |
| October 2019: The Evolution of Metacognition in Biological Sciences |
This five-post narrative series plus introductory overview tackles a major effort: how can a department redesign its curriculum to improve metacognition for all students and how will it know if improvement has actually occurred? The process and lessons learned can inform similar efforts across a variety of disciplines.
| “The Metacognition Massacre” by Robert Boyd, Professor of Biological Sciences and former Undergraduate Program Officer for Department of Biological Sciences (DBS). Currently, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, College of Sciences and Mathematics |
| “Project Beginnings” by Katie Boyd, Associate Director of the Office of Academic Assessment |
| “Re-Defining Metacognition: Generating Faculty Engagement” by Christopher Basgier, Associate Director of University Writing |
| “Assessing Metacognition: A Plan for Learning Improvement” by Lindsay Doukopoulos, Assistant Director of the Biggio Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning |
| “From Faculty to Chair: Lessons Learned” by Dr. Scott Santos, faculty member who became Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences in 2018; thus, he was thrust into leadership of the curricular redesign project. |
| July 2019: Working with Faculty to Promote Student Metacognition |
Edited by Hillary Steiner
This four-post series, written from the perspective of faculty developers and campus leaders interested in metacognition, offers readers insight into the challenges and inspirational victories that happen when we work with faculty who are new to incorporating metacognition in the classroom.
| Promoting Metacognition Across the Institution through our Partnerships with Faculty: The Educational Developer’s Role by Hillary Steiner, Interim Associate Director for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) for the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, USA |
| Who is Qualified to Teach Metacognition? by by Nirmal Trivedi, Ph.D. Director, First-Year Seminars and Assistant Professor of English Department of First-Year and Transition Studies Kennesaw State University |
| Using Communities of Practice to Support Online Educators in Fostering Student Metacognition in Virtual Classrooms by Valencia Gabay, Educational Consultant, Orlando, Florida and Doctoral Student, Organizational Leadership at Indiana Wesleyan University |
| Changing Campus Culture with the Ace-Your-Course Challenge by Eric Kaldor, Ph.D.; Associate Director, Sheridan Center for Teaching & Learning, Brown University |
| April 2019: The Evolution of Metacognition |
Edited by Audra Schaefer, Ph.D.
In this miniseries we discuss a progression of metacognitive awareness and development of metacognition in multiple stages of education, from undergraduate, to graduate and professional students, and even faculty.
| Learning about learning: A student perspective by Caroline Mueller, B. S., Clinical Anatomy Ph.D. student, University of Mississippi Medical Center |
| Metacognition v. pure effort: Which truly makes the difference in an undergraduate anatomy class? by Polly R. Husmann, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Anatomy & Cell Biology, Indiana University School of Medicine – Bloomington |
| Enhancing Medical Students’ Metacognition by Leslie A. Hoffman, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Anatomy & Cell Biology, Indiana University School of Medicine – Fort Wayne |
| Metacognitive Instruction: Suggestions for Faculty by Audra Schaefer, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Neurobiology & Anatomical Sciences, University of Mississippi Medical Center |