Metacognition = Owning Your Education

Put succinctly, metacognition is simply thinking about your thinking. However, there is nothing simple about this process of thinking.  Every day as director of Student Academic Support Services, I work with students who do not understand why the ways they have studied in the past just are not working anymore. They do not have the ability to be deliberate in reflecting on their thinking strategies and change those strategies when they are not working.   They do not have the skills to plan, monitor, and evaluate their study strategies so that they get the most out of their college education.  Additionally, they do not see how former knowledge connects to new information. 

Nonetheless, there is hope.  Metacognitive skills and strategies are habits of thinking that can be developed.  They are not set in stone.  We can all become metacognitive or improve our metacognition through certain behaviors.Try the following thinking strategies:

1. Learn to identify what you know and what you do not know as you tackle a new subject or topic.  To practice this strategy, try using KWL charts.  These are charts with three columns.  The first column allows a student to identify what they already know about a topic/subject. The middle column allows a student to identify what they do not know and what they want to learn about the topic/subject.  The final column, completed after some research, reading, or learning activity, allows the student to identify what they have learned. This is a great model for students to use for a variety of subjects and learning activities.
2. Learn how to direct your own learning with objectives.  You are not a hapless observer to your own learning process.  As a college student is not too late to learn how to take control and recognize when you do not comprehend or when your learning is unfocused. The best way to direct your own learning is through defining learning goals.  People learn so much more when they have a purpose that keeps them focused and guided. Use course objectives, directive verbs from assignment guidelines, outcome verbs located in study guides or writing prompts to help you identify what the instructor expects you to learn from this assignment, project, or exam.  After you locate the learning objective then use that to help you develop and guide your own individual goal in preparing for or completing the assignment or test.
3. Learn how to plan and organize your learning process.  It is vital that college students understand that learning in college takes much longer than when they were in high school.  Generally, the amount of content covered in just two or three days a week for a semester is equal to what is covered five days a week for a year in high school. That means much more learning takes place outside of the classroom in a much shorter period and if a student does not plan and organize, they will not be effective learners in college.  So, become a master of time management. Be sure to plan study time into your schedule every day and use checklists to set priorities among your coursework.  Learn how to estimate the time required to complete a task for your course.  Consider the resources or materials you will need and your access to those resources or materials.  Take the time to learn new strategies or brush up on your study skills if necessary.  Be willing to try strategies like outlining, mnemonics, diagramming or mind mapping, etc.  Manage your time, your study space, your resources, and your strategies.
4. Learn how to monitor and reflect on your own learning.  Becoming a more confident and independent learner requires you to monitor your own learning by questioning your comprehension and by doing your own self-tests or self-assessments.  Provide your own feedback by keeping track of what works and what does not work for you.  One way to keep track of your thinking is to keep a thinking journal, a kind of diary to reflect upon your thinking, make note of any confusion, and comment on how you dealt with those confusions.  Additionally, discover ways to keep your own concentration and motivation high.  Remember deciding to be focused and motivated is a choice.  Just because you are in a class that you think has a boring instructor or has irrelevant content, does not mean you are doomed to boredom.  It is up to you to have an attitude of learning.  You have to actively find ways to stay in engaged in your own learning.

You can become metacognitive; however, it takes discipline, motivation, and practice.  Once you develop your metacognitive skills, you will go from being a novice learner to a professional. 

Sources:

Weimer, Maryellen, PhD. “Teaching Metacognition to Improve Student Learning.” Faculty Focus, Oct. 31, 2012.http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/teaching-metacognition-to-improve-student-learning/

Jaschik, Scott. “Can Students Learn to Learn?” Inside Higher Ed, Jan. 31, 2011.http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/01/31/colleges_try_to_use_metacognition_to_improve_student_learning

Ottenhoff, John. “Learning How to Learn: Metacognition in Liberal Education.” Liberal Education. 97:3/4, 2011. http://www.aacu.org/liberaleducation/le-sufa11/ottenhoff.cfm

Livingston, Jennifer. “Metacognition: An Overview.” Cognitive Psychology Graduate Course Web Page from State Univ of New York at Buffalo, Spring 2001.http://gse.buffalo.edu/fas/shuell/cep564/metacog.htm#Top

Halter, Julie. “Metacognition.” SDSU Department of Educational Technology, n.d. http://www.etc.edu.cn/eet/Articles/metacognition/start.htm