Abstract
Research is limited on how metacognition is facilitated and manifested in socially situated online learning environments such as online discussion forums. We approached metacognition as the phenomenon of interest partly through a methodological objective to evaluate the relevance of a metacognition construct and partly through a content objective to study student-led facilitation of discussions as a strategy in promoting metacognition. Results revealed that the metacognition construct was useful in helping us understand and organize the data and student-led online discussions can be an effective strategy for helping students develop dimensions of metacognition including knowledge, monitoring, and regulation. However, in order for students to use these skills effectively, instruction, motivation, and guidance are needed particularly related to regulation of metacognition and co-construction of meaning.
Highlights
The study of metacognition gained popularity in the late seventies and early eighties as a promising area of inquiry to help develop methods of teaching children and adults to “comprehend and learn better in formal educational settings” (Flavell, 1979, p. 910)
Guided by pre-established dimensions and indicators of the metacognition construct proposed by Akyol and Garrison (2011), our study describes what we observed in the discussion forum transcripts in terms of metacognition patterns, and what we interpreted from students’ self-reporting of their experience as a facilitator and participant in the student-led discussion activity
The results from the analysis of discussion forum transcripts using an inductive content analysis approach sheds more light on what happens in student-led discussions, and this information can aid researchers and practitioners to better understand and assess metacognition and how it is manifested in online discussions
Summary
The study of metacognition gained popularity in the late seventies and early eighties as a promising area of inquiry to help develop methods of teaching children and adults to “comprehend and learn better in formal educational settings” (Flavell, 1979, p. 910). Akyol and Garrison (2011) defined metacognition in an online learning community as “a set of higher knowledge and skills to monitor and regulate manifest cognitive processes of self and others” Akyol and Garrison explored metacognition as a central construct to describe an awareness of one’s learning and the ability to control and construct meaning in an online community of inquiry (CoI) (situated in an online course). They suggested that “metacognition mediates between reflection and action” They suggested that “metacognition mediates between reflection and action” (p. 186), an important aspect of understanding the degrees to which students are able to be critical thinkers and inquirers
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