Awareness and Empowerment: Teaching with Metacognition to Enhance Learning in Higher Education
Abstract
A simple definition of metacognition is thinking about thinking. The following proposal describes a recent study about how professors view teaching and learning their subject. The research questions are:
- Do professors’ gender, years of experience, and the level at which they teach (graduate vs. undergraduate) affect the way they think about learning and the teaching strategies they implement?
- How does teacher training affect how professors perceive learning and the teaching strategies that they implement?
- Is there any correlation between professors’ perception of learning vs. teaching strategies they use?
A questionnaire that collects professors’ responses to learning and teaching strategies was distributed in five colleges in Pennsylvania. The results of the study indicates that there are some differences in the frequencies that professors use some of the teaching strategies and how they perceive the importance of some learning elements. For example more direct instruction and memorization were ranked as important by professors who teach undergraduate vs graduate and by professors who has not been through any teaching preparation programs, while higher rank for evaluating thinking process and students engagement were reported by professors who went through teacher preparation program. In short, Professors’ characteristics such as being in teacher training, level in which the professors teach (graduate and undergraduate) and other variables correlated with the way professors ranked the various items and thus the way they perceive learning.
As teachers, we always seek both to enhance the learning process of our students and our teaching strategies to support the learning process. Thus such studies are needed not just to explore strategies, but also to help us reflect on what we do as professors to help our students learn better. Audience of this poster will be able to complete the survey and reflect on their teaching strategies and how they view learning.
If metacognition, as research indicates, enhances learning, then it is important for professors from various backgrounds and subject matters to be aware of and to learn how to teach metacognitively. I am hoping that the study outcomes will stimulate professors to reflect on their teaching strategies, perception of how their studens learn and how this affects their work.
The study was sponsored by a grant from Foundation through SEPCHE.
Location
Room 113
Recommended Citation
Sheety, Alia, "Awareness and Empowerment: Teaching with Metacognition to Enhance Learning in Higher Education" (2014). SoTL Commons Conference. 50.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/sotlcommons/SoTL/2014/50
Awareness and Empowerment: Teaching with Metacognition to Enhance Learning in Higher Education
Room 113
A simple definition of metacognition is thinking about thinking. The following proposal describes a recent study about how professors view teaching and learning their subject. The research questions are:
- Do professors’ gender, years of experience, and the level at which they teach (graduate vs. undergraduate) affect the way they think about learning and the teaching strategies they implement?
- How does teacher training affect how professors perceive learning and the teaching strategies that they implement?
- Is there any correlation between professors’ perception of learning vs. teaching strategies they use?
A questionnaire that collects professors’ responses to learning and teaching strategies was distributed in five colleges in Pennsylvania. The results of the study indicates that there are some differences in the frequencies that professors use some of the teaching strategies and how they perceive the importance of some learning elements. For example more direct instruction and memorization were ranked as important by professors who teach undergraduate vs graduate and by professors who has not been through any teaching preparation programs, while higher rank for evaluating thinking process and students engagement were reported by professors who went through teacher preparation program. In short, Professors’ characteristics such as being in teacher training, level in which the professors teach (graduate and undergraduate) and other variables correlated with the way professors ranked the various items and thus the way they perceive learning.
As teachers, we always seek both to enhance the learning process of our students and our teaching strategies to support the learning process. Thus such studies are needed not just to explore strategies, but also to help us reflect on what we do as professors to help our students learn better. Audience of this poster will be able to complete the survey and reflect on their teaching strategies and how they view learning.
If metacognition, as research indicates, enhances learning, then it is important for professors from various backgrounds and subject matters to be aware of and to learn how to teach metacognitively. I am hoping that the study outcomes will stimulate professors to reflect on their teaching strategies, perception of how their studens learn and how this affects their work.
The study was sponsored by a grant from Foundation through SEPCHE.
