This post is written by Peter Arthur, BCcampus Scholarly Teaching Fellow, Professor, University of British Columbia. It is a follow up to his article Developing Strategic Learning, posted September 24, 2019.
My Investigation and What I Learned
For this inquiry, I engaged students in two sections of a first-year applied science course. I implemented metacognitive curricular interventions that are designed to promote student strategic learning (interventions are explained in my previous post). As part of the inquiry, I surveyed students’ metacognitive awareness (metacognitive awareness inventory) and mindsets (growth and failure survey). Additionally, I received participant permission to access their grades. Some of the insights I have gained from this study:
- Student metacognition, metacognitive regulation, and metacognitive knowledge as measured with the metacognitive awareness inventory (Schraw, 1994) indicated a significant positive relationship with a student’s grade point average.
- 61.3% of the students who completed the goals intervention (metacognitive regulation) found it assisted with learning in the course.
- 73.3% of the students who completed learning plans (metacognitive knowledge and regulation) found it assisted with learning in the course.
- 48.1% of the students who completed the assessment reflection (metacognitive regulation) found it assisted with learning in the course.
Scholarly Engagement
As part of my scholarly inquiry, I have had the opportunity to share my work and engage in scholarly conversations with peers that further informed my thinking and the curricular interventions that I continually update. Since my scholarly fellowship started in February 2018, I have engaged with the following higher education institutions and conferences:
- Petersburg College Teaching and Learning Conference, sessions for faculty and students. Clearwater, Florida, April 2018.
- Four Strong Winds Partners Conference, plenary session. Nelson, British Columbia, May 2018.
- Festival of Learning Conference. Vancouver, British Columbia, June 2018.
- University of Saskatchewan, sessions for faculty and students. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, July 2018.
- Innovate-ED Conference. Kelowna, British Columbia, October 2018.
- Scholarly Teaching and Learning in Post-Secondary Education Symposium. Vancouver, British Columbia, November 2018.
- Georgia State University, sessions for faculty and students. Atlanta, Georgia, June 2019.
- ETUG Conference. Kamloops, British Columbia, June 2019.
Next Steps
Going forward, I am working to publish my findings in an open peer-reviewed journal. Additionally, I will continue to create new and enhance existing curricular interventions that support students with developing their strategic learning. Further, I hope to disseminate the interventions in an open format and look for opportunities to engage in conversations with peers. If you are interested in my work, please do not hesitate to contact me! Finally, I wish to thank again BCcampus, the other scholarly teaching fellows, and especially Leva Lee, who led and coordinated this project!