Janna van Kessel

As with all FLO courses I found this metacognitive microcourse it immensely valuable for a glimpse into other courses/contexts, peoples' experiences and wealth of knowledge, better empathize and feel what it is like to be an adult learner balancing competing demands, and receive constructive feedback in a supportive environment.

Given that I borrowed my activity from a team member who runs workshops on this topic, I am inspired to follow-up with a discussion about language and engaging learners in a redesign. I would also advocate to be involved in workshop development where I could bring forward ideas and resources from this course.

As I am still catching up on all of the activity posts, I think about how I could have built in earlier work in these forums. Despite unanticipated events in our community that pulled me away from being more present online, I still feel guilty for not being able to respond more to others. Reflecting on this I wonder if creating an individual definition of what success looks like in this metacognition course would be helpful?

warm wishes, Janna 

Hi all,

Like Viviana, my science background did not make me as sensitive to the 'autopsy' exam review produced by one of our team members, but I was leery of the amount of negative language when exam assessments cause enough anxiety -- confirmed by FLO feedback that several things can change with this tool! This week, deaths in our community have impacted learners and others so I have reworded and hope to encourage colleagues that a switch to 'health check' or other terminology along with a redesign of this exam tool with learners.

That aside, I've built on some existing context as well as ideas about other related items that will be useful for our teams...

Note: use of this exam tool would follow more regular metacognitive activities in the class…

Post-FLO:

·       Continue with activities such as initial goal and action setting, practice/sample exam questions that match format and level of questioning (already done and revisited during the course), self-assessment tools, discussions about how to work through a process/break down a larger assignment

·       discussions about preparation for a (synchronous) class/ pause & reflect moments (on/off-task; expand one-minute papers like muddiest points – scaffold so learners develop questions)

·       process focused discussions, exemplars: showing the ‘sticky points’ (not always getting the right answer – this already fits well with science and math courses)

·       co-create collaborative activities such as study skill tips, reflection journals/discussion forums (start with guiding questions then have learners develop future guiding questions), rubrics for major assignments, student creation of exam questions, as well as a re-design of the following ‘heath check’ post-exam analysis

 as well as edits to the exam 'health check' document itself (still a 'work-in-progress)!

Thank you all for your helpful feedback!

I hope to work with our learning strategists (we are in separate academic units) for an institution-wide change to this document, but meanwhile I am working on my own edits that I can implement!

Beth, your health check (or a temperature gauge) seems much more language friendly and I also feel this fits well with 'one minute paper' style of student feedback - for varied questions from learning steps, processes, to general questions. I appreciate your use and explanation of your feedback tool! I use this format a lot in my work with learners (in addition to teaching, I get to work with ABE and learners from all program areas in an academic support centre setting).

Overall, the student support teams I get to work with are also in a process of examining the language that we use - to more from deficit-based terminology to more of a positive language focus. We will also be working with larger groups of learners for feedback on delivery of all of our services - and the opportunity to co-create/redesign this tool fits perfectly (students are partners)!

And, here's another resource - 55 minute video from UBC OK: (http://peterarthur.ca/).  I wonder if you folks from BC have worked with Peter Arthur or used his resources?

Thanks again - this is such a rich forum to receive feedback and work to improve learner experiences in courses as well as across institutions!

warm wishes, Janna

Hi folks!

I work with learning strategists at Yukon College in Whitehorse where there are still a number of exams delivered in various courses. I am interested in feedback about either of the attached documents for post-exam analysis. The goal is to help learners consider their preparations, results, and reflection - there is a one page simplified version and a longer version.

I wonder if these focus too much on negative aspects and that there might need to be more room for written/visual reflections. Further, I feel that similar tools would be more useful if metacognitive strategies/activities are built into prior learning activities in the class (e.g., through guiding questions before getting to the 'cause & effect' of an exam evaluation - as per resource Helping Students Feel Responsible for Their Learning.).

Thank you for any feedback,

Janna

Hi Neil,

I too have been looking at strategies and activities for online course delivery as a few of us examine a computer skills course that we have been asked to redesign as a self-paced modular course within our Adult Basic Education program.

In addition to the note-taking skills and Leonne's notes about forum discussions, I wonder if a forum (along with an instructor/facilitator's concept/problem-solving video) to 'talk out/map out' potential areas of confusion using a problem-solving approach could help with the development of a fire safety plan? Along with showing the 'bumps' along the way in problem, solving, I also appreciated reminders about questioning and alignment of formative and summative assessments (from practice to assignment-exam level challenges) in "Know Cubed."

I look forward to hearing more about your course at New Caledonia!

cheers, Janna