Metaliteracy Viewed Through Metacognitive Lenses(2nd MOOC Talk)

The second MOOC Talk based on the subject, "Metacognition- A Literacy of Awareness," was held on Wednesday, September 18, 2013, and it was facilitated by Char Booth, an Instruction Services Manager and E-Learning Librarian at Claremont Colleges Library.

It has become extremely important for all participants in the metacognitive field to be very much aware of their thought processes just as they occur. There are underlying factors that are critical in advancing the cause of metacognition. These factors include but are not limited to developmental factors, cultural factors, social factors, and mentoring/instruction. How an individual becomes aware of his/her way of thinking and learning to boost performance is directly related to the aforementioned factors. On average, individuals become aware of their cognition at age 4 and the way of life these individuals are accustomed to(culture) also affects their thinking and learning processes. Societal norms as well as the socialization that comes in the form on mentoring and instruction affect metacognitive knowledge and experiences. Metacognitive knowledge has to with how one senses development in terms of his or her own cognition, the perception of one's self as well as other people, then finally how one perceives what is easy and what is difficult to interpret within the metacognitive framework. Metacognitive experience is related to how an individual understands or misunderstands another person during an interaction, reviewing one's previously held opinions, and finally how a person interprets failure and success.

Regulation was another important concept that was touched on in the presentation. This concept is related to one's ability to input actions and strategies to make the most of the experience of metacognition. According to Schraw and Moshman(1995), regulation has to do with metacognitive activities that help control one's thinking or learning. Regulation of cognition involves planning, monitoring and evaluation of actions and strategies. One interesting thing I learned from this MOOC talk is how knowledge and experience in terms of metacognition varies from one individual to another. It is therefore not surprising that each individual's reaction to altercation or complication is unique. Char Booth's presentation ended with a look at the Learning Theories and analysis of Literacies and Metacognition. Behaviorism, Cognitivism and Constructivism form the learning theories. Behaviorism has to do with regulating one's behavior within the educational psychology framework. Cognitivism is related to designing learning experiences to help individuals retain information. Constructivism is multi-dimensional; it involves peer-to-peer interaction and social learning-what affects individuals and how their brains develop. Literacies and Metacognition stages in the model are interpretation, evaluation,reflection, revision, and justification.

The second MOOC talk was very detailed and informative. I enjoyed being a part of the videoconferencing experience!