Definition: Metacognition

The short definition of Metacognition is "Thinking about Thinking." Here are some more definitions from a variety of sources.

What people know about how (their own) cognitive processes operate is termed metacognition (cognition about cognitive processes). Acquiring knowledge about how to think might well affect how one thinks which will affect how one performs on cognitive tasks (Brown & DeLoache, 1978) as written in the book Cognitive Processes by Bourne, Dominowski, Loftus and Healy, 1979)

Metacognition is the state of being aware of one’s own thinking (Marzano et. Al (1988) and is a fundamental tool that enables learners to control their thinking and has been revealed as an important skill in the fields of Engineering (Case, Gunstone, &Lewis, 2001) and technology (Phelps, Ellis, &Hase, 2002) as well as instructional design and training (Clark, 1988, 202; Reingold, Rimor, & Kalay, 2008) Rarely do students become self-aware of metacognition, instead an instructor needs to point it out to the students as an important element in problem-solving. (information as cited by Lawanto, 2010)

It has also been defined as a process by which the brain organizes and monitors cognitive resources. (Cuasay, 1992).

The ISPI's latest journal "Performance Improvement Quarterly" had an article titled "Students' Metacognition During an Engineering Design Project" which was a very interesting read and had a nice section on metacognition.

Here is the Wikipedia definition of metacognition.

References:

Bourne,L. E., Dominowski,R. L., Loftus, E. F., and Healy, A. F. (1979) Cognitive Processes. Second Edition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Prentice Hall.

Brown, A. L., & DeLoache, J. S. (1978) Skills, plans, and self-regulation. In R.S. Siegler (Ed.), Childrens' thinking: What develops? Hillsdale, N.J. Erlbaum.

Case, J., Gunstone, R., & Lewis, R. (2001) Students’ metacognitive development in an innovative second year chemical engineering course. Research in Science Education, 31(3), 313-335.

Clark, R. C. (1998) Metacognition and human performance improvement. Performnce Improvement Quarterly, 1, 33-45.

Clark, R.C. (2002) Aplying cognitive strategies to instructional design. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 41(7), 8-14.

Cuasay, P. (1992) Cognitive factors in academic achievement. Higher Education Exension Service, 3(3), 1-8.

Lawanto, O. (2010). Student’s Metacongition During an Engineering Design Project. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 23(2), 117-136

Marzano, R. J., Brandt, R. S., Hughes, C.S., Jones, B. F., Presseisen, B.Z., Rankin, S.C., et al. (1988). Dimensions of thinking: A framework for curriculum and instruction. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Phelps, R., Ellis, A., & Hase, S. (2002, December). The role of metacongintive and reflective learning processes in developing capable computer users. Paper presented at the 18th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society of Comptuers in Learning in Tertiary Education, Melborne.

Reingold, R., Rimor, R., & Kalay, A. (2008) Instructor's scaffolding in support of student's metacognition through a teacher education online course: A case study. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 7(2), 139-151.



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Avatars, Video and Simulations

Here is some information as pre-reading for webinar attendees and for students in the Learning in 3D summer class.


Avatar Information

Learning about avatars:What is an Avatar?

Encourage Avatar Customization

Promoting motivation with virtual agents and avatars: role of visual presence and appearance.

You are your avatar, your avatar is you.

Avatars for Learning

Accidental Learning and the Power of Stories (information about 3rd person and 1st person learning opportunities)

Videos
Here are some videos about creating a good educational video. Remember, even in an educational video, you are telling a story. The story of how to accomplish a task or achieve a desired outcome. Educational does not mean, no story. It means an instructional story.






Simulations

Do they die in real life?

Advantages of immersive learning

Creating questions for compliance training.

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Defining Quality in Learning for Virtual Worlds, Mobile Devices and Online Modules

What is the definition of the world "Quality"?

There are five ways to consider "quality" in terms of e-learning, virtual worlds or mobile learning:

Functionality. The first and most basic form of quality is "does it work." This is a baseline of quality. Do the links work properly, do the SCORM elements transfer to the LMS properly, the avatars don't freeze or the mobile device doesn't drop the learning nugget. This level of quality does not separate excellent e-learning from good e-learning, however, without functionality, the learning is not of a high quality.

Grammar, Spelling, Punctuation. The basics of the language must be in place. If there are glaring errors in spelling, grammar and use of punctuation, the quality of the learning is not high. These basic elements are a baseline requirement along with Functionality.

Usability. How easy is it for the e-learning, virtual world or mobile lesson to be navigated and used by the learner? Does the learner understand how to move from one screen to another, what items are "clickable" and which are not? How does the learning know to find all of the information within a module. This is where the use of Usability Labs can come into play for determining eye movement on the screen, level of learner frustration and how much time a learner spends on each screen or in each unit of learning.

Content. Is the content accurate, correct and easy to follow. If the content is not correct, it doesn't matter how usable, or error free the material happens to be, the information must be correct. The learner has to be learning the right stuff. Valid content is critical to quality learning in any format.

Learning. This is the most important element. Learning must actually occur for it to be considered high quality e-learning., virtual world learning or mobile learning. If no learning occurs, then the quality is poor. High quality is a result of applying instructional strategies and designing the instruction appropriately.

Is something missing? Did I cover all the issues related to high quality? Tell me what you think?

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Definition: Massively Multi-learner Online Learning Environment (MMOLE)

Massively Multi-learner Online Learning Environment: MMOLE is a genre of computer generated learning environments in which large numbers of learners interact with each other in a virtual three-dimensional (3D) world with the goal of learning.

Learners assume a certain appearance through the creation of an avatar. These avatars are controlled through a computer keyboard and/or mouse. The avatars are able to move independently through the virtual environment. As the learner moves through the environment the computer generates new graphics in real-time to give the learner feedback on their position in the environment and the actions taken by themselves and others within the environment.

The learning can occur formally through a class-like environment or a scripted simulation or the learning can occur informally through chats, wikis or blogs contributed by the learners interacting within the environment and each other.

MMOLEs typically have the following characteristics:

• Linkages to Learning Management Systems and the ability to launch more traditional e-learning courses.
  
• Communications tools such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and/or text-based chats.
  
• Controls specifically for the instructor/facilitator.
  
• The ability for learners to build or create their own objects within the world.
  
• A client-server model, in which the "world" runs continuously on a server, and learners connect to it via client software.
  
• Large communities of learners, or social networks.
  
• A method of tracking leaner progress for the formal elements of the learning environment.
  
• Tools to allow social learning and networking within the environment such as a learner profile, learner generated blogs and learner created wikis.

Advantages of MMOLEs

Immediate Feedback: A learner in a MMOLE receives instant feedback from the environment and from other learners within the environment. Immediate feedback helps reinforce desired behaviors or actions and helps discourage non-desirable behaviors.

Social Interaction: The environment allows learners to exchange information and ideas with each other through voice and text chats. The ability to interact and network with other learners helps to reinforce learning and to generate new learning.

Situated Learning: A learner can be placed into an environment similar to the one in which he or she must work. Research shows that the more similar the learning environment to the work environment, the more effective the transfer of learning. For example, a student teacher could be placed into a classroom of virtual students to work through the issues of classroom management. A sales person can be placed into the office of a potential client and told to negotiate a sale. A machine operator can be placed on the factory floor with all the accompanying noise and distractions and told to produce quality product.

New Perspectives: On the other hand, since the environment is virtual, learners can go places and experience environments not possible in the physical world. For example, a learner could be shrunk and walk through a blood vessel and witness blood clotting. A learner could travel to the solar system and fly around the planets. A learner could be transported to ancient Egypt and walk among the people and watch how a pyramid was built (or even participate in the building of a pyramid). A learner could be transported to a situation where he or she was a first responder and had to perform duties such as crowd control or search and rescue.

Multi-Modal Interactions: Most online learning environments involve some audio and visual, however, they are not typically three dimensional. The 3D aspect coupled with audio and voice can allow the learner to engage multiple senses in the MMOLE experience and help to reinforce the learning. The impact of a 3D visual means that the learner can also be impacted on the emotional or affective level.

The use of MMOLEs is currently in its infancy but the potential for the use of MMOLEs in a variety of situations and industries means that the use of MMOLEs will continue to grow in acceptance and use.

Please feel free to comment on this “definition in progress” and to make any suggestions or additions.

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Some people find that an online college degree program helps them to save money on their degree because they don't have to move or commute in order to earn their degree of choice. Associates and Bachelor degrees are offered from many places, so there is probably an online university out there that's right for you.
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Definition: Cognitivism

In the 1980s, several theories of learning that concentrated on studying learning as an internal function of the brain and as a social process...as opposed to overt actions and stimulas-response began to gain popularity and momentum. These theories and the study of how computers processed information all converged and led to the creation of a learning philosophy known as Cognitivism. The theories are are:

• Albert Bandura’s social-cognitive theory
  
• Bernard Weiner’s attribution theory
  
• Lev Vygotsky’s sociohistorical theory

Cognitivism was created to document and analyze how humans process information. The idea is that the learner is a complex information-processing system and to understand how learning occurs, one must understand how information processing occurs within the human brain. The idea is that learning is more than the result of externally observed behaviors...much more occurs than simply observable behavior.

In the cognivitist’s view learning occurs internally and through the social interactions with others. It is the social interactions that really trigger and assist the learning process as the learner makes internal connections between and among what has been observed and his or her experiences.

Currently research in the area of Cognitivism is in the areas of metacognition (thinking about thinking), novice vs. expert knowledge and problem-solving.
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