Marilyn Borner Oakland University Rochester, MI

Overview Metacognition defined Transfer of learning and previous failure Our project: ‘Writing About Writing’ Reflections on process Metacognitive prompts Our results How to integrate reflection

What is Metacognition? Metacognition - the ability to reflect on one’s own thinking as well as on the individual and cultural processes and systems used to structure knowledge. Metacognition is fostered when writers are encouraged to examine processes they use to think and write in a variety of disciplines and contexts; reflect on the texts that they have produced in a variety of contexts; connect choices they have made in texts to audiences and purposes for which texts are intended; and use what they learn from reflections on one writing project to improve writing on subsequent projects (CWPA, NCTE, & NWP, Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing, 2011). Thinking about thinking Learning about learning Writing about writing

Metacognition & Transfer of Learning Metacognition assists students in the transfer of learning (National Research Council, 2000) “Students monitor their mastery of skills and their comprehension, implementing strategies to improve their learning, and transfer of knowledge, in which students apply knowledge that has been acquired to new learning situations” (Huffaker & Calvert, 2003)

Past Failures in Transfer of Learning Haskell (2001) defines transfer of learning as “use of past learning when learning something new” (xiii). In his book Transfer of Learning: Cognition, Instruction, and Reasoning Haskell (2001) discussed 90 years of research involving transfer of learning in which researchers were successful only in proving that transfer fails across studies. Most previous studies only observed students’ inability to transfer learning, not how they learned to transfer learning. However, new research considers the ability to transfer learning dependent upon how we reason, think, and process information.

Oakland University’s Program Department of Writing and Rhetoric offers FYW classes that focus on helping students develop the rhetorical skills, processes, and information literacies necessary for writing/composing in the 21st century. Classes focus on community and civic engagement, new media/multi-modal composition, collaborative writing, and revision. In 2012, the FYW program at OU was awarded a Certificate of Excellence by the Conference on College Composition and Communication.

Our Project: Writing about Writing Began 2½ years ago (Fall 2011 semester) Started building reflection into our FYW classes in order to gauge whether doing so would promote metacognitive awareness of the writing process and subsequent transfer of knowledge Part of a multi-institutional cohort studying writing at 4 institutions The Writing Transfer Project; this cohort developed the prompts and coding schemes Our WAW was not a program-wide initiative but a pilot study of 13 instructors' classes Study monitored 40 students through one semester.

WAW Project Goals Give students tools to help them adapt to new writing situations (cross curriculum studies) Emphasized transferable knowledge, metacognition, and skills focused on students’ understanding reading and writing in rhetorical situations Writing becomes for students a “researchable activity rather than a mysterious talent” (Downs & Wardle, 2007, p. 560).

Methodology Assigned reflective prompts to students to encourage metacognition/transfer of learning Randomly sampled 40 complete sets of student papers from the 13 instructors' classes (108 papers total) Analyzed by a group of trained graduate student raters and coders over a period of 2.5 days in Summer 2012 Examined quality of writing (beginning and end of semester writing samples) using a rubric Examined features of reflective writing by systematic coding of reflective writing pieces

Prompts Beginning Semester Prompt: You as a Writer Second Prompt: Reflecting on a Previous Writing Experience General Reflection Prompt: Describe Process, What You’ve Learned and What You Will Take to the Future End of Semester Prompt: What You’ve Learned and Level of Confidence

Reflections on process Students are able to describe their writing and learning process: “First, I began prewriting on this topic. In class, we did brainstorming and webbing.” Along with describing their writing process, we can encourage them to reflect upon their choices: “ Because I know I am disorganized, I wrote an outline to help me draft my paper.” “In our Composition II reflections, describing and evaluating processes were very easy for students to accomplish, and all students in our sample balanced descriptions of process with evaluations of process” (Allan & Driscoll, under review)

Sample Responses “In a situation in which I were taking a course... I would first consider the rhetorical techniques I need to use. By understanding my target audience, opinion or stance, media/design, and purpose, I should be able to construct a well-written essay for any genre. I am confident in my ability to handle a new challenge in writing.” “Writing this paper has helped me to be better at determining what information is useful in the claim [I am] trying to make.”

Sample Responses “This being my freshmen year of college, knowing I will have a million more papers to write in the future, I am highly motivated to retain as much information about writing and practice my skills as much as possible.” “I knew this [piece] was going to be for professionals, so I chose to use statistics and other data that they would have more of an appreciation for. I was hoping that I could have them agree with my argument.”

Reports of Transfer in OU Reflections We analyzed 59 reflective pieces of writing from these courses and discovered: 59 instances of students anticipating future connections, specifically: Writing and Rhetorical knowledge used in future (26 instances) Connecting to future personal/professional life (3 instances) Connection to future coursework (8 instances) Learning strategies (10 instances) Other or unspecific connections (12 instances)

Reports of Transfer in Reflections Students also had an opportunity to reflect upon prior knowledge (26 instances total, including): Anticipating use of prior knowledge (10 instances) Challenges with prior knowledge (13 instances) Successfully adapting prior knowledge (3 instances) Students also reported successfully transferring skills/knowledge to other places while in the course (12 instances, all to other coursework)

Integrating reflection to promote metacognition/transfer of learning Explain why reflection is valued: metacognition, transfer of learning, self-reflection, etc. Assign outside reading of a survey of literature dealing with reflection and its value – e.g. see Andrade, H., & Valtcheva, A. (2009), Craft (2005), Giles (2010), or Wardle (2007). Add a reflective component into most if not all assignments in the class. Be sure to attach value to it (e.g. course credit). Model a reflective process for your students. Show successful student models of reflection. Focus on the rhetorical situation for each assignment and how to extrapolate that to future writing tasks.

References Allan, B., & Driscoll, D. L. (Under review.) Reflective writing in general education: Improving student learning, assessment, and faculty professional development. Andrade, H., & Valtcheva, A. (2009). Promoting learning and achievement through self-assessment. Theory into Practice, 48, doi: / Craft, M. (2005). Reflective writing and nursing education. Journal of Nursing Education, 44(2), CWPA, NCTE, & NWP. (2011). Framework for success in post-secondary writing. Retrieved from Downs, D., & Wardle, E. (2007). Teaching about writing, righting misconceptions: (Re)envisioning “First-Year Composition” as “Introduction to Writing Studies.” CCC, 58(4), Giles, S.L. (2010). Reflective writing and the revision process: What were you thinking? Writing spaces: Readings on writing. Retrieved from Grossman, R. (2008). Structures for facilitating student reflection. College Teaching, 57(1), Haskell, R. E. (2000). Transfer of learning: Cognition, instruction, and reasoning. San Diego, CA: Academic Press. Huffaker, D. A., & Calvert, S. (2003). The new science of learning: Active learning, metacognition, and transfer of knowledge in e-learning applications. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 29(3), National Research Council. (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience and school. Washington D.C.: National Academy Press. Wardle, E. (2007). Understanding ‘transfer’ from FYC: Preliminary results of a longitudinal study. WPA: Journal of Writing Program Administrators, 31,