2 Applying the Plan-Monitor-Evaluate Model for Assessing Your Learning Progress

What Is Metacognition?

Have you ever wondered what the most successful students do differently from other learners? People who have developed effective ways of learning have mastered a skill called metacognition. In simple terms, metacognition is understanding your own thinking and learning processes. In other words, it is “thinking about your thinking.” Metacognitive skills include planning your learning, monitoring whether your current learning strategies are successful, and evaluating the results of your learning. Improving your metacognitive skills is associated with increased success in all aspects of your academic life. To learn more about how metacognition applies to student life, watch Video 2.1: Metacognition.

Key Questions to Improve Your Learning

At each stage in the learning cycle, there are key questions that you will ask yourself to support your learning process. In table 2.1, you will identify the key question for each stage in the cycle, along with the other questions you will want to consider. To use these questions in your courses, download a printable worksheet version (https://oer.aupress.ca/oer-202504/dr2.1).

Sources: Education Endowment Foundation, “Metacognition and Self-Regulated Learning: Apply Metacognitive Strategies in the Classroom,” accessed May 2, 2025, https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/guidance-reports/metacognition; K. D. Tanner, “Promoting Student Metacognition,” Cell Biology Education 11, no. 2 (2012): 113–20. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.12-03-0033.

Reflect

One key metacognitive skill is assessing what you already know about a course topic and identifying what you want to learn through your reading, discussions, assignments, and other class activities.