As instructors, we
want our students to be self-directed learners. We want them to be able to
evaluate their submissions and think through their learning process. In fact,
thinking about one’s thinking improves understanding of content and assignment
submissions (Bowen, 2013). But the challenge is that students usually lack the
skills to describe their thinking and learning process or do not understand how
they learn. Students often have misconceptions about how learning works. They believe
that rereading the textbook chapters will help them prepare for an exam or that
multitasking while working on a project does not cause them to lose focus. This
lack of understanding prevents them from reflecting on and improving their
learning process. Cognitive wrappers can aid students in reflecting, connecting
their thoughts, and understanding their learning process.
Using cognitive wrappers
Cognitive wrappers aid
students in developing study habits, increase their scores on future
assignments, and help them accurately evaluate their past behaviors. They are a
means for students to evaluate their performance and reflect on what they can
improve for the next assignment or assessment. Instructors can create cognitive
wrappers for group assignments, exams, and even lectures. Students who reflect
on their learning process can take ownership of their learning and their
performance in the course. We have observed students change their habits to
improve their learning process, assignment submissions, and achievement of
course objectives.
According to Bowen
(2013), cognitive wrappers have four parts: rationale, reflection,
comparison, and adjustment. The rationale is the instructor’s
explanation of the purpose of the assignment. This demonstrates to students
that the activity is only to help them improve their learning process and to
help them be successful in achieving the learning objectives. The reflection
piece is a series of questions and prompts that guide students through their
preparation and their performance on the assignment. The comparison requires
students to ask what they did well in the assignment and what they need to
improve in the assignment. This aids them in identifying the gaps in their
study or learning process. The adjustment portion prompts students to plan for
how they will adjust their studying and learning process to become more
successful on the next assignment.
Student experience
Students have reported positive
results after using cognitive wrappers. One said about a group project, “My advice to future students would be to split the
work up into two or three days to not only make the workload easier, but to also
ensure that you will create quality work. Towards the end of my project I found
myself not using as strong of a vocabulary as I was in the beginning. If I had
split the workload up it would have been much easier on me to finish with crisp
work.”
After she used
cognitive wrappers to reflect on her work in the course improved drastically, and
later cognitive wrappers included information about how she had broken up her
work into one- to two-hour chunks.
In a health
studies course, students used group cognitive wrappers in discussion forums to formulate
a health education plan, identify gaps in it, and improve their overall project.
Additionally, they noted that their quality of work and quality of writing
improved over time because they reviewed their previous cognitive wrappers and
made efforts to adjust their writing prior to submitting the assignment.
Creating a cognitive wrapper
To create a cognitive
wrapper, first identify an assignment for which students have a hard time
achieving learning outcomes.
Second, create prompts
to guide students through the cognitive wrapper. Make sure to cover the four parts
of a cognitive wrapper listed above.
Third, select the
appropriate technology for the wrapper. Three considerations dictate what
technology to select: (1) the technology available, such as the capabilities of
the institution’s learning management system or outside software; (2) the
method desired to distribute the cognitive wrapper (multiple-choice quiz,
journal entry, or something else); and (3) the reflection on learning method (interpersonal
or intrapersonal). Interpersonal reflection allows students to collect self-directed
learning practices from their peers and can lead them to improve their own learning
process. This is especially useful for group projects since students will have
already experienced the collaborative process. Intrapersonal reflection, by contrast,
focuses on the student examining only their own learning processes.
Fourth, remind your
students to review the cognitive wrapper prior to their next assignment
submission. This allows them to review what they discovered during the
reflection process and gives them time to adjust their learning process to
provide better deliverables. Finally, get student feedback about the wrappers.
You may need to adjust your assignment instructions or cognitive wrapper prompts
to better guide students to become self-directed learners.
Teaching students to
become self-directed learners will increase their success, both in the current
course and in the future.
Reference
Bowen,
J. (2013, August 22).Cognitive
wrappers: Using metacognition and reflection to improve learning [Blog post].
Retrieved from
http://josebowen.com/cognitive-wrappers-using-metacognition-and-reflection-to-improve-learning
Further reading
Gezer-Templeton, P. G., Mayhew, E. J., Korte, D. S., &
Schmidt, S. J. (2017). Use of exam wrappers to enhance students’ metacognitive
skills in a large introductory food science and human nutrition course. Journal
of Food Science Education, 16(1), 28–36.
Lovett, M. C. (2013). Make exams worth more than the grade: Using
exam wrappers to promote metacognition. In M. Kaplan, N. Silver, D.
Lavaque-Manty, & D. Meizlish (Eds.), Using reflection and metacognition
to improve student learning: Across the disciplines, across the academy (pp.
18–52). Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
Shannon, S. V. (2008). Using metacognitive strategies and learning
styles to create self-directed learners. Institute for Learning Styles
Research Journal, 1, 14–28.
Amanda M. Hinson-Enslin, PhD, is an instructional designer at Texas Woman’s University. Katie Deering, MA, is an instructional design consultant at the University of North Texas.
