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Think at GC: The Metacognition Project

QEP Implementation Plan

This page presents Georgetown College's implementation plan for the QEP. In order to increase the retention, persistence, and graduation rates of undergraduate students, the QEP requires all campus constituencies it be aware of, and educated in, metacognitive knowledge and practices. The implementation plan is built to achieve three operational outcomes: one focused on educating faculty; one focused on educating staff; and one focused on educating students through implementation of metacognition-focused programs with both curricular and co-curricular elements. This is a five year cycle for this plan as described below.

Year Zero AY 2021-2022 Program Design Phase (completed)
Year One AY 2022-2023 Initial Training & Pilot Program
Year Two AY 2023-2024 Full Implementation
Year Three AY 2024-2025 Full Implementation
Year Four AY 2025-2026 Full Implementation
Year Five AY 2026-2027 Full Implementation

 

Implementation: Years Zero - Five

Year Zero was used to gather and establish baseline data. This information on survey results from faculty and student was presented on the main page in the Topic Focus section. In order to gather more baseline data from current year students, the Metacognition Awareness Inventory (MAI) was given at the beginning and end of Fall 2021 classes to judge the level of metacognitive knowledge and practice they had. This will allow comparison of the eventual impact of the QEP efforts to improve metacognitive skills to the impact of "business as usual" first-year experiences.

QEP MAI Student Pre-Post Results Fall 2021
  • Pre-test consisted of 407 students (98% freshmen); Post-test consisted of 200 students (99% freshmen)
  • Students had moderate levels of metacognitive knowledge and regulation at both pre- and post-test
  • MAI scores decreased slightly from pre-test to post-test (not statistically significant). Findings demonstrate that current first-year curriculum does not have a significantly positive impact on metacognitive abilities as measured by the MAI
  • More students had some familiarity with the concept of metacognition in the post-test, but nearly 87% of students still had never heard the term (30%), didn't know its meaning (29%) or only had a vague understanding of it (28%).

In Spring 2022, attention shifted to the completion of the plan document and the appointment of a QEP Implementation Committee. Following the visit of the SACSCOC On-Site Reaffirmation Committee in April, this committee, chaired by Dr. Jennifer Price, will begin their work to implement in the plan beginning in Year One.

Year One is the initial training and piloting of the program in four Foundations 111 courses and a required module in GSC 101: Freshman Seminar. By focusing on these first-year classes, the goal is to instill metacognitive knowledge and practices in students to set them up for long-term success. This year also sees numerous trainings and resources developed to help faculty, staff, and coaches across the campus to inform and educate them on the importance of metacognition and how it applies in their respective areas.

    Educating Faculty
    • Bring outside metacognition specialist to campus to conduct in-depth training workshop with Foundations 111 and GSC 101 teaching cohorts on how to effectively integrate the concept of metacognition into key first-year courses.
    • Conduct informational sessions and presentations with all full-time faculty to inform and educate them on the concept of metacognition to ensure there is a campus-wide knowledge and why it is important to student success.
    Educating Staff
    • Student Life
      • Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) will work with Vice President of Student Life to identify appropriate staff members who work closely with students and can benefit from enhanced training on metacognition. A preliminary list of those individuals include: Associate Dean of Student Life, Assistant Dean of Students & Director of the Graves Center for Calling & Career, Student Engagement Coordinator, Assistant Dean of Students & Director of Residential Life, and Assistant Dean of Students & Director of Diversity & Inclusion
    • Coaching Staff
      • Working in coordination with the Vice President of Athletics, the TLC will develop sport-specific programming and training focused on how metacognitive skills can be integrated into athletic programs on campus. The Center will oversee an introductory education session with all head coaches before the start of the 2022-2023 academic year. From there, coaches will be able to implement the ideas as they see best to meet their goals.
    • Developing Resources
      • The Teaching and Learning Center will develop programming throughout the year to support the teaching of metacognitive skills and practices throughout the curriculum. The Center will be the home of the QEP throughout the life of the project, overseeing implementation and assessment. There will be assistance from other departments, but the TLC directs all efforts of the QEP. Additionally, the Center oversees the curation of resource materials focused on metacognition and the creation of teaching and learning materials focused on metacognitive skills and practices.
    Educating Students
    • Pilot Program: FDN 111
      • There will be a soft launch of the metacognition-focused curriculum for Foundations 111 in Fall 2022. Lesson plans and assignments will be built by the teaching cohort and introduced into four sections of the course. In addition to these new assignments, new in-class activities will be crafted with the aim of improving FDN 111 retention rates and academic success. Launching in only four sections ensures that if there are major issues with the lessons or assignments, they can be addressed after the semester, with an eye to improvement ahead of full implementation.
    • Pilot Program: GSC 101 Metacognition Module
      • Faculty in all GSC 101 sections will be expected to devote at least one class period to metacognitive skills and practices. An online training module will be developed that can be integrated into each course's Canvas shell. This module will feature tutorials, learning objectives, and assignments that can be completed outside of class to foster discussion and reflection during the in-class session.
    • Expansion Research
      • Another piece of implementation will begin in year one, but will not have an impact until year two. The plan is to identify classes that have high rates of D grades, failing grades, or withdrawals (DFW), and that feature a high enrollment of first-year students. The first year will be used to analyze data on these courses and cultivate faculty partners in disciplines where there courses are identified. The TLC will plan and launch training initiatives that will allow these faculty partners to launch curricular modifications in year two of the QEP implementation

     

Following the first-year implementation with pilots, attention turns to full implementation of the QEP in year two, with all Foundations 111 course sections having a metacognition-focused curriculum, an updated and improved module for GSC 101 classes, and implementation in classes with high DFW rates. Training of all faculty and staff continues to ensure that the program is engrained in practices across campus.

    Educating Faculty
    • Foundations 111 cohort conducts a retreat facilitated by the Teaching & Learning Center and led by the four pilot instructors from Fall 2022 using a train the trainer model. These faculty will share their successes and failures of curricular implementation in their courses.
    • Any new faculty to the GSC 101 cohort will be trained by the Teaching & Learning Center on how to manage and assess the online module and the metacognition piece of their course
    • New faculty hires will attend an information session presented by the Teaching & Learning Center to build awareness of the QEP and can volunteer to participate in the metacognition curriculum if they choose to
    Educating Staff
    • Student Life
      • Staff-focused trainings will continue in similar manner to year one, to include any new staff of special focus identified by the Vice President for Student Life
    • Coaching Staff
      • Any new head coaches at the College will be identified and provided with athletic-specific programming and training on how to incorporate metacognitive skills and practices into their programs
    • Developing Resources
      • The Teaching and Learning Center will continue to present programming and resources to support the teaching of metacognitive skills and practices throughout the curriculum.
    Educating Students
    • Foundations 111
      • Resources will be dedicated to train all Foundations faculty on how to build a curriculum around metacognition. With experience of the four pilot instructors, any major issues should already be identified and addressed to improve the program.
    • GSC 101 Metacognition Module
      • Data and qualitative observations gathered in fall 2022 will be used to make any needed improvements to the module integrated into the class. Each course section will continue to be required to devote at least one week of the course to the completion of the module on metacognition.
    • Classes with high DFW rates
      • A curriculum centered on metacognition is implemented in courses that were identified in spring 2023 with high rates of D grades, F grades (F), or withdrawals (W) that feature a high enrollment of first-year students. The Teaching & Learning Center will work with the identified faculty partners to develop a discipline and course-specific curriculum focused on metacognition and provide support throughout the semester. Additionally, in the fall semester, faculty partners will be recruited to add three more sections of other identified courses to the program in spring 2024.

     

The remaining years of the plan are built to further infuse the topic of metacognition across the curriculum of Georgetown College. While the focus remains on the first-year courses, metacognition will expand into courses with high DFW rates. Many of the efforts detailed above continue apace with changes for improvements based on data gleaned from surveys and program need.

    Educating Faculty
    • New faculty hires each year are introduced to the concepts of metacognition and the QEP during their orientation
      • Metacognition-focused programming is offered by the Teaching & Learning Center. In year four (AY 2025-2026), a metacognition specialist is brought to campus to deliver a presentation to faculty to demonstrate long-term integration of metacognitive skills and practices into the curriculum
    Educating Staff & Coaches
    • Student Life & Athletics
      • The Vice-President of Student Life will consult with the Teaching & Learning Center to determine if additional staff-specific programming is needed
      • Athletics-specific programming is offered to any new head coaches at the institution
    Educating Students
    • Foundations 111, GSC 101, DFW courses
      • Metacognition-focused curriculum remains in place in Foundations 111, required module and assignments remain integrated in GSC 101, and three courses with high DFW rates are added to the program each semester. Changes to curriculum are made as needed through evidence-based decisions gained from data.
      • Ongoing assessment via MAI is conducted twice a semester in Foundations 111 course to provide data for program assessment.