Development of Open-Response Prompt-Based Metacognitive Tutor for Online Classrooms

Metacognition, a set of skills essential to succeed in online learning environments, spans three distinct phases: planning, monitoring, and evaluating. An existing metacognitive tutor for developing knowledge of cognition and regulation of cognition at different problem-solving phases previously shown to be effective in an experimental setting was revisited in this research. The tool was optimized to be usable in learning management systems (LMS), which are frequently used in blended and online learning environments. It was then tested in a hybrid online class on electrical engineering offered to first-year undergraduate students. The students rated the tool while using it in an LMS and found it to be usable and improved cognition regulation significantly. The tool is cognitive domain agnostic; thus, it can be a convenient means of tutoring metacognition in online learning environments.