From the perspective of Desiree Donnell, a special education teacher at Vista Innovation and Design Academy, it’s often difficult to assess why a student is not retaining the information being taught to them. Her own learning struggles taught her long ago that each student is unique. The way Donnell describes it, every learner has their own “box” of knowledge that needs to be opened up, assessed, and improved. While most instructors tend to weigh a student’s box down with tons of content, they don’t always take the time to pull out the information the learner already knows.
Through her own lens, Donnell was describing the concepts of metacognition and retrieval. In a recent EdSurge article, K-12 teacher and author Patrice Brian describes metacognition as someone differentiating the information they already know from what they don’t. Too often, Brian argues, students focus on the information they already understand and skip the more difficult task of learning something new.
However, research suggests that when learners receive timely feedback and start to recognize what they don’t understand, it helps them retrieve information more effectively later on. One study that Brian references in the article found that feedback-driven metacognition and retrieval increased individual scores one to two letter grades higher among a group of middle and high school students.
These findings drove her to start using metacognition and retrieval techniques in her own classroom. While Brian leveraged clickers to conduct pre-test, post-lesson, and review assessments successfully, her experience brought up an interesting question: how can instructors utilize these learning strategies in larger class sizes, or online courses?
UNLOCKING THESE STRATEGIES AT SCALE
Video assessment platforms are one of the best ways educators can facilitate metacognitive and retrieval strategies at scale. These solutions enable instructors to create video exercises that help learners repeatedly practice key skills, recall information, and communicate knowledge on a regular basis. Once a learner completes a video activity, educators also have the ability to provide timely, personalized feedback to drive recognition and improvement.
Completing this repeated practice through a video assessment platform also allows a learner to re-watch their submission and reflect on their own retention of the material. These self-assessment opportunities give individuals more control over their own learning and promote a sense of empowerment as students become more aware of their strengths and weaknesses. When a learner feels as if their “box” matters and is being properly assessed, they gain a better understanding of what they are truly capable of.
Bongo enables metacognition and retrieval strategies through repeated practice, personalized feedback, and self-assessment through video. Learn more about how Bongo’s Video Assignments can help increase a learner’s understanding of what they know and give them the intuition to focus on what they don’t.
Interested in learning more about Video Assignments? Click here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row]
