Using the LMS for Exam Wrapper Feedback to Prompt Metacognitive Awareness in Large Courses
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Abstract
Exam wrappers, a reflective exercise completed after an exam, are designed to help foster students’ metacognition and self-regulation. Typical exam wrappers ask students how they studied, what they missed and why, and how they would change their study behaviors to improve on the next exam. In small classes, exam wrappers can be administered as paper documents, with instructors providing feedback in writing or through one-on-one appointments. In large classes, however, this approach can be unrealistically time-consuming. In this paper, we describe the design and use in a large introductory chemistry course of an online exam wrapper administered using our institutional learning management system’s test tool. This tool allows the instructor to provide automated, targeted feedback based on students’ responses. We analyzed the effect of this tool on students’ course outcomes and on their metacognitive awareness as measured by the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI). For first-year students, despite low completion rates of the wrapper, course grade was significantly related to exam wrapper use, independent of several academic variables. MAI scores were not related to exam wrapper use. In this paper, we discuss the effect of multiple metacognitive awareness opportunities provided by the instructor, including the exam wrapper, on students’ performance in the chemistry course. In large courses such as this, the success of this online exam wrapper may depend on providing both incentives for students to complete it and additional support for students to develop the metacognitive awareness to appreciate its value.
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