Toward the development of a metacognition construct for communities of inquiry

Metacognition is a required cognitive ability to achieve deep and meaningful learning that must be viewed from both an individual and social perspective. Recently, the transition from the earliest individualistic models to an acknowledgement of metacognition as socially situated and socially constructed has precipitated the study of metacognition in collaborative learning environments. This study presents the results of research to develop and validate a metacognitive construct for use in collaborative learning environments. The metacognitive construct was developed using the Community of Inquiry framework as a theoretical guide and tested by applying qualitative research techniques in previous research. It has been tested in this research by way of developing a metacognition questionnaire. The results indicate that in order to better understand the structure and dynamics of metacognition in emerging collaborative learning environments, we must go beyond individual approaches to learning and consider metacognition in terms of complementary self and co-regulation that integrates individual and shared regulation.

► This study presents the development of a collaborative metacognitive construct.
► Metacognitive dimensions are self and co-regulation (individual and shared).
► This construct is an enhancement of cognitive presence in the CoI framework.
► Future research directions are outlined.