1. Helping Students Learn to Learn Cultivating Lifelong Learners by:
Engaging Students in Reflecting in & on their Learning Process

2. Focus of this session
Objective: Cultivating lifelong learners Helping students learn to learn (a) from academic subjects, and (b) in lifelong learning (a) & (b) are closely related – two in one
Strategy proposed: Engaging students in Reflecting in & on their learning process
Most of the assignments, exercise we gave to students involve them in solving problems of some sort, e.g. - numerical problems in mathematics, science, engineering subject - technical problems in engineering, computing practical work - conceptual problems in social sciences (ask Wincy for example)

3. PolyU Strategic Objective 1
To enhance the all-round development of students, particularly in the areas of global outlook, critical and creative thinking, social and national responsibility, cultural appreciation, life-long learning, biliterarcy and trilingualism, entrepreneurship and leadership.

4. Strategic Action (see p.11)
Goal
S1.1
Academic departments and relevant centres to review and strengthen curricula, teaching and assessment methods, and to ensure the inclusion of components that could help students to attain the qualities listed in the objectives.
To ensure that each programme must contain, where appropriate, elements that would enhance students' all-round development, particularly in those areas listed in the objectives, so as to develop a basic 'core-competence' in our graduates.

5. What is lifelong learning? Is it different from learning in university?
Name some scenarios of lifelong learning
How does learning take place in these scenarios?

6. Learning in professional practice
Schön (1983) The Reflective Practitioner
Professionals face messy problems which require
Reflection-in-Action (or learning by doing)
Reflection-on-Action
Effectiveness in such reflections affects performance & continual professional development of a professional

7. Reflection-in-Action
Professionals think about what they are doing, e.g.:
What features do I notice when I recognise this thing?
What are the criteria by which I make this judgement?
What procedures am I enacting when I perform this skill?
How am I framing the problem that I am trying to solve?

8. Reflection-on-Action
Professionals sometimes reflect on their practice, e.g.
think back on a project they have undertaken,
think back on a situation they have lived through
explore the understandings they have brought to their handling of the case

9. Developing abilities for lifelong learning throughout the professional career
by enhancing the abilities for reflection in the process of learning reflection on the process of learning

10. Learning in professional courses
Schön (1987) Educating the Reflective Practitioner
Professional education should be centred on enhancing the practitioner's ability for 'reflection-in-action'

11. Developing abilities for learning in professional courses
by enhancing the abilities for reflection in the process of learning reflection on the process of learning

12. Metacognition as a highly reflective process
What is metacognition?
Awareness / knowledge of what cognition (learning) is
Abilities to control cognition (learning), i.e., the attitude & habits that support and drives learning
Key operations in metacognition (control of learning)
Planning your learning
Monitoring your learning
Assessing your learning
A self-reflection process

13. Developing Lifelong Learning Abilities at 2 Levels
Cognitive strategies for lifelong learning
Metacognitive strategies for lifelong learning
What are they?
How to develop them?
Making meaningful reflection in the learning process
Making meaningful reflection on the learning process

14. Easy methods for engaging students in reflecting in / on their learning process
3-column table for reflective questioning
Question asking guide
Building of knowledge worksheet
3-step thinking worksheet
Pattern detector
Think of your thinking worksheet
Two person instruction
O diagram for experiments
Vee diagram

15. Reflecting on the process of learning-Reflective Learning Journal
Functions
A tool for engaging students in metacognitive reflection on their process of learning
A record of the metacognitive development of students (for both student's and teacher's reference)

16. Reflective Learning Journal – How should it look like ??
Format and structure
Can be unstructured, just a blank note book
Can be structured with guiding questions (see examples of guiding questions in the 'bank')

17. Questions Prompt Bank
A pool of guiding questions to help your students to adopt the right approach of reflection
Banks for tapping different component of Metacognition:
Awareness
Monitoring, Controlling, Planning
Evaluating and Assessing
Sub-categories within the component
Cognitive vs Affective type of questions

18. Reflective thinking questions bank (a)
Awareness in learning
Awareness of the meaning of the knowledge learnt
Awareness of oneself as a learner
Awareness o the standards & requirements of the learning task

19. Reflective thinking questions bank (b)
Monitoring and Controlling in the process of learning
Monitoring learning progress
Difficulties encountered during the learning process
Execution of plans & strategies

20. Reflective thinking questions bank (c)
Evaluating learning
Evaluation of the overall learning experience
Cognitive abilities acquired through the process of learning
Evaluating the effectiveness of cognitive strategies employed
Subjective evaluation of one's performance
Self-evaluated strengths and weaknesses

21. Student Guide What’s in it? Why need it?
Nature, objectives, tips, specific tips
Why need it?
Reflective journal writing is novel to many students, i.e. they’ll need support and guidelines as well as reasons to do it.

22. Writing reflective journal – students' opinions
Yes, journal writing will make a difference … It stimulates me to think about what I have learnt.
I found that journal writing helped me to think after the visits… to think about and organise the feelings and ideas.

23. The Learning to Learn website

24. Future efforts on Helping students Learn to Learn
Proposal for a second learning to learn project (funding to be approved)
Developing a Curriculum Integration Approach to Enhancing Learning Abilities and Cultivating a Life-long Learning Culture for a Knowledge based Economy

25. I would like to use these prompt questions for my subject