2 thinking. Educators can create lecture wrappers, homework wrappers, and exam wrappers. A lecture wrapper would ask students to listen actively to a lecture and then identify the key points. In a discussion following the lecture, the educator asks students for their thinking and provides formative feedback on their answers. Over time, students should become more and more successful at identifying the key points in a lecture. A homework wrapper might include a brief set of selfassessment questions on the skills students should be developing as a result of the assignment. These questions are answered after the homework is completed and are turned in along with the homework. An exam wrapper might ask students to reflect on a graded exam, to think about why they made the mistakes they did, the extent to which their study strategies
worked or did not work, and how they might change their strategies for the next exam. Another crucial strategy for helping students become self-regulated learners is establishing an environment in the classroom that encourages, even teaches, students to ask for help. It is not enough simply to offer help, researchers say; educators must also be consistent in their message that learning is more important than grades. Further Reading Pintrich, P. “A Conceptual Framwork for Assessing Motivation and Self-Regulated Learning in College Students,” Educational Psychology Review, 2004, 16 (4), 385-407. Svinicki, Marilla D. “Student Learning: From TeacherDirected to Self-Regulation,” Ch. 8 in New Directions for Teaching and Learning, n. 123, Fall 2010, 73-82.
Visionary Status Dr. Marcia Baxter Magolda Dr. Baxter Magolda is a Distinguished Professor of Educational Leadership at Miami University of Ohio. As a professor of Student Affairs and Higher Education, her research focuses on the evolution of learning and development in college and young adult life as well as on pedagogy to promote self-authorship. Baxter Magolda defines self-authorship as “the internal capacity to define one’s beliefs, identity and social relations” (Evans et al., 2010, p. 178). Baxter Magolda is most famous for her 25-year study of development and young adult learning from ages 18 to 43. In higher education there is still a demand for research that allows for better comprehension of how cognitive, relational, and identity dimensions affect one’s ability to learn and develop as an individual. Thanks to Baxter Magolda’s longitudinal study, educators have a greater understanding of how learners view their world and how they relate to it, affecting what they believe and who they become; how they understand knowledge, allowing them to develop critical thinking skills; and how they experience social relations for intercultural maturity, leadership, and citizenship.
In her research Baxter Magolda found these three questions to be predominant: Intellectual/Epistemological: How do I know? ( The nature, limits, and certainty of knowledge) Intrapersonal: Who am I? (Individuals’ ideas of who they are and what they believe) Interpersonal: How do I want to construct relationships with others? (Perceptions and construction of relationships) (Davidson, 2011) Baxter Magolda also identified three elements of selfauthorship: Trusting The Internal Voice: Gaining control over thoughts and responses, which leads to greater confidence in the internal voice Building An Internal Foundation: Developing a personal philosophy as a foundation for actions Securing Internal Commitments: Living life authentically such that internal voice and foundation are integrated with the external world (Davidson, 2011). Consideration of these questions and concepts can inform teaching practices, as they allow 2012
Summer Issue